It
was wartime, February 11, 1943. The battle of Guadalcanal
was climaxing; Rommel was on the offensive in North
Africa; the Germans were surrendering their armies
in Stalingrad. The FBI’s work on counterintelligence
issues had grown tremendously during the war, both
at home and overseas and on this day it recognized
that growth by centralizing the way it coordinated
intelligence and liaison matters -- creating a "Liaison
Section"in what was then called the Security
Division.
The
FBI's international arm. Seven Special Agents
and 18 Support Personnel got to work. They handled
all contacts with the State Department, the armed
services, the Office of Strategic Services, the Office
of Naval Intelligence, Naval Communications, and Army
Intelligence. They maintained contacts with British
Security and other international partners. And they
helped coordinate the activities of Agents working
overseas as Legal Attache officers ("Legats")
as part of the Bureau’s Special Intelligence
Service (SIS), established by Presidential Directive
in 1940.
Lots
of great work was done in those fearful days, most
concerning counterintelligence
issues -- but not all. Liaison section members
also used Legats to coordinate the pursuit of fugitives
and criminal matters and to train the local police
in casework and evidence collection. They coordinated
the identification of missing and deceased persons,
the processing of name checks, and services like fingerprinting
and lab work.
Postwar
operations. After the war, the SIS was disbanded.
The Liaison Section, accordingly, shrank... but it
didn't disappear. Its network of Legats overseas had
proven their worth on police training and criminal
matters alone. And that network continued to crystallize.
The first four Legat offices -- Mexico City, Bogota,
London, and Ottawa, all opened in the early stages
of the war -- were joined by Paris and Panama City
in 1945. Then by Rome and Tokyo in the '50s and by
Bern and Hong Kong in the '60s.
Globalizing
in the 21st century. Today, the Liaison Section
is a full-fledged Office of International Operations
(OIO). OIO now supports some 200 FBI employees in
45 Legats worldwide and hundreds of Agents rotating
in and out of temporary assignments overseas. It's
responsible for our day-to-day contacts with foreign
government officials in the U.S., our meetings with
international leaders, and our language and translation
programs. And it takes the lead in managing our partnerships
with all manner of global and regional crime-fighting
initiatives, including: Interpol
and Europol;
Resolution 6, which co-locates FBI Agents in DEA offices
overseas to combat drugs; and the Budapest
Project.
Thanks to the foundations laid by the Liaison Section
beginning six decades ago, we now have solid working
relationships with a range of colleagues in every
part of the world, pursuing terrorist, intelligence,
and criminal threats with international dimensions.
It's no exaggeration to say that the FBI is a global
organization for a global age.
Related
Links: Legal
Attaché Offices | FBI
History
