Good
afternoon! Thanks, Walt, and thank you all for having me. It's
great to be able to spend some time with you today talking about
our relationships and the new reality of terrorism that we're
all dealing with today.
Let me
say at the outset how much I respect and appreciate the National
Academy program and how much I respect and appreciate all of
you and your leadership. In my mind, you have done a great service
to the law enforcement community by coming together in the FBI
National Academy Associates. By staying connected, by continuing
to train together, by building relationships with fellow graduates
around the world, you have multiplied the success of the National
Academy many times over. And to your credit, you have made the
FBINAA one of the most positive and influential forces in law
enforcement. On behalf of the men and women of the FBI, and
on behalf of everyone in our profession, I thank and congratulate
you all.
It's no
surprise to me that you are focused on terrorism this week.
You have been leaders for years, and I appreciate your tackling
what has become the most dominant issue on all of our plates.
In many ways, this new specter of terror is the toughest challenge
we have ever faced. Al Qaeda is the most elusive and the most
openly hostile terrorist network to ever come after us. Their
terrorists are willing to go to virtually any length to destroy
us -- whether it's suicide attacks or "dirty" bombs.
They are studying our every weakness. And they have the means,
the motivation, and the money to strike us at any time.
There is
no question, it's a new era for law enforcement. We simply cannot
protect a seemingly endless number of targets here and overseas
without working together. We simply cannot take out an international
terrorist network like al Qaeda, one that has put down roots
in one out of four countries, without working together. To win
this fight, we have got to link up operationally in ways we
have never done before. Sitting back and waiting for the next
attack to take place is simply not an option for the FBI or
for any of us. We have to work together as seamlessly as we
can. We have to be true partners.
We in the
FBI understand that more than ever. We've had productive relationships
with you and your colleagues for many years, but we have not
always done the best job of sharing information. I am here today,
though, to tell you that we are committed to changing and that
we are changing.
It began
shortly after the events of September 11. When concerns began
to surface, we sat down to talk with you and leaders throughout
law enforcement. You told us that you wanted to be full partners
in the war on terror. You asked that we give you the full benefit
of our intelligence and information so that you could better
protect your communities. And you said you wanted every relationship
with the FBI to be open and constructive and cooperative.
We heard
you. And we have made a series of changes.
I put out the word to our Special Agents in Charge to make building
and maintaining relationships with you a priority. I asked them
to fold you and your colleagues into the fight against terror
at every turn. And they have responded.
Then, we
put together an advisory group made up of key representatives
throughout law enforcement, one that comes together regularly
to air issues and to find solutions. Walt Corter is a member
of that board, and we very much appreciate his participation.
In recent
years, our Joint Terrorism Task Forces have been critical to
sharing information and fighting terrorism together. In my mind,
having all of us sit together in one room -- literally shoulder-to-shoulder
-- is one of the best ways we have of developing the kind of
abiding relationships that carry on for years. That is why,
shortly after the attacks, I asked every FBI office that didn't
have a task force to get one up and running in short order.
Today, 47 out of 56 field offices have fully operational task
forces. We expect the rest to be in place by year's end.
In December,
as part of our reorganization, we also announced that we were
creating two posts specifically devoted to building law enforcement
relationships. And we filled those jobs with two professionals
with extensive police experience and strong reputations in your
ranks.
One is
Kathleen McChesney, who is Executive Assistant Director for
Law Enforcement Services, one of the four major branches in
our new structure. Many of you know her, and she is on point
to build relationships nationally and internationally. She is
also responsible for many of the programs that you have come
to rely upon, from training to criminal justice services to
laboratory support. Kathleen is meeting with our law enforcement
partners in Germany today.
Reporting
to Kathleen is an Assistant Director of a new office for Law
Enforcement Coordination. As many of you know, we recently selected
former High Point Police Chief Louis Quijas for this job. Louis
has been here with you this week and is here today. His responsibility
is to be your voice in the Bureau -- to take your pulse, to
find out what you need, and then to let us know so we can act
on it. He is also there when we in the FBI develop investigative
strategies, ensuring that we incorporate the capabilities of
the people in this room as well as our other counterparts. Louis
has already put together a strategic plan for his office, and
I know he will be sharing it with you in the days and weeks
to come. And by the way, Louis wanted me to tell you that he
is a graduate of the 168th session of the National Academy.
We in the
FBI are also tackling full force the information-sharing issue
and its many different pieces. We've made some progress. We
have appointed Bill Eubanks, the former SAC in St. Louis, to
lead a National Intel Sharing Program that is working to get
you the information you need to do your jobs.
Some areas, though, are going to take time to fix. For example,
we simply won't be able to solve all our technology problems
overnight. We've got some cutting edge technologies when it
comes to our ability to analyze DNA evidence, or when it comes
to using sniffers to go up the line on a denial of service attack
by some hacker. But our own computer systems -- and our own
abilities to manage and share information -- are far behind
where they need to be. Congress has given us nearly a half-billion
dollars to get up to speed. And I expect over the next two or
three years our infrastructure will dramatically improve. And
when it does, it will in turn dramatically improve our ability
to share information with you and your colleagues.
The events
of September 11 have also made it painfully clear that our ability
to analyze and then share intelligence is not where it needs
to be. We've established an Office of Intelligence to help us
improve. It will be headed by a respected, long-standing member
of the CIA, who will bring with him approximately 25 analysts
to help us analyze the river of information that flows into
the FBI every day and put it out to all of you in a form that
strips it of its sources and methods but gives you the texture
you need to do your jobs.
One of
the issues that I know is on your mind -- and is certainly on
my mind -- is how we communicate threat warnings and advisories.
Let me say, I understand your frustration with these alerts,
with both the content and how fast they get to you. I know how
disconcerting it is to hear threat warnings for the first time
on CNN. Right now, we have a number of communications capabilities
as a law enforcement community. We have NLETS. We have RISS
Net. We have LEO. But in my mind, not one of them alone is good
enough to get the job done. And one of the challenges we have
is to develop together a means of communicating with each other
that is better than the combination of the three or four mechanisms
that are out there today. I assure you, we are working on it
as quickly as we can.
Overall,
I will say that I am pleased with the way the men and women
of the FBI are responding to the new call for partnerships.
Many of you have told me that they are reaching out more and
more, that they are getting you the information you need and
supporting you better all around. We've still got a long ways
to go. But our commitment is strong and I think we're heading
in the right direction.
As we move
forward, I want to ask for your support. Because the fact is,
the FBINAA is important to us. We need you. We want to work
with you. And we realize that you are in a position as leaders
to really make a difference.
As you
know, the FBI is in a state of transformation today. We needed
change before September 11, and we need it more now. Prevention
of terrorist attacks is by far and away our most urgent priority,
and that means we have to refocus and reassign our resources.
We are
proposing to Congress to shift 480 FBI Agents to prevention.
Of the 480 Agents, approximately 400 will be moved from narcotics
investigations. The rest will come from violent crime and lesser
white collar crime.
This is
an important decision for us, and we're well aware of the burden
it puts on you here in United States. We're going to continue
working with you and supporting you, but we do need you to backfill
for us in some of these cases.
It's my
expectation that we will do fewer narcotics investigations.
We will still play a role in the various task forces, but where
we had 10 or 15 Agents on a given task force, we may cut back
to five or ten. I expect that where there is an overlap in the
investigations of cartels, we will defer to the DEA. But in
the interim, assuming our proposal is approved, we will not
pull Agents off key narcotics cases.
I expect
that we will continue to support you on complex cross-county
bank robberies, but we may do fewer one note jobs. Having spent
some time as a homicide prosecutor, my own belief is that law
enforcement must address violent crime as a substantial priority.
And to the extent that we in the FBI can bring something special
to the table, we will continue to participate on violent crime
task forces, but perhaps with fewer Special Agents. We will
also continue our work in white collar crime, but we may raise
the dollar limits of cases we investigate.
Let me
say, these are general guidelines and not hard and fast rules.
I want to give our Special Agents in Charge a great deal of
flexibility. And I want to assure you that you that we will
not compromise our longstanding relationships with you as we
move through this process.
On a broader
level, we also need your help and your leadership in building
partnerships throughout the law enforcement community. In many
ways, we are fortunate to have an organization like the FBINAA
at a time like this. You know the value of partnerships. You
have each spent ten weeks at Quantico building friendships with
your colleagues, and you have extended your reach through this
organization. Within your agencies and within the broader law
enforcement community, you have the respect and the influence
to spread the message of cooperation, to open doors, and to
facilitate the kind of information sharing we all need and want.
You have the expertise and the leadership skills to help us
find innovative ways to link up our operations and our systems.
In short, you have what it takes to lead in this new era of
law enforcement cooperation.
Let me
close with a personal word of thanks. Like many of you, I have
been in this profession for many years. But I have never seen
the day-to-day stresses and strains higher than they are today.
Often, it feels like we are walking headlong into the unknown
-- trying to change and adapt even as we move full steam ahead,
knowing full well that we really can't afford to miss a step
along the way. We have come through a time of great grief, a
time when we lost many of our colleagues -- including two graduates
of the National Academy -- in just a few short hours.
The hazards
of our profession are real. The stresses are real. And I want
to salute all of you here today, because you are our leaders.
You are the ones who are shouldering much of the burden. You
are the ones who are going to help steer us through these tough
times. You are the ones who are going to build the partnerships
and the programs that will define our future.
On behalf
of the men and women of the FBI, I pledge to you our full cooperation
and our full support. You are not only our partners and colleagues,
you are our friends and part of the FBI family. And we are honored
to serve alongside you.
Thanks
so much for all you do, and God bless.