STRENGTHENING
FBI INTELLIGENCE CAPABILITIES
Director Mueller Presents the Bureau's Vision for Creating an Intelligence Service
within the FBI
06/04/04
It's a vital
national issue: in a post 9/11 world, what's the best way to
structure our country's domestic intelligence operations to help prevent
terrorist attacks on our homeland?
On June 3, in testimony
before the House Appropriations Committee, Director Mueller presented
the FBI's vision in concrete detail, from the broad concepts
to the specific initiatives that will make them work.
The main features
of the plan, which build on our transformation
of our intelligence and counterterrorism capabilities over the past
two and a half years:
- Create
a new Directorate of Intelligence in the FBI with "broad and clear
authority over intelligence-related functions."
- Streamline
budget decision-making so that intelligence resources are more easily
coordinated and shared across Bureau programs and more quickly adapted
to fast-moving global threats.
We urge you
to spend some time studying the proposal and its new initiatives,
including ways to strengthen everything from information-sharing to strategic
analysis ... from field operations to language translation and training.
We also call
your attention to the five key principles the Director says
must guide any intelligence reform, namely:
- Surgically
removing intelligence functions from the FBI would be "counterproductive" because
intelligence is ingrained in every aspect of the Bureau;
- Combining
intelligence and law enforcement tools in one organization enables
faster, more coordinated, and more multi-faceted prevention operations;
- Our
in-depth understanding of the threats drives what intelligence we need
to collect and ultimately our overall investigative mission, making
it imperative to integrate analysis, collection, and related intelligence
efforts;
- A
centrally managed program is necessary to synthesize intelligence from
across the Bureau's many national security and criminal responsibilities
and from across the more than 500 FBI offices worldwide;
- Walling
off information and operations into separate compartments – what's
called "stove-piping" – limits collaboration both inside
and outside the FBI.
The bottom line: "With
these guiding principles in mind, we support the creation of a strong intelligence
service within the FBI that leverages our formidable collection capabilities
and fully integrates our law enforcement and Intelligence Community partners," the
Director said.
Links: The
full statement | FBI Intelligence
Program
