Testimony of Louis J. Freeh, Director, FBI
Before the House
Committee on Appropriations, Subcommittee for the Departments
of Commerce, Justice, and State, the Judiciary, and Related
Agencies
March 17, 1999
"President's Fiscal Year 2000 Budget"
Good morning, Mr. Chairman
and members of the Subcommittee. Once again, I am pleased
to discuss the President's fiscal year 2000 budget request
for the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI).
I am most appreciative of the
support the Subcommittee has provided the FBI over the past
several years. That support, in terms of the additional staffing
and resources provided, allows us to do what the FBI does
best: catch criminals, drug traffickers, terrorists, and spies;
provide training, investigative assistance, and forensic and
identification services to our law enforcement partners; and
develop new crime-fighting technologies and techniques.
This past year, the FBI celebrated
its 90th anniversary. We acknowledged that occasion by reflecting
upon the successes of our past and by dedicating ourselves
to carrying the FBI's proud heritage into the future. Having
reached the mid-point in my tenure as Director of the FBI,
I want to be sure that the Bureau of the 21st Century is rooted
solidly upon our successful past and that our mission and
priorities, as well as our core values and competencies, prepare
us for the challenges of today and the years to come.
Challenges Facing the FBI
Before discussing our fiscal
year 2000 budget request, I would like to highlight for the
Subcommittee several of the challenges facing the FBI, and
the strategic planning and management initiatives that we
are undertaking to prepare the FBI to enter the 21st Century.
These initiatives are especially important given the challenges
and changes facing the FBI.
Increasingly, the crime problems
and national security threats facing the FBI are transcending
the traditional investigative programs under which the FBI
operated. For example, the Southwest Border and East Caribbean
crime plans are based upon a coordinated attack against drug
traffickers (organized crime/drugs program), violent crimes
and gangs (violent crimes program), and public corruption
(white-collar crime program). Emerging criminal enterprises
from Eastern Europe and Eurasia tend to be involved not only
in "traditional" organized crime activities, such
as extortion, loan sharking, and street crime, but also complex
money laundering, tax evasion schemes, medical fraud, and
other "white-collar" offenses.
We are also facing a growing
internationalization of crime. Increasingly, cases being worked
by FBI Agents on the streets of America are developing leads
that take us to foreign lands for resolution. Recent events,
such as the abductions and brutal murders of Americans in
Uganda and Colombia, required the FBI to exercise its statutory
extraterritorial jurisdiction and deploy investigative teams
overseas. Organized criminal enterprises are often involved
in related illegal activities on several continents. Communications
networks allow criminals in foreign countries to commit thefts
in the United States without leaving their homelands.
To respond to these types of
emerging crime problems and national security issues more
quickly, the FBI must focus its efforts and resources along
broader investigative strategies.
Another challenge facing the
FBI is the changing demographics of our workforce. With respect
to agents, nearly 31 percent of all FBI Special Agents have
been on the job for less than five years -- nearly double
the rate in 1993.
· In October 1995, 9
percent of the 8,410 on-board field investigative agents were
at the GS-10 entry level; by February 1999, the percentage
of GS-10 entry level agents has nearly doubled to 17 percent
of the 9,477 on-board field investigative agents.
· At the same time, we
are also experiencing a significant loss in investigative
experience. In October 1995, 74 percent of the 8,410 on-board
field investigative agents were at the GS-13 journeyman level;
by February 1999, the percentage of experienced, journeyman
agents had decreased to 61 percent of the 9,477 on-board field
investigative agents.
Keeping current with the fast
pace of technology and more complex crime problems and issues
requires a more technically trained and competent workforce.
This applies not only in terms of our investigators, but also
with respect to the scientists, engineers, analysts, and other
support staff who help our agents do their jobs. We are also
recognizing that technically trained specialists are becoming
an increasingly important part of our investigative teams.
For example, this year we are requesting 79 forensic computer
examiners to assist agents with computer evidence identification,
collection, and analysis. I want to acknowledge the Subcommittee's
assistance in providing us with the special authority to recruit,
hire, and compensate persons for select critical skill positions.
We will use that authority to bring on board the specialists
and technical staff needed to support our investigations.
Emerging technologies present
both a challenge and an opportunity for the FBI to develop
new methods and capabilities for preventing and investigating
crime and protecting the national security. We must be able
to upgrade existing investigative techniques and technologies
and to take advantage of emerging technologies to develop
new capabilities to keep abreast of changing criminal problems
and national security issues.
The infrastructure necessary
to support the FBI also presents challenges. The FBI employs
nearly 28,000 employees, located in 56 major field offices,
approximately 400 smaller resident agencies, four information
technology centers, a fingerprint identification and criminal
justice information complex, a training academy, an engineering
research facility, and FBI Headquarters. We also operate legal
attache offices in 37 foreign countries. Tying these offices
together are large, complex radio communications and telecommunications
networks. In addition, we also operate and maintain nationwide
systems and services, such as the National Crime Information
Center, the Combined DNA Identification System, and fingerprint
identification systems, that provide connectivity with state
and local law enforcement.
FBI Strategic Plan, 1998
- 2003
This past May, I issued the
FBI Strategic Plan, 1998 - 2003. This plan represents the
culmination of work performed over a year's time by a strategic
planning task force under the personal direction of Deputy
Director Robert M. Bryant. This group conducted strategy sessions
with every FBI investigative program, both criminal and national
security, and met with FBI Special Agents in Charge and other
field office representatives. In doing so, the task force
not only identified the strategic direction and national priorities
for the FBI, but it also performed a self-assessment of the
FBI's capacity to achieve these goals. This self-assessment
identified deficiencies and performance gaps that must be
improved or completely eliminated if we are to be successful
in dealing with emerging crime problems and more challenging
threats and issues related to protecting the national security.
Some of these deficiencies and performance gaps can be corrected
by reengineering processes and implementing policy decisions,
while others will require funding and resources to mitigate.
Guiding the implementation of
our national priorities is a statement of core values for
performing the mission of the FBI, which I personally wrote.
Briefly, the core values that I have established for FBI employees
can be summarized as follows:
-
rigorous
obedience to the Constitution;
-
respect for
the dignity of all those we protect;
-
compassion;
-
fairness;
and
-
uncompromising
personal and institutional integrity.
To accomplish the mission of
the FBI, we must follow these core values. The public expects
the FBI to do its utmost to protect people and their rights.
As I have told FBI employees, observance of these core values
is our guarantee of excellence and propriety in meeting the
Bureau's national security and criminal investigative responsibilities.
The FBI Strategic Plan, 1998
- 2003 identifies three major functional areas that define
the FBI's strategic priorities. These three national priorities
are: national and economic security; criminal enterprises
and public integrity; and individuals and property. Within
these three functional areas, the FBI has identified nine
strategic goals emphasizing the FBI's need to position itself
to prevent crimes and counterintelligence activities, rather
than just reacting to such acts after they occur.
National and Economic Security. Our highest national priority is the investigation
of foreign intelligence, terrorist, and criminal activities
that directly threaten the national or economic security of
the United States. We have established four strategic goals
for this area:
-
Identify,
prevent, and defeat intelligence operations conducted
by any foreign power within the United States, or against
certain U.S. interests abroad, that constitute a threat
to U.S. national security;
-
Prevent,
disrupt, and defeat terrorist operations before they occur;
-
Create
an effective and ongoing deterrent to prevent criminal
conspiracies from defrauding major U.S. industries and
the U.S. Government; and
-
Deter
the unlawful exploitation of emerging technologies by
foreign powers, terrorists, and criminal elements.
Criminal Enterprises and
Public Integrity.
Our second national priority is crimes that affect the public
safety or which undermine the integrity of American society.
These investigations are often targeted at criminal organizations,
such as the La Cosa Nostra, cartels and drug trafficking organizations,
Asian criminal enterprises, and Russian organized crime groups,
that exploit social, economic, or political circumstances.
Another focus within this area is public corruption and civil
rights. For this area, we have established four strategic
objectives:
-
Identify,
disrupt, and dismantle existing and emerging organized
criminal enterprises whose activities affect the United
States;
-
Identify,
disrupt, and dismantle targeted international and national
drug-trafficking organizations;
-
Reduce
public corruption at all levels of government with special
emphasis on law enforcement operations; and
-
Deter
civil rights violations through aggressive investigative
and proactive measures.
Individuals and Property. Our third national priority is crimes that affect
individuals and property. Within this area, we will develop
investigative strategies that reflect the public's expectation
that the FBI will respond to and investigate serious criminal
acts that affect the community and bring those responsible
to justice. Our strategic goal for this area is:
To achieve these strategic objectives,
we have developed five operational support strategies that
are designed to build enhanced investigative capabilities.
These operational support strategies are: intelligence; information
technology; applied science and engineering; management; and
assistance to support our state, local, and international
law enforcement partners. With respect to FBI management strategies,
we were recently notified that the FBI was afforded an "unqualifed"
rating for the Department's Inspector General financial audit
of fiscal year 1998. An "unqualified" is the highest
rating an agency can receive.
For the fiscal year 2000 budget,
FBI program managers used the Strategic Plan, 1998 - 2003,
and the five operational support strategies as guides for
developing their resource requirements. Through an integrated
strategic planning and budget framework, the FBI has significantly
sharpened its focus for allocating resources based upon national
priorities and strategic objectives that concentrate on the
most significant crime problems and threats to the Nation.
Overview of Fiscal Year
2000 Budget Request
For fiscal year 2000, the FBI
is requesting a total of $3,293,664,000 in direct budget authority,
26,519 permanent positions (11,339 agents), and 25,576 direct
workyears for its Salaries and Expenses/Violent Crime Reduction
Program and Construction appropriations. This request includes
direct program increases totaling 268 permanent positions
(60 agents) and $109,159,000 in five budget initiatives: Information
Collection and Analysis; Counterterrorism; Technology and
Cyber Crimes; Law Enforcement Services; and Infrastructure.
In addition to direct funded
resources, the FBI proposes a total of 2,646 reimbursable
positions (454 agents) and 2,454 reimbursable workyears for
fiscal year 2000. This represents increases of 89 positions
for the National Instant Criminal Background Check System
(NICS) and 77 positions (35 agents) for health care fraud
enforcement. The fiscal year 2000 budget reflects the transfer
of FBI resources previously funded under the Interagency Crime
and Drug Enforcement appropriation to Salaries and Expenses.
Information Collection and
Analysis
The Information Collection and
Analysis budget initiative focuses upon one of the most critical
needs identified by FBI program managers, namely, the ability
to collect, process, analyze, and disseminate information
obtained during investigations, from other agencies, and from
public sources. For fiscal year 2000, the FBI is requesting
an increase of 56 positions and $48,917,000 for information
collection and analysis activities in three areas: Information
Sharing, Collection Management, and Investigative Information
Services.
Information Sharing. Last year, the Committee supported funding for
the Information Sharing program which is a critical cornerstone
to all of the operational strategies identified by
the FBI in its Strategic Plan, 1998 - 2003. What the FBI needs
most is to move away from its current collection of "stove-pipe"
databases and stand-alone case management systems that cannot
talk to each other and implement an enterprise-wide case management
system. The Information Sharing project will break down those
information and case management stove-pipes.
We are taking a measured approach
to implementing the Information Sharing project. This multi-year
information technology investment is comprised of three sequential
phases, each builds upon the preceding phase. The first phase
would upgrade the existing information technology architecture
to support electronic case management in all FBI locations.
The second phase would introduce analytical tools that will
allow FBI agents, analysts, and specialists to perform high-level
analysis of the information contained in electronic case files.
The third phase envisions the capability of securely sharing
FBI electronic case information with other members of the
law enforcement and intelligence communities.
Each major phase of the project
represents a separate set of functionalities and capabilities
so that if funding is not available for the subsequent phases,
the investment provides benefit to the FBI. While the overall
cost of all three phases will require a substantial investment
over several years, our future requests will be dependent
upon satisfactory progress being realized in the phases funded
to date.
In response to the Committee's
direction, we have prepared a five-year plan for the Information
Sharing project. That plan is being reviewed within the Administration
for clearance and will be submitted to the Congress upon approval
from the Office of Management and Budget. Until we receive
your concurrence to this plan, the FBI is unable to expend
any funding in 1999 to implement the Information Sharing project.
With funding made available
for fiscal year 1999, including $20,000,000 of direct appropriation
and $40,000,000 from the Department's Working Capital Fund,
the FBI would begin Phase I of the plan.
For fiscal year 2000, the FBI
requests a total of $58,800,000 to continue implementation
of the Information Sharing project, including a program increase
of $38,800,000. This funding would allow us to complete Phase
I, which permits electronic case file capabilities with access
from all FBI locations. Additionally, work would begin on
Phase II of the plan to provide a common set of analytical
tools to all FBI locations that would provide the electronic
capability to analyze case information on a single-case basis.
The availability of these analytical tools would allow FBI
agents, analysts, and specialists to perform link analysis,
telephone toll analysis, visual investigative analysis, geographic
analysis, and the ability to analyze large volumes of data
related to a single case at a single location. The Phase II
ability to perform analysis on investigative case information
represents a significant first step toward achieving the type
of analytical capabilities needed to support the operational
objectives identified in the Strategic Plan for 1998 - 2003.
Collection Management. During the development of the FBI's Strategic
Plan for 1998 - 2003, virtually every program manager acknowledged
that FBI intelligence analysis capabilities, across all investigative
and national security programs, were deficient. Principal
deficiencies most commonly cited were the absence of systematic
intelligence collection requirements from Headquarters program
managers to field offices, the lack of a systematic validation
of sources and their information, the absence of a mechanism
for sharing of information internally within the FBI across
programs, and the absence of a mechanism for sharing information
outside the FBI with other law enforcement and intelligence
community partners based on agreed upon policies and guidelines.
The FBI Strategic Plan identifies
a number of near-term actions that are already taking place
to begin building an effective collection management capability.
Among the steps already taken are the designation of a staff
at FBI Headquarters with the responsibility for developing
and implementing an organization-wide intelligence strategy.
This staff is also working with the Criminal Investigative
and National Security Divisions at FBI Headquarters to develop
collection management protocols and policies, a training curriculum
and promotion standards for FBI analysts, and to ensure available
analytical technologies are fully exploited by the FBI.
This year, we also initiated
a pilot program in our Washington Field Office to develop
procedures and protocols for sharing intelligence information
between two programs, national security and Russian organized
crime.
To further implement an effective
collection management capability that will service all FBI
investigative and national security programs, the fiscal year
2000 budget requests an enhancement of $3,682,000 to hire
56 new Intelligence Operations Specialists to serve as collection
management officers in FBI field offices. The establishment
of these positions is a critical element of our overall intelligence
strategy. In each field office, these individuals will serve
as the focal point for intelligence reporting and dissemination
for criminal and national security programs and be responsible
for validating the reliability of sources and their information.
Also requested is $2,110,000 to build upon a prototype data
analysis capability we are beginning this year that supports
FBI Russian organized crime and counterterrorism programs.
This effort would be adapted later to include other FBI investigative
programs and crime problems and is compatible with the Information
Sharing project.
Investigative Information
Services. The FBI
subscribes to various commercial on-line databases, such as
Lexis/Nexis, Dun & Bradstreet, and others, to obtain public
source information regarding individuals, businesses, and
organizations that are subjects of investigations. Information
obtained includes credit records, real property and tax records;
boat, plane, and motor vehicle registration records; business
records, including filings with the Securities and Exchange
Commission and bankruptcy filings; articles of incorporation;
financial information; rental records; news articles; concealed
weapons permits; and hunting/fishing licenses. In 1998, more
than 53,000 inquiries were made of these databases. Information
from these inquiries assisted in the arrests of 393 fugitives
wanted by the FBI, the identification of more than $37 million
in seizable assets, the locating of 1,966 individuals wanted
by law enforcement, and the locating of 3,209 witnesses wanted
for questioning. Over 97 percent of the inquiries made produced
new investigative information for follow-up action by agents
and investigators.
Subscription to these databases
allows FBI investigative personnel to perform searches from
computer workstations and eliminates the need to perform more
time consuming manual searches of federal, state, and local
records systems, libraries, and other information sources.
Information obtained is used to support all categories of
FBI investigations, from terrorism to violent crimes, and
from health care fraud to organized crime. To meet increased
subscription costs associated with accessing these public
source databases, an increase of $4,325,000 is required for
fiscal year 2000.
Counterterrorism
The bombings of the World Trade
Center in 1993, the Murrah Federal Building in 1995, U.S.
military facilities in Saudi Arabia in 1995 and 1996, the
Atlanta Olympic Games, clinics, and bars in the Southeast
United States in 1996, 1997 and 1998, and, most recently,
U.S. embassies in Tanzania and Kenya, are dramatic reminders
of the devastation and toll in human lives that can result
when terrorists and criminals use improvised explosive devices.
Bombs -- either conventional or unconventional -- are considered
the most likely threat to United States' citizens and interests
from either international or domestic terrorists.
Since 1981, the FBI has operated
the Hazardous Devices School, the only formal, domestic training
program where state and local bomb technicians can learn to
locate, identify, render safe, and dispose of improvised explosive
devices, as well as learn to use specialized equipment and
protective clothing needed for the safe disposal of explosive
materials. With your support, the FBI has adjusted its training
program at the Hazardous Devices School to meet the challenge
of today's terrorist and criminal threat, to include devices
containing materials classified as weapons of mass destruction,
and to train enhanced levels of bomb technicians.
During fiscal year 1998, we
trained 838 state and local students through the Hazardous
Devices School, including 247 in basic bomb technician courses,
152 in recertification courses, 386 in weapons of mass destruction
courses, and 53 in executive management courses. We also provided
basic or recertification courses for 125 FBI Special Agent
bomb technicians.
For fiscal year 2000, the FBI
requests $9,000,000 for the modernization of facilities at
the Hazardous Devices School, which is located at Redstone
Arsenal, Alabama. This funding will be used to construct improvements
related to practical exercise areas, several mock villages,
and required infrastructure. These improvements and mock villages
will permit bomb technician trainees the opportunity to apply
techniques and training learned in the classroom in a realistic
training environment. Improved facilities at the Hazardous
Devices School is one of the strategies identified under the
Attorney General's Five-year Counterterrorism and Technology
Crime Plan that was submitted to the Congress in December
1998.
Technology and Cyber-crime
The growing use of technology
by criminals, terrorists, and foreign intelligence agents
to commit acts or to thwart the efforts of law enforcement
investigating illegal activities is one of the serious challenges
facing the FBI now and in the future. The Technology and Cyber-crime
budget initiative focuses upon the resources needed to meet
this challenge. For fiscal year 2000, the FBI is requesting
an increase of 207 positions (60 agents) and $36,742,000 to
enhance its capabilities for preventing, detecting, and investigating
computer crime and protecting the critical infrastructure
of the United States.
National Infrastructure Protection
Center (NIPC). The
NIPC serves as a national resource for critical infrastructure
protection. Critical infrastructures are those physical and
cyber-based systems essential to the minimal operations of
the U.S. economy and government. The national security of
the United States depends largely on cyber-based systems and
the rapid, consistent, secure, and reliable movement and storage
of data which they provide. Presidential Decision Directive
(PDD) - 63 assigns to the FBI and the Department of Justice
the responsibility for the Emergency Law Enforcement services
sector and lead agency responsibility for law enforcement
and internal security.
The FBI supports these responsibilities
through the activities of the NIPC. The mission of the NIPC
is to identify and investigate threats and unlawful acts targeting
the critical infrastructures of the United States and prevent
illegal intrusions into government computer networks, protected
civilian computers, and the national information infrastructure,
consistent with PDD-63 and federal statutes. Under PDD-63,
all Executive Departments and agencies are instructed to share
information about threats and warnings of attacks, as well
as actual attacks, on critical government and private sector
infrastructures with the NIPC. The NIPC is directed to process
law enforcement and intelligence information for inclusion
into analyses and reports which the NIPC provides in appropriate
format to other federal, state, local government agencies
and private sector agencies.
The NIPC is staffed by FBI employees,
as well as representatives from the United States Secret Service,
the United States Postal Service, Department of Defense, Department
of Energy, Oregon State Police, and others. Efforts are underway
to include private sector participation in NIPC.
For fiscal year 2000, an increase
of $1,656,000 is requested for the NIPC to support training,
liaison, and outreach initiatives.
Field Computer Crime and
Intrusion Squads.
Computers, the Internet, and other new information technologies
are an integral element of how we conduct business, perform
research and development, engage in personal communications,
and educate and entertain ourselves. However, as society has
moved on-line, so have criminals. Crimes facilitated by the
use of computers and the Internet include the defrauding of
senior citizens, dissemination of child pornography, theft
of credit card numbers, money laundering, insurance fraud,
stock market manipulation, and theft of bank funds. On-line
larceny has become a lucrative business due to the Internet's
widespread availability and the growing popularity of electronic
commerce.
Computers and computer networks
are also the target of hackers and others who illegally gain
access in an effort to deny or disrupt service, steal data,
alter computer code, and plant destructive viruses and Trojan
horses. A 1998 Computer Security Institute study reported
that 64 percent of its survey respondents experienced a computer
security breach and that losses associated with computer intrusions
totaled $136 million.
By 2000, the FBI will have established
and equipped specialized computer crime and intrusion squads
in 10 FBI field offices: Washington, D.C., New York City,
San Francisco, Chicago, Dallas, Los Angeles, Atlanta, Charlotte,
Boston, and Seattle. The FBI needs this capability in each
of its field offices. To provide that capability, the fiscal
year 2000 budget request includes 108 new positions (60 agents)
and $11,390,000. When combined with existing positions, it
will allow us to staff and equip 18 additional computer crime
and intrusion squads and to provide equipment to establish
a baseline computer crime and intrusion capability in 28 smaller
field offices. This request will enable the FBI to have a
computer crime capability in each of its 56 field offices.
Computer Analysis Response
Teams. Crucial evidence
is increasingly being found in electronic form. The use of
computers and computer storage media by criminals, terrorists,
and foreign intelligence agents, is very well documented.
The FBI and law enforcement must have the capability of recovering
evidence and data from computers and computer storage media.
This is becoming a very time-consuming and resource intensive
process due to the growth in both the availability of computers
and the size and capacity of computer storage media.
The FBI established the Computer
Analysis Response Team (CART) program under the FBI Laboratory
to provide data forensic services. We currently have trained
and equipped 95 field CART examiners and 26 Headquarters examiners.
Last year, in fiscal year 1998, these examiners conducted
over 2,600 examinations. We project the demand for examinations
to more than double by 2000.
The FBI is working with state
and local law enforcement to share data forensic laboratory
techniques and expertise. For example, we are establishing
a pilot regional computer forensic laboratory capability in
the FBI's San Diego field office. The multi-agency laboratory
will be staffed by examiners and technicians from the FBI
and state and local agencies and serve as a resource for that
region. We have also developed the Automated Computer Examination
System (ACES), which is an automated forensic search capability
for locating computer evidence on seized computers and computer
storage media. We hope to make ACES available to other law
enforcement agencies.
For fiscal year 2000, the FBI
is requesting $9,861,000 to hire and train 79 new computer
forensic examiners, 17 for the FBI Laboratory and 62 for assignment
directly to FBI field offices and computer crime and intrusion
squads, and for CART program equipment, supplies, and training.
Unless we increase our capacity for performing data forensic
examinations, investigators and prosecutors will be denied
timely access to valuable evidence that will solve crimes
and support the successful prosecution of child pornographers,
drug traffickers, corrupt officials, persons committing fraud,
terrorists, and other criminals.
Technical Support for Investigations. The widespread use of digital telecommunications
technologies and the incorporation of privacy features/capabilities
through the use of cryptography pose a serious technical challenge
to the continued ability of the FBI and law enforcement to
access and process information obtained pursuant to court-authorized
electronic surveillance. In today's telecommunications environment,
the FBI must contend with layers of protocols, formatting,
compression, and proprietary encoding applications that can
have the effect of masking or hiding the content of lawfully
intercepted communications. For example, the expansion of
electronic commerce and concerns for privacy have brought
about new concepts and deployments in affordable and robust
encryption products for private sector use.
Terrorists, both abroad and
at home, are using technology to protect their operations
from being discovered and to thwart the efforts of law enforcement
to detect, prevent, and investigate such acts. Ramzi Yousef,
convicted for his role in the World Trade Center bombing and
for conspiracy to destroy numerous United States airliners,
used encryption to protect his computer files. Convicted spy
Aldrich Ames was told by his Russian handlers to encrypt his
computer files. International drug traffickers and child pornographers
are using encryption to avoid detection by law enforcement.
For fiscal year 2000, increases
totaling 20 positions and $13,835,000 are requested for technical
support to investigations. To handle a growing workload of
requests from FBI field offices for protocol analysis and
processing support for court-approved Title III and Foreign
Intelligence Surveillance Act intercepts, $6,835,000 is needed
to hire and train 20 technicians, acquire technical equipment,
and develop signal processing and network intercept tools
to assist technicians and investigators. Additionally, $7,000,000
is requested to develop and enhance FBI counter-encryption
technology and support services that will allow law enforcement
access to the plain text of encrypted communications and computer
files lawfully seized pursuant to court-authorization and
search warrants.
Law Enforcement Services
Later this summer, the FBI will
bring on line the new National Crime Information Center (NCIC)
2000 and the Integrated Automated Fingerprint Identification
System (IAFIS). Both of these systems will offer state and
local law enforcement an array of new, long-awaited features
and capabilities. For example, NCIC 2000 will offer the capability
of transmitting a single fingerprint from a squad car to help
verify the identification of a person stopped for a traffic
violation. One of the features of IAFIS is a latent search
capacity that will allow state and local agencies to directly
submit fingerprints for matching against the FBI's database.
Another key IAFIS feature is the two-hour response time to
criminal fingerprint cards submitted electronically. These
two systems will help us catch wanted persons and prevent
the release of fugitives before their true identities can
be learned. Yet, the real success of these systems depends
upon state and local law enforcement possessing the equipment
that will allow them to take advantage of these tools. I am
hopeful that state and local governments will make these investments
now that our systems are coming on line.
The Law Enforcement Services
budget initiative encompasses three critical requests totaling
94 positions (5 direct and 89 reimbursable) and $9,500,000
that will allow the FBI to provide better forensic and information
services to federal, state, and local law enforcement. These
items are: the implementation of the Federal Convicted Offender
DNA database; improved telecommunications network connectivity
between the FBI and other federal, state, and local forensic
laboratories that support users of the Combined DNA Information
System (CODIS) and the National Integrated Ballistics Information
Network; and the National Instant Criminal Background Check
System. These requests directly support the state and local
assistance strategy of the FBI Strategic Plan, 1998 - 2003.
Federal Convicted Offenders
DNA database. The
Anti-Terrorism and Effective Death Penalty Act of 1996 authorized
the FBI to "expand the CODIS to include Federal crimes
and crimes committed in the District of Columbia." No
other federal agency or crime laboratory is authorized to
establish such a capability. In December 1998, the FBI submitted
to the Congress a plan, requested in the 1998 Justice Appropriations
Act, to support the implementation of a program that requires
a federal prisoner convicted of a federal offense involving
a victim who is a minor or a sexually violent offense to provide
a DNA sample for inclusion in a law enforcement DNA database
prior to the prisoner's release from incarceration. That report
included draft legislation which requires Congressional enactment
for the FBI to implement the plan. The draft legislation also
clarifies the authority for implementing the Federal Convicted
Offender DNA database authorized by Congress in 1996.
The FBI requires 5 positions
and $5,336,000 in fiscal year 2000 to implement the Federal
Convicted Offenders DNA database. This database would include
DNA samples from offenders convicted in federal, military,
and District of Columbia courts. While all 50 states have
enacted laws allowing the collection of DNA samples from persons
convicted in state court for qualifying offenses, there is
no collection of DNA samples from persons convicted
in federal, military, or District of Columbia courts. Consequently,
when state and local law enforcement check DNA evidence recovered
from a violent sexual assault, murder, or child molestation,
there are no profiles in CODIS of convicted federal offenders
who may have been released and are now residing in that community.
The proposed legislation and the Federal Convicted Offenders
DNA database would close this gap resulting from the lack
of a federal DNA collection program.
Forensic Laboratory Connectivity. One of my goals for the FBI Laboratory is the
development and transition of new and improved forensic examination
capabilities and crime-fighting tools to state and local forensic
laboratories and law enforcement agencies. Two such tools
are the National Integrated Ballistics Information Network
(NIBIN)and CODIS.
NIBIN is a computer database
system which allows forensic examiners within a region or
large metropolitan area to exchange and match cartridge casings
and bullets, thereby linking serial shootings incidents and
recovered firearms. CODIS is the national DNA database system
containing indices of DNA profiles from convicted offenders
and unsolved crimes. CODIS permits state and local crime laboratories
to exchange and compare DNA profiles electronically, thereby
linking serial violent crimes, especially rapes, and identifying
suspects by matching DNA from crime scenes to profiles from
convicted offenders.
Growth in the number of user
locations, database records, and queries is outstripping the
existing capabilities of the FBI telecommunications network
supporting NIBIN and CODIS. We have developed a plan to consolidate
these separate networks and provide secure communications,
path redundancy, and improved access to NIBIN and CODIS users.
Under this plan, the FBI would migrate NIBIN and CODIS telecommunications
services to the wide area network established for the Criminal
Justice Information Services Division. To facilitate consolidation,
an increase of $4,164,000 is requested in fiscal year 2000.
National Instant Criminal
Background Check System (NICS).
The Brady Handgun Violence Prevention Act required the Attorney
General to establish a NICS that any federal firearms licensee
may contact for immediate verification on whether the receipt
of a firearm would violate federal or state law. The NICS
system became operational on November 30, 1998. Since starting
operations, the FBI NICS operations center has processed more
than 2 million background checks. More than 22,000 gun purchases
have been denied to convicted felons and other ineligible
persons. NICS has been successful in keeping guns out of the
hands of criminals, while facilitating the sale of firearms
to those who are not prohibited by law from purchasing a gun.
Presently, 15 states and territories
serve as full points of contact for the NICS system. As such,
these states and territories perform NICS checks for the purchase
of both handguns and long guns. Another 11 states serve as
partial points of contact for the purchase of handguns only.
For the remaining 27 states and territories who are not serving
as points of contact and for long-gun checks in partial point
of contact states, the FBI performs NICS checks. For fiscal
year 2000, the FBI estimates it will perform approximately
6.6 million NICS checks for non-point of contact states and
territories, while state points of contact will perform approximately
5 million checks.
An additional 89 reimbursable
positions will be required by the FBI in fiscal year 2000
to process the projected NICS workload. The FBI's workload
for NICS in fiscal year 2000 could be affected by decisions
made by states serving as points of contact to cease performing
that service.
For fiscal year 2000, the Administration
is proposing to fund the cost of FBI NICS operations through
the collection of user fees that would be paid by persons
desiring to establish their eligibility to purchase a firearm.
At this time, we estimate the fee will be between $11.00 and
$13.00. We anticipate that a Notice of Proposed Rulemaking
for the fee will be published in the Federal Register
in either April or May. The Final Rule must be published prior
to September 1, 1999, so that the fee can be implemented effective
with the beginning of fiscal year 2000 on October 1, 1999.
Most recently, on March 3, 1999,
the Department of Justice published a proposed rule in the
Federal Register to shorten the NICS records retention
period from its current six months to 90 days. This represents
the minimum time period that would be needed to detect prohibited
felons who assume the identity of a qualified person to buy
guns illegally and to identify individuals who misuse the
NICS system to perform background checks unrelated to gun
purchases. Retention of records for this limited time period
will allow the FBI to conduct audits that protect against
invasions of privacy that could result from misuse and abuse
of the NICS system. These audits are essential to safeguard
the security and privacy of personal information, such as
criminal and arrest histories, mental health information,
and military service background information, that is part
of NICS. I want to state unequivocally that the Department
is not using this information to establish a national gun
registry and that records of eligible purchasers will be destroyed
after 90 days.
Infrastructure
The FBI anticipates awarding
a contract for the construction of its new Laboratory facility
at the FBI Academy in Quantico, Virginia, by mid-April. While
occupation of the new FBI Laboratory will not occur until
late 2001, it will be necessary to begin acquiring specialized
scientific and laboratory equipment, cabling, and furnishings
for the new facility in fiscal year 2000 so that these items
can be installed prior to occupancy. Some specialized equipment
that will be needed for the FBI Laboratory is not made on
a production line; rather, it is produced on an application
basis. Manufacturers require a substantial lead time to produce,
test, validate, and calibrate new instruments before shipping
for installation. To begin the acquisition of specialized
equipment for the new FBI Laboratory, an increase of $5,000,000
is requested.
Related Departmental Funding
Requests
I would like to comment briefly
on several related Department funding requests that directly
affect the FBI in 2000, including: the Telecommunications
Carrier Compliance Fund (TCCF), the Narrowband Communications
Fund, and state and local bomb technician equipment funding.
TCCF. Within the General Administration appropriation, a total
of $15,000,000 is requested under the TCCF to continue reimbursements
to telecommunications carriers and service providers as authorized
by the Communications Assistance for Law Enforcement Act (CALEA).
Narrowband communications. Also within the General Administration appropriation,
an enhancement of $45,979,000 is requested for Departmental
narrowband radio equipment and services. Of this amount, approximately
$32,435,000 would be made available to the FBI for acquiring
replacement hand-held, mobile, and other radio communications
equipment that complies with narrowband requirements issued
by the National Telecommunications and Information Administration.
Under these requirements, the FBI must replace its existing
VHF radio communications equipment and system with new technology
that operates on one-half the current bandwidth.
The FBI has nearly 12,400 hand-held
radios and over 11,000 mobile radios that are not compatible
with narrowband technology and which must be replaced. Our
field offices have identified a need for nearly 3,400 hand-held
radios and 3,100 mobile radios above current inventory to
support FBI and task force operations. We also operate the
largest, civilian land- based mobile radio communications
infrastructure in the United States that will also need to
be replaced to accommodate the new narrowband radio technology.
State and Local Bomb Technician
Equipment. Finally,
within the Office of Justice Programs, a total of $45,000,000
is requested for the FBI to continue a program of providing
chemical and biological detection technology and other equipment
to state and local bomb technicians and bomb squads. This
funding builds upon initiatives supported in prior years by
the Subcommittee to enhance training for the bomb technician
community and to train and equip these technicians and squads
for dealing with large, improvised explosive devices, including
devices involving chemical toxins and biological agents.
Legislative Proposals
Mr. Chairman, the fiscal 2000
budget request includes several legislative items proposed
for the FBI, including: danger pay authority, foreign cooperative
agreement authority, extension of the Title 5 demonstration
project, and a new demonstration project for the defensive
arming of a limited number of non-agent surveillance specialists.
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Section 114
would extend to me the same authority that DEA Administrator
Constantine currently enjoys for authorizing danger pay
for personnel assigned to high risk overseas locations.
For the FBI, this is both a pay equity issue for FBI Agents
assigned to DEA Country Offices and a recognition of the
increased threat facing FBI personnel performing extraterritorial
investigations in foreign locations due to our counterterrorism
efforts. At times, FBI personnel are deployed to overseas
locations where they face a threat or danger that does
not always extend to all members of the United States
diplomatic team in a particular country. This authority
would allow me to recognize those situations.
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Section 115
would extend from three years to five years the duration
of the limited exemption from Title 5 for critical skill
positions. That limited exemption was granted by the Congress
in 1998. An extension is needed so the operating plan
for the demonstration project, which was approved by the
Subcommittee in January 1999, can run for the full three
years originally envisioned.
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Section 116
would allow the FBI to credit to its appropriation, funding
that is received from friendly foreign governments for
that country's share of joint, cooperative projects.
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Finally,
Section 123 proposes a demonstration project to evaluate
the feasibility of arming, for defensive purposes only,
up to 50 members of FBI Special Surveillance Group teams,
that provide surveillance support in counterintelligence
and counterterrorism investigations. This is a safety
issue. Our surveillance teams are operating in more dangerous
and hostile environments and against individuals who are
more unpredictable in their behavior. I am concerned for
the safety of these highly trained specialists who are
finding themselves in harm's way as they perform their
duties in support of our counterterrorism and counterintelligence
programs. The proposal includes specific safeguards with
respect to qualifications, selection, training in firearms
proficiency and deadly force policy for individuals selected
for the demonstration project.
Last year, the Committee was
supportive of several legislative provisions, including an
emergency procurement authority for the Attorney General and
authority to extend payments for relocation expenses for Department
of Justice personnel transferred to Puerto Rico and other
territories. I would like to extend my sincere thanks for
your assistance on these issues, and particularly for helping
us address one of the quality of life issues that we believe
will help attract and retain fluent Spanish-speaking agents
for our San Juan Field Office.
Summary
I am especially proud of the
work being performed every day by the men and women of the
FBI. Their ability to do that work is a reflection of the
strong support given to the FBI by this Subcommittee. I believe
our strategic vision and plan of action will position the
FBI to deal with the challenges we face from increasingly
complex and changing crime problems and national security
threats. The budget initiatives proposed for fiscal year 2000
will help us implement our Strategic Plan and give us the
opportunity to achieve the strategic objectives that we have
identified for ourselves. I believe our priorities and objectives
reflect the expectations for the FBI that are held by the
American public, as well as the Congress.
Again, I thank you for this
opportunity to appear before the Subcommittee.
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