End
of the Cold War: 1989 - 1993
The dismantling of
the Berlin Wall in November 1989 electrified the
world and dramatically rang up the Iron Curtain
on the final act in the Cold War: the formal dissolution
of the Soviet Union, which occurred on December
25, 1991.
While world leaders
scrambled to reposition their foreign policies
and redefine national security parameters, the
FBI responded as an agency in January 1992 by reassigning
300 Special Agents from foreign counterintelligence
duties to violent crime investigations across the
country. It was an unprecedented opportunity to
intensify efforts in burgeoning domestic crime
problems--and at the same time to rethink and retool
FBI national security programs in counterintelligence
and counterterrorism.
In
response to a 40-percent increase in crimes of violence
over the previous
10 years, Director Sessions had designated the
investigation of violent crime as the FBI's sixth
national priority program in 1989. By November
1991 the FBI had created "Operation Safe Streets" in
Washington, D.C.--a concept of federal, state,
and local police task forces targeting fugitives
and gangs. Therefore, it was now ready to expand
this operational assistance to police nationwide.
At the same time,
the FBI Laboratory helped change the face of violent
criminal identification. Its breakthrough use of
DNA technology enabled genetic crime-scene evidence
to positively identify--or rule out--suspects by
comparing their particular DNA patterns. This unique
identifier enabled the creation of a national DNA
Index, similar to the fingerprint index, which
had been implemented in 1924.
The
FBI also strengthened its response to white-collar
crimes. Popularized
as "crime in the suites," these nonviolent
crimes had steadily increased as automation in
and deregulation of industries had created new
environments for fraud. Resources were, accordingly,
redirected to combat the new wave of large-scale
insider bank fraud and financial crimes; to address
criminal sanctions in new federal environmental
legislation; and to establish long-term investigations
of complex health care frauds.
At the same time,
the FBI reassessed its strategies in defending
national security, now no longer defined as the
containment of communism and the prevention of
nuclear war.
By
creating the National Security Threat List, which
was approved by the
Attorney General in 1991, it changed its approach
from defending against hostile intelligence agencies
to protecting U.S. information and technologies.
It thus identified all countries--not just hostile
intelligence services--that pose a continuing and
serious intelligence threat to the United States.
It also defined expanded threat issues, including
the proliferation of chemical, biological, and
nuclear weapons; the loss of critical technologies;
and the improper collection of trade secrets and
proprietary information. As President Clinton was
to note in 1994, with the dramatic expansion of
the global economy "national security now
means economic security."
Two events occurred
in late 1992 and early 1993 that were to have a
major impact on FBI policies and operations. In
August 1992, the FBI responded to the shooting
death of Deputy U.S. Marshal William Degan, who
was killed at Ruby Ridge, Idaho, while participating
in a surveillance of federal fugitive Randall Weaver.
In the course of the standoff, Weaver's wife was
accidentally shot and killed by an FBI sniper.
Eight months later,
at a remote compound outside Waco, Texas, FBI Agents
sought to end a 51-day standoff with members of
a heavily armed religious sect who had killed four
officers of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and
Firearms. Instead, as Agents watched in horror,
the compound burned to the ground from fires lit
by members of the sect. Eighty persons, including
children, died in the blaze.
These two events set
the stage for public and congressional inquiries
into the FBI's ability to respond to crisis situations.
On July 19, 1993,
following allegations of ethics violations committed
by Director Sessions, President Clinton removed
him from office and appointed Deputy Director Floyd
I. Clarke as Acting FBI Director. The President
noted that Director Sessions' most significant
achievement was broadening the FBI to include more
women and minorities.