Statement
of
Robert S. Mueller, III
Director, Federal Bureau of Investigation
Before the House Appropriations Subcommittee on Science,
the Departments of State, Justice and Commerce, and
Related Agencies
September 14, 2006
Good afternoon, Mr. Chairman, Congressman Mollohan,
and members of the subcommittee. I am pleased to be
here today to discuss the progress of the FBI's transformation
efforts.
When
I was sworn-in as the sixth director of the FBI on
September 4, 2001, I was aware of the need to address
a number of management and administrative challenges
facing the Bureau at that time. However, the terrorist
attacks of September 11, 2001, the emerging threats
brought on by globalization and advances in technology,
and the continued traditional criminal threats, required
far more changes than we could have ever expected.
Indeed, the last five years have been a time of unprecedented
change for the FBI.
While
there have been some setbacks along the way, there
has also been remarkable progress. Today, the FBI
is a stronger organization, combining greater capabilities
with the longstanding commitment to the security of
the United States.
After
the September 11 attacks on America, the FBI priorities
shifted dramatically. Our top priority became the
prevention of another terrorist attack. Today, our
top three priorities—counterterrorism, counterintelligence,
and cyber security—are all national-security
related. To that end, we have made a number of changes
in the Bureau, both in structure and in the way we
do business. We have recently announced the realignment
of our organizational structure to create five branches:
National Security, Criminal Investigations, Science
and Technology, the Office of the Chief Information
Officer, and Human Resources. These changes address
areas where we and outside advisors identified weaknesses
or areas where additional change is needed. This structure
will carry the FBI into 2011 and beyond.
Understandably,
much of the focus on the FBI in the last five years
has been on the transformation, the changes, the shifts.
But amid all the change, there is another story—that
of tremendous accomplishment.
My
testimony today is a collection of some of the FBI's
most important accomplishments over the last five
years. Credit for these accomplishments goes to many.
The support and guidance provided by the Congress,
and by this subcommittee in particular, has been invaluable.
The Administration has strongly supported our efforts,
and many independent organizations offered important
advice and guidance that substantially enhanced our
efforts.
But
most of the credit, Mr. Chairman, goes to the 30,000
men and women of the FBI. They are the ones who have
built on the foundation laid by the many agents and
professional staff who came before them. They are
the ones who have made all that we have done in the
last five years possible. And they are the ones who
will be there in the future continuing the proud tradition
of the FBI to protect the nation while preserving
civil liberties. I have been privileged to work with
this outstanding group of public servants for the
last five years. Their hard work, dedication, and
resolve are a daily inspiration.
As
set forth below, each branch of the FBI—National
Security, Criminal Investigations, Science and Technology,
the Office of the Chief Information Officer, and Human
Resources—has demonstrated the ability and the
willingness to embrace change for a better, stronger,
more effective FBI. These accomplishments are by no
means exhaustive, but they provide a vivid illustration
of the extraordinary work done day-in and day-out
at the FBI.
National
Security
Since
September 11, 2001, the FBI has implemented significant
changes to integrate our intelligence and operational
elements and enhance our ability to counter today's
most critical threats. We have built upon our established
capacity to collect information and enhanced our ability
to analyze and disseminate intelligence. Development
of the National Security Branch (NSB) has been another
step in enhancing the FBI's mission as a dual law
enforcement and intelligence agency.
The
National Security Branch structure took effect on
September 12, 2005, in response to a directive from
the President to the Attorney General. The NSB consists
of the FBI's Counterterrorism Division (CTD), the
Counterintelligence Division (CD), the Directorate
of Intelligence (DI), and the new Weapons of Mass
Destruction (WMD) Directorate. Combining our national
security workforce and mission under one leadership
umbrella enhances our contribution to the national
intelligence effort and provides us with the opportunity
to leverage resources from our U.S. Intelligence Community
(USIC) partners, as well as our federal, state, local,
and tribal law enforcement partners.
Counterterrorism
Division
The
mission of the Counterterrorism Division is to identify
and disrupt potential terrorist plots by individuals
or terror cells, freezing terrorist finances, sharing
information with law enforcement and intelligence
partners worldwide, and providing strategic and operational
threat analysis to the wider intelligence community.
Since the September 11 attacks, we have dramatically
strengthened our ability to combat terrorism and have
had success identifying, disrupting, and dismantling
terrorist threats. Set forth below are a few examples
of the myriad successes in this regard.
In
the past five years, we have disrupted terrorist financing
mechanisms.
An
investigation titled "Operation Blackbear"
was initiated in 2001 and focused on three individuals
involved in raising money for terrorist organizations.
Our investigation identified other individuals in
the United States that could remit money to Yemen
for support of terrorist organizations. We developed
evidence that indicated the subjects were engaged
in providing money to support mujahadeen fighters
in Afghanistan, Chechnya, and Kashmir and that they
had met with Bin Laden and provided money, arms, and
recruits.
Two
of the subjects were arrested in Germany in January
2003 and charge with providing material support to
terrorism and conspiracy to provide material support.
They were extradited to the United States and indicted
in December 2003. These individuals were found guilty
in March 2005 and sentenced to significant prison
terms. In addition, other individuals were arrested
on charges such as illegal money remitting and bank
structuring charges and were convicted or pled guilty
in connection to this investigation. "Operation
Blackbear" also resulted in the criminal forfeiture
of approximately 25 million dollars.
In
December 2001, an investigation into the Global Relief
Foundation (GRF) proved that the organization was
providing material support to terrorism. The GRF was
an Islamic charity claiming to be a conduit for directing
aid to the poor and needy of the Islamic world. The
investigation uncovered facts to indicate that GRF
was actually a conduit for funding Islamic fighters
engaged in battle throughout the world, including
Chechnya. GRF was the second largest Islamic non-governmental
organization operating in the U.S. and was named a
"Specially Designated Global Terrorist"
entity by the Department of Treasury pursuant to Executive
Order 13224. Through our efforts and those of our
partners, this organization was successfully disrupted
and dismantled. Rabih Haddad, GRF's chairman of the
board, was subsequently arrested and deported to Lebanon
after a two-year detention period.
In
August 2003, Enaam Arnaout, chief executive officer
of the Benevolence International Foundation (BIF),
was convicted of racketeering conspiracy in the diversion
of charitable donations to Islamic fighters, and sentenced
to over 11 years in federal prison. BIF was also an
Islamic charity claiming to be a conduit for directing
aid to the poor and needy of the Islamic world. The
investigation uncovered facts to indicate that it
was actually a conduit for funding Islamic fighters
engaged in battle in Chechnya, Bosnia, and Sudan.
BIF
also employed several high-ranking al Qaeda operatives
and facilitated the international travel of these
individuals under the guise of charity work. BIF was
third largest Islamic NGO operating in the U.S. and,
like GRF, was named a "Specially Designated Global
Terrorist" entity by the Department of the Treasury
pursuant to Executive Order13224. This designation
was based primarily upon information gathered through
the FBI investigation. Due to the Treasury designations
of BIF and GRF, both organizations have closed all
operations in the U.S. and abroad.
Working
with our federal, state and tribal partners, we have
had other operational successes that contribute to
the overall goal of keeping America safe.
In
2002, we arrested Iyman Faris, an Ohio truck driver
from Kashmir, who later pled guilty to providing material
support and resources to al Qaeda. Faris admitted
that he met with Bin Laden at a training camp in Afghanistan
and that he cased the Brooklyn Bridge with an eye
toward planning an attack. He was sentenced to 20
years in prison.
The
investigation known as the "Lackawanna Six"
determined that shortly before the 9/11 terrorist
attacks, specific individuals attended or supported
attendees at the Al-Farooq terrorist training camp,
an al Qaeda military-style training camp, located
in Afghanistan. The investigation successfully identified
and documented the methods al Qaeda members used to
communicate with and recruit U.S. citizens of Yemeni
descent to travel to Afghanistan for the purpose of
military training for jihad.
The
investigation resulted in the convictions of the six
men, all U.S. citizens of Yemeni descent. All were
convicted of providing material support to al Qaeda
and conducting transactions unlawfully with al Qaeda.
They are currently serving sentences ranging from
seven to 10 years after pleading guilty in 2003. A
seventh individual, who fled the United States prior
to the capture and conviction of his cell, is believed
to still be outside the country and is currently listed
on the FBI's Most Wanted Terrorist section of the
FBI website.
In
August of last year, four men were indicted and charged
with plotting to attack U.S. military facilities,
Israeli government facilities, and Jewish synagogues
in the Los Angeles area. Investigators broke this
case when the terrorists committed a series of gas
station robberies in the Los Angeles area to raise
the money to finance the attacks. Together, hundreds
of investigators from the FBI, state and local law
enforcement, the Department of Homeland Security and
other agencies worked around the clock at an FBI command
post to identify other members of the cell. They spent
thousand of hours tracing the steps of these terrorists
until the entire cell was exposed.
Likewise,
earlier this year, we worked with our partners on
the Joint Terrorism Task Force in Toledo, Ohio, and
with the United States Secret Service to arrest three
men on charges of conspiring to commit terrorist acts
against Americans overseas. These men have been charged
with providing financing, computers, and communications
equipment to terrorists.
More
recently, we worked with British and Pakistani law
enforcement and intelligence authorities to investigate
potential ties in the United States to the British
suspects arrested last month in connection with the
plot to bomb several jet airlines over the Atlantic
Ocean. Together, we were able to identify the key
members of this cell and stop them before they could
strike.
The
FBI is the lead agency for preventing and investigating
domestic terrorism, such as animal rights extremism,
environmental extremism, right wing and left-wing
extremism.
The
mission of the FBI's domestic terrorism program is
to identify, prevent, and defeat terrorist operations
before they occur, and in the event of an act of terrorism,
to fulfill its role as the lead federal agency for
crisis response, functioning as the on-scene manager
for the U.S. government. The FBI investigates and
counters the activities of persons or organizations
who, without foreign direction, conspire or engage
in criminal activity to effect political or social
change in the United States. Some examples of the
FBI's domestic terrorism successes follow.
Between
1996 and 1998, bombs exploded four times in Atlanta,
Georgia, and Birmingham, Alabama, killing two, injuring
hundreds and setting off what turned out to be a five-year
manhunt for the suspected bomber Eric Rudolph. Working
with federal, state, and local partners through the
Southeast Bomb Task Force, investigators remained
focused on western North Carolina where Rudolph was
believed to be living.
Rudolph
was captured in May 2003 in Murphy, North Carolina,
by a local officer who spotted him rummaging through
a dumpster. Rudolph signed a plea agreement in April
2005, pleading guilty to both the Birmingham bombing
and the Atlanta bombings. In connection with the plea
agreement, five caches, containing approximately 265
pounds of dynamite and other bomb-making material,
were recovered in western North Carolina. In July
2005, Rudolph was sentenced to two consecutive life
terms for the two counts in the Birmingham bombing.
A
series of Earth Liberation Front (ELF) arsons occurred
in the Sacramento, California, area beginning in December
2004, when four improvised incendiary devices (IIDs)
were discovered at a construction site in Lincoln,
California. In January 2005, five IIDs were discovered
at a construction site in Auburn, California. In February
2005, seven IIDs ignited in an apartment complex under
construction in Sutter Creek, California. Based on
source information and follow-up investigation, four
individuals were arrested. Charges included conspiracy
to commit arson and aiding and abetting arson. All
of the subjects ultimately pled guilty and are serving
sentences ranging from two to six years incarceration.
In
January 2006, a 65 count indictment of 11 individuals
was handed down on charges including arson and destruction
of an energy facility on behalf of the Earth Liberation
Front and Animal Liberation Front movements (ELF/ALF).
These
and other investigations demonstrate the advancements
that the FBI counterterrorism program has made in
the last five years. Our counterterrorism efforts
are enhanced in other ways as well.
Joint
Terrorism Task Forces
Joint
Terrorism Task Forces (JTTFs) team up police officers,
FBI agents, and officials from over 20 federal law
enforcement agencies to investigate terrorism cases.
We have increased multi agency JTTFs from 35 to 101
since 2001, and have increased the number of agents
and law enforcement serving on JTTFs from under 1,000
to nearly 4,000. To support the JTTFs, thousands of
clearances have been processed for state/local JTTF
officers. The JTTFs have been a resounding success,
and they play a central role in virtually every terrorism
investigation, prevention, or interdiction within
the U.S.
These
local force multipliers are mirrored at Headquarters
with the National Joint Terrorism Task Force (NJTTF).
Immediately following the attacks of September 11,
2001, an ad hoc group of representatives from federal
agencies began meeting, sharing information, and working
together in the FBI's Strategic Information Operations
Center at Headquarters. In July 2002, we formally
created the NJTTF to act as a liaison and conduit
for information on threats and leads from FBI Headquarters
to the local JTTFs and to 40 participating agencies.
The
NJTTF now includes representatives from members of
the Intelligence Community; components of the departments
of Homeland Security, Defense, Justice, Treasury,
Transportation, Commerce, Energy, State, and the Interior;
the City of New York Police Department; the Nuclear
Regulatory Commission; Railroad Police; U.S. Capitol
Police; and others. All members are provided with
access to the FBI intranet, including its internal
e-mail system, and to the FBI's investigative database
for purposes of counterterrorism investigations. In
turn, members provide access to their organizations'
respective databases consistent with applicable laws
and regulations.
Terrorist
Screening Center
On
September 16, 2003, the President directed the Attorney
General, Secretary of Homeland Security, Secretary
of State, and Director of Central Intelligence to
develop the Terrorist Screening Center (TSC) to consolidate
information from terrorist watch lists and provide
24-hour, seven-days-a-week operational support for
law enforcement, consular officers, and other officials.
The FBI was directed to lead this effort and we began
operations in December 2003.
The
TSC manages the one, consolidated terrorist watchlist,
providing key resources for screeners and law enforcement
personnel. These include: a single coordination point
for terrorist screening data; a 24/7 call center for
encounter identification assistance; access to a coordinated
law enforcement response; a formal process for tracking
encounters; feedback to the appropriate entities;
and a process to address misidentification issues.
Recent TSC successes include: a traffic stop resulting
in the arrest of a suspect connected to Hamas, which
is denoted as a Specially Designated Terrorist Organization
by the Department of State, and a customs in-flight
check with the FBI prompting an arrest at the Chicago
airport.
Foreign
Terrorist Tracking Task Force
The
Foreign Terrorist Tracking Task Force (FTTTF) was
created pursuant to Homeland Security Presidential
Directive No. 2 and was consolidated into the FBI
pursuant to the Attorney General's directive in August
2002. The FTTTF uses innovative analytical techniques
and technologies that help keep foreign terrorists
and their supporters out of the United States or lead
to their removal, location, detention, or prosecution.
The participants in the FTTTF include the Department
of Defense, the Department of Homeland Security's
bureaus of Immigration and Customs Enforcement and
Customs and Border Protection, the State Department,
the Social Security Administration, the Office of
Personnel Management, the Department of Energy, and
the Central Intelligence Agency.
FTTTF
has also established liaison with foreign partners
including Canada, Australia, and the United Kingdom.
To accomplish its mission, the FTTTF has facilitated
and coordinated information sharing agreements among
these participating agencies and other public and
proprietary companies to assist in locating terrorists
and their supporters who are, or have been, in the
United States. The FTTTF has access to over 40 sources
of data containing lists of known and suspected foreign
terrorists and their supporters, including the FBI's
Violent Gang and Terrorist Offenders File.
Counterintelligence
Division
Foreign
counterintelligence (FCI) is a crucial component of
the FBI's overall strategy, second only to counterterrorism.
As the lead agency for FCI in the United States, and
the primary investigative component of the Department
of Justice, the FBI has the responsibility to oversee
the integration of U.S. law enforcement and intelligence
efforts to ensure that all available means are brought
to bear to mitigate this ongoing and daunting threat,
consistent with our laws and policy.
In
February 2002, the FBI embarked on a dramatic transformation
of its counterintelligence program. Awareness of the
growing threat to United States national security
interests, combined with a realization that adversaries
were successfully expanding their efforts, utilizing
new approaches, and targeting critical U.S. technologies
forced a comprehensive reconsideration and redirection
of the FBI's counterintelligence program. The FBI's
counterintelligence program has been transformed and,
while continuing to show success against traditional
adversaries, has developed and implemented a far-reaching
program designed to address a new and growing threat
that seeks to disadvantage the United States in virtually
all sectors and every section of the country.
While many of our counterintelligence successes cannot
be discussed publicly, the following cases represent
some of our efforts to address this threat.
The
FBI recently concluded a major counterintelligence
investigation involving Lawrence Franklin, a former
Iran desk officer in the Office of the Secretary of
Defense at the Pentagon. Franklin, from Kearneysville,
West Virginia, was sentenced on January 20, 2006,
by U.S. District Judge T.S. Ellis III on three felony
counts: conspiracy to communicate national defense
information to persons not entitled to receive it;
conspiracy to communicate classified information to
an agent of a foreign government; and the unlawful
retention of national defense information. Franklin
was sentenced to a total of 151 months in prison and
ordered to pay a fine of $10,000.
On
December 15, 2005, a federal jury convicted Kenneth
Wayne Ford, Jr., of Waldorf, Maryland, of unlawfully
possessing classified information related to the national
defense and making a false statement to a U.S. government
agency. Ford was employed by the National Security
Agency (NSA) between June 2001 and late 2003. On January
11, 2004, FBI agents executed a search warrant at
Ford's residence and discovered sensitive classified
information throughout his home, including numerous
top secret documents in two boxes in Ford's kitchen.
Ford was arrested on January 12, 2004. Ford had taken
home the classified information on the last day of
his employment at NSA in December 2003, when Ford
was to start working in the private sector on a classified
contract for a defense contractor. On March 30, 2006,
Ford was sentenced to 72 months in prison.
On
March 23, 2006, Howard Hsy, of Bellevue, Washington,
was sentenced by a U.S. District Court Judge to two
years of probation and a $15,000 fine for conspiracy
to violate the Arms Export Control Act. Hsy conspired
with others to export night vision goggles and camera
lenses to a contact in Taiwan. Exporting those items
required a license and written approval from the State
Department, which Hsy did not have. The military equipment
is later shipped to the People's Republic of China.
Hsy conspired with others in the Seattle area and
Taiwan to purchase the military gear for export. The
military equipment was primarily used by military
pilots to fly and navigate at night. In October 2005,
a Seattle-area co-conspirator, Donald Shull, pled
guilty to conspiracy to violate the Export Administration
Act and was sentenced in February 2006 to two years
of probation and a $10,000 fine.
On
January 25, 2006, the U.S. Southern District Court
of Indiana convicted Shaaban Hafiz Ahmad Ali Shaaban
of six counts: conspiracy; acting as a foreign agent
without notification; one violation of the Iraqi sanctions
under the International Emergency Economic Powers
Act; unlawful procurement of an identification document;
and unlawful procurement of naturalization. Shaaban
never registered as an agent of Iraq, yet, in 2002
and 2003 when he lived in Indianapolis and Greenfield,
Indiana, Shaaban traveled to Baghdad in late 2002
where he offered to sell names of U.S. intelligence
agents and operatives to Iraq for $3 million; sought
to gain Iraqi support to establish an Arabic television
station in the United States that would broadcast
news and discussions that would be pro-Iraqi; sought
to enter into a "cooperation agreement"
where he would be paid a fee by Iraq to organize volunteers
to act as human shields to protect Iraqi infrastructure
during the war; and broadcasted messages of support
for the Iraqi government on Iraqi media stations that
advocated support for Iraq and encouraged others to
forcibly resist the United States and others who opposed
Iraq.
Counterintelligence
Operations
The
Counterintelligence Division (CD) has implemented
the National Strategy for Counterintelligence, focusing
resources on counterproliferation, counterespionage,
and protection of critical national assets. This included
implementation of field office counterintelligence
program reviews utilizing metrics tied to the national
strategy, ensuring resources in the field are prioritized
and following the national strategy, recommending
improvements where needed.
CD
has also established a Counterespionage Section to
focus and consolidate espionage investigations within
one section at headquarters. It seeks to identify
and investigate the non traditional foreign intelligence
threat in both establishment and non establishment
offices. It also has developed country specific program
directives to the field offices that are coordinated
by headquarters.
The
CD agent workforce now constitutes a sizable portion
of the overall agent workforce, receiving steady enhancements
since 2002. With this larger workforce, we have established
CD squads in all 56 field offices. Additionally, we
use contractors with counterintelligence expertise
to augment the program where needed.
The
Counterintelligence Training Center has also expanded,
which has doubled the number of trained counterintelligence
professionals. We have also expanded advanced training
programs, and have seen a significant increase of
the number of agents who received this advanced training.
Also of note is the establishment of a CD supervisors
course and a CD field executive course.
We
have helped establish the National Counterintelligence
Working Group, an inter agency group of 25 national
level CI leaders, which, with the FBI, coordinates
counterintelligence operations at the national level.
We have also established regional inter agency counter-intelligence
working groups throughout the U.S., which, with the
FBI, implement the national strategy by reviewing
joint operations, identifying priorities and trends,
and providing a general forum for agency de confliction.
We
have focused on working with those who may be targets
of foreign counterintelligence efforts. We established
joint technology protection task forces with DOD to
protect specific weapons systems such as the Joint
Strike Fighter. We implemented an "Agents in
the Lab" program in specific DOE facilities for
the purpose of raising counterintelligence awareness
and broadening the FBI's access to intelligence within
the labs.
Our
newly-established Domain Section within the FBI focuses
resources on building relationships in business and
academia through business and academic alliances.
We have secured the cooperation of major corporations
such as L3, Boeing, Northrup Grumman, Lockheed Martin,
and Tier 1 research universities in our domain initiative.
We
will also soon release our Research Technology Protection/Infragard
website that will support information sharing by providing
unclassified FBI, DOD, and Defense Security Service
intelligence products to cleared contractors, academia,
and interested businesses.
Directorate
of Intelligence
In
2005, the FBI created its Directorate of Intelligence,
which is responsible for intelligence policy within
the Bureau and controls the budget for the people,
information technology, training, and other resources
that it manages. The directorate succeeded the Office
of Intelligence, which we stood up following the 9/11
terrorist attacks. In response to today's asymmetric
threats, we have elevated our intelligence program
to a level on par with our investigative programs.
The new intelligence program is defined by enhanced
analytical capabilities, state of the art information
technology and an integrated intelligence structure
at headquarters and in the field.
Intelligence
Career Service
The
FBI has created an Intelligence Career Service of
FBI special agents, intelligence analysts, language
analysts, and physical surveillance specialists whose
members work in every FBIHQ division and all 56 field
offices. We have embedded analysts, or are taking
actions to do so, in the FBI Laboratory, Operational
Technology Division, Criminal Justice Information
Services, and Special Technologies and Applications
Office to explore and exploit unique information available
that is responsive to national requirements. The DI
continues to build up the ICS, bringing onboard 370
additional intelligence analysts in fiscal 2006; the
FBI currently has over 2,100 intelligence analysts
on board through these efforts.
To
support the ICS, we have established training in order
to achieve a consistent level of knowledge across
the workforce on intelligence concepts and processes.
Training remains a major focus of the DI's efforts
in 2006, with improvements in the Analytical Cadre
Education Strategy (ACES) and implementation of an
aggressive schedule to provide training to IAs, language
analysts (LAs), and surveillance personnel in cohort
groups as they are hired. Cohort training, which replaces
ACES 1.0 for new ICS hires, began on October 16, 2005,
with two pilot classes. ACES training is mandatory
for all onboard IAs.
To
date, we have trained 392 ICS personnel through Cohort,
and have trained over 2,000 ICS personnel through
ACES. However, we also recognize a clear need to aggressively
work to improve training, if we are to meet workforce
expectations and mission demands. Therefore, we are
implementing a specific action plan with the FBI's
Training and Development Division, in cooperation
with our community partners, to advance FBI training
into an environment consistent with the demonstrated
readiness of our workforce and our mission demands.
In
December 2005, we certified the first FBI intelligence
officers as part of the pilot implementation of the
FBI Intelligence Officer Certification Program. FBI
Intelligence Officer Certification is a credential
that recognizes achievement in and long term commitment
to the intelligence profession as demonstrated through
experience, education, and training. Eleven FBI executives
have been certified, on the basis of prior training
and activities.
Linguists/Languages
The
FBI has increased its overall number of linguists
by 82 percent, with the number of linguists in certain
high priority languages (Middle Eastern and North
African languages) increasing by more than 250 percent.
Our hiring efforts are ongoing, with over 100 language
analysts in the final hiring process and a significant
number of prospective full time candidates identified
from current contract linguist applicants. The 2006
Budget provided an additional 264 full time linguist
positions for a total of 694 language analyst positions.
In addition to language analyst positions, many field
offices will be receiving new or additional supervisory
positions to accommodate and manage the growing FBI
linguist population.
To
ensure that all FBI linguists are subject to at least
an annual quality control review, we have established
a translation quality control program in our Language
Services Section (LSS). In addition, all translations
presented in court or otherwise designated for public
release, as well as the first 40 hours of translation
work performed by new linguists after their initial
training period, are subject to full quality control
review.
LSS
has trained and certified more than 201 quality control
reviewers from the middle of 2005 to the end of June
2006, and continues to conduct Quality Control Reviewer
Workshops on an almost monthly basis to increase and
retrain linguists certified to conduct quality control
reviews. There have been 2755 quality control reviews
performed since the inception of the program.
Finally,
the FBI is the designated executive agency for the
National Virtual Translation Center (NVTC), established
under the authority of the USA PATRIOT Act to "provide
accurate and timely translations of foreign intelligence
material to the US intelligence community." The
NVTC is the element of the U.S. government specifically
dedicated to the timely and accurate translation of
foreign intelligence for U.S. government agencies.
In addition, it enables interagency sharing of translation
resources, maximizes human and automated translation
capabilities, and balances the workload of translation
jobs among the various IC elements.
Field
Intelligence Groups
We
have developed and directed the implementation of
the Field Intelligence Group (FIG) program, which
serves as the lens through which the Field Divisions
evaluate threats. The FIG is the mechanism through
which the FBI contributes to regional and local perspectives
on a variety of issues, to include the receipt of
and action on integrated investigative and intelligence
requirements.
FIGs
further provide the intelligence link to the Joint
Terrorism Task Forces, Fusion Centers, FBIHQ and the
Intelligence Community at large. FIGs, which have
been established in all 56 field offices since October
2003, consist of intelligence analysts, special agents,
language analysts, and special surveillance groups.
FIG personnel have been embedded in more than 25 fusion
centers and/or multi agency intelligence centers around
the country.
Sharing
Intelligence
Among
the fundamental post-September 11 changes, sharing
intelligence is now the main objective. We have developed
an FBI intelligence presence within the intelligence
and law enforcement communities by sharing Intelligence
Information Reports, Intelligence Assessments, Intelligence
Bulletins, and related intelligence information on
platforms routinely used by our law enforcement and
Intelligence Community partners, including JWICS,
SIPRNet and LEO, as well as on the FBI Intranet. This
effort has resulted in more than 7,400 IIRs, 150 IBs,
and 100 IAs that have been posted on all listed platforms;
in addition, over 400 Current Intelligence Reports
have also been produced, of which over 50 have been
shared with the intelligence community through NCTC
Online. Furthermore, we are using our internal, closed
network to provide FBI employees with access to raw,
current and finished intelligence.
Domain
Management Initiative
We
recently began implementing the National Security
Branch Domain Management Initiative, a methodological
approach to FBI mission management that will define
our national security mission and, by extension, our
criminal and cyber missions. Traditionally, the FBI
has derived intelligence primarily from our cases.
The stand up of the NSB in 2005 required that we expand
our intelligence capacity beyond case driven investigations.
The focus is to remain ahead of the threat.
The
goal of domain management is to develop a comprehensive
understanding of a territory's threats and vulnerabilities
so that managers can effectively deploy resources
for greatest impact. Domain management is simply about
"questions and choices": What do you need
to know about your territory to protect the people
in it? What do you know about the threats and vulnerabilities
that worry you most? What don't you know about the
threats and vulnerabilities that worry you most? What
are you going to do to address your threats and vulnerabilities?
Weapons
of Mass Destruction
The
FBI serves as the lead agency for the investigative,
intelligence, counterintelligence, and overall law
enforcement response to a terrorist threat or incident
in the United States, and is charged with lead agency
responsibility for investigating violations of weapons
of mass destruction-related statutes. A critical,
challenging part of this mission is to detect and
disrupt the acquisition and use of WMD.
We
recently created a WMD Directorate within our National
Security Branch. The strategic focus of this directorate
is to prevent and disrupt the acquisition of WMD capabilities
and technologies for use against the United States.
The WMDD will support and consolidate the FBI's WMD
components. The strategic focus of this directorate
is to prevent and disrupt the acquisition of WMD capabilities
and technologies for use against the U.S. homeland
by terrorists and other adversaries, including nation-states.
It integrates and links all of the necessary counterterrorism,
intelligence, counterintelligence, and scientific
and technological components to accomplish the FBI's
overall WMD mission.
Over
the past five years, the FBI's WMD components have
engaged in outreach to target specific sectors of
industry, such as the chemical and agricultural industries,
to increase WMD awareness and sensitivities to potential
threats and to facilitate reporting of information
that potentially has intelligence value. This includes
the establishment of a two-way communication and methods
to report suspicious activity. WMD components established
two WMD-specific InfraGard portals to provide unclassified
information and intelligence products to vetted academia
and industry members.
Criminal
Investigations
National
security is the top priority of the FBI, and must
remain so. To support our top priorities of counterterrorism
and counterintelligence, we have shifted special agents
to those programs from criminal investigative programs.
Nevertheless, our criminal investigative program remains
effective.
In
the last five years, we have focused our resources
on those areas where the FBI has unique and specialized
capabilities. From cyber crime to public corruption
to white collar crime and beyond, the number of successful
and important investigations are significant. Our
criminal investigative program may be relatively smaller
than it was five years ago, but its impact is greater
than ever.
Cyber
Shortly after the 9/11 terrorist attacks, the FBI
established as our third priority protecting the United
States against cyber-based attacks and high-technology
crimes. In coordination with this priority and recognition
of the international aspects and national economic
implications of cyber threats, the FBI created a Cyber
Division (CyD) at the headquarters level to manage
and direct this nationally developing program.
The
rapid evolution of computer technology, coupled with
ever increasing techniques used by terrorists, foreign
intelligence actors, and criminals, requires FBI investigators
and professionals to have highly specialized computer
based skills. The FBI Cyber Program uses a centrally
coordinated strategy to support FBI priorities across
program lines, assisting crucial counterterrorism,
counterintelligence, and criminal investigations whenever
aggressive technical investigative assistance is required.
The Cyber Program also targets major criminal violators
with a cyber nexus.
We
have achieved significant results in both computer
intrusion investigations and cyber crime investigations.
Computer
Intrusions
Computer
intrusion cases—counterterrorism, counterintelligence,
and then criminal—are the first order of business
due to their relationship to national security matters.
Among
the most notable investigations for the Cyber Division
was the successful resolution of the Zotob worm case.
The Zotob worm is an IRC bot program, which manipulates
infected systems to connect to a remote server for
further instructions. This architecture allows the
operator complete remote access to infected computers,
enabling them to send SPAM, launch denial of service
attacks, steal personal information, and compromise
more computers.
The
Zotob case was initiated as a routine computer intrusion
matter, but quickly transformed into a highly complex,
global investigation which encompassed other CyD programs
including computer fraud, child pornography, and the
transmission of malicious code.
In
August 2005, one FBI team was deployed to Rabat, Morocco,
and one FBI team was deployed to Ankara, Turkey. The
teams were made up of FBI investigators, FBI malicious
code experts, and computer forensic experts. FBI deployment
teams were provided direct access to Turkish law enforcement
by Legat Ankara and Moroccan law enforcement by ALAT
Rabat. Cooperation was achieved from Microsoft Corp.,
major Internet service providers, and other private
sector e businesses, and the CyD collaborated with
law enforcement in Morocco and Turkey. As a result,
the two individuals responsible for the worm were
apprehended.
As
the world relies even more on technology in the future,
computer intrusion cases will undoubtedly grow. The
FBI is committed to the continued development of its
computer intrusion investigative program and building
on the progress of the last five years.
Innocent
Images National Initiative
The
FBI also remains committed to the Innocent Images
National Initiative (IINI). The IINI is an intelligence-driven,
proactive initiative that combats the worldwide proliferation
of child pornography and child sexual exploitation
facilitated by the Internet. IINI's mission is to
identify, investigate, and prosecute sexual predators
who use the Internet and other online services to
sexually exploit children; to establish a law enforcement
presence online as a deterrent; and to identify and
rescue child victims.
As
an example, in January of 2002 the FBI led an investigation
which resulted in the
rescue of a 13-year-old girl who had been taken to
Northern Virginia from Pittsburgh,
Pennsylvania by an individual she met on the Internet.
The girl was transported across state lines and held
in a residence where she was repeatedly sexually assaulted.
When the girl was rescued, she was restrained to a
bed post with a dog collar and a chain.
The
subject was identified after bragging in an Internet
chat room and sending photographs of the victim whom
he identified as his "sex slave". The subject
was prosecuted in the United States District Court
for the Western District of Pennsylvania and sentenced
to 17 years in prison.
Since
its inception in 1996, the program has grown exponentially,
and in recent years the pace has increased. Between
October 2002 and September 2004, more than 7,000 cases
have been opened, more than 2,300 informations/indictments
were issued, and nearly 2,300 convictions and/or pre-trial
diversions have been secured.
In
October 2004, the Innocent Images International Task
Force was established as an initiative to target East
Central European child pornography websites. The task
force has generated nearly 3,000 leads that have been
forwarded to the DOJ funded Internet Crimes Against
Children Task Forces and FBI offices around the country.
Almost 1,000 leads have been disseminated to our international
partners in more than 67 different countries.
Internet
Crime Complaint Center
A
key element to many successful investigations is the
assistance of the public. The Internet Crime Complaint
Center (IC3) enables the public to alert us to potential
cyber crimes. Since its inception, the IC3 has received
over 700,000 consumer complaints, more than 450,000
of which have been referred to law enforcement for
investigation. These referrals include an accumulated
loss in excess of $450 million as of December 31,
2005.
As
the IC3 is currently receiving over 22,000 complaints
a month, the one millionth consumer complaint is expected
to be processed in calendar year 2007. The IC3 has
referred over 4,500 significant identified cases with
an accumulative loss of $213 million to state and
local law enforcement. The nearly 900 investigations
that followed have resulted in 155 search warrants
issued, 56 arrest warrants issued, 479 arrests, 173
indictments, and 119 convictions.
The
IC3 also has coordinated several national initiatives
since its inception for the advancing of investigations
and prosecutions of Cyber cases, enhancing the development
of productive task forces, and establishing public/private
alliances to facilitate the timely sharing of intelligence.
Such intelligence is vital in crafting an aggressive
and proactive strategy to Cyber crimes, both domestically
and internationally.
Initiatives
include Operation Cyber Loss, Operation E Con, Operation
Cyber Sweep and Operation Web Snare. These initiatives
found more than 1.1 million victims and resulted in
more than 400 investigations, 263 indictments, 293
search/seizure warrants, $604 million in losses, and
355 arrests and convictions.
As
with computer intrusion cases, cyber crime cases are
expected to increase in the coming years. Through
the establishment of the FBI's Cyber Division and
the ongoing initiatives such as the Innocent Images
National Initiative, the FBI will be well-prepared
to combat these growing crimes.
Criminal
Public
Corruption
Public
corruption is a betrayal of the public's sacred trust.
It erodes public confidence and undermines the strength
of our democracy. Unchecked, it threatens our government
and our way of life. That is why it is our top criminal
investigative priority.
Over
the last two years, the FBI has convicted more than
1,060 government employees involved in corrupt activities,
to include 177 federal officials, 158 state officials,
360 local officials, and more than 365 police officers.
In fiscal 2005 alone, the Public Corruption Program
saw a 25 percent increase in public corruption cases
investigated, resulting in 890 indictments, 759 convictions,
and 2,118 cases still pending. There are 622 agents
currently working public corruption matters, an increase
of 264 since 2002.
One
investigation to note is the Phoenix Division's Lively
Green investigation. This involved up to 99 indictable
subjects who used their positions in the military
to facilitate the smuggling of several hundred kilograms
of cocaine across the U.S./Mexican border.
Violent
Gangs
The
FBI has increased its focus on violent gangs through
its continuing Safe Streets Violent Crime Initiative.
Started in 1992, Safe Streets Task Forces (SSTFs)
are the primary mechanism developed for this initiative.
The focus of SSTFs is to achieve maximum coordination
and cooperation of the participating law enforcement
agencies to investigate state and federal crimes committed
by these violent gangs and others.
As
of June 2006, the FBI currently operates more than
160 SSTFs in 55 FBI field offices which are comprised
of more than 1,800 local, state, and federal investigators
representing more than 500 law enforcement agencies
throughout the United States. Of these task forces,
129 are considered violent gang SSTFs. The 129 Violent
Gang Safe Streets Task Forces (VGSSTF), which operate
in 54 FBI field offices, represent a 38 percent increase
in VGSSTFs since fiscal 2000, when SSGU operated 49
VGSSTFs.
In 2004, the FBI established the MS 13 National Gang
Task Force to investigate the violence associated
with this gang. The MS 13 gang members are primarily
from the Central American countries of El Salvador,
Honduras, and Guatemala and were first identified
in Los Angeles in the 1980s. The threat posed by MS
13 is unique due to its strong links to the military
and rebels involved in the civil wars in El Salvador,
Honduras, and Guatemala.
The
MS 13 members and associates have been identified
in more than 30 states and have a significant presence
in the metro areas of Houston, Los Angeles, New York
City, and Washington, D.C. This task force works closely
with other federal, state, and local agencies deconflicting
and coordinating efforts against MS 13 gang targets.
As of July 2006, there were 36 pending MS-13 racketeering
enterprise investigations and 58 MS-13 criminal investigations.
Innocence
Lost National Initiative
The
Innocence Lost National Initiative successfully addressed
the crime problem of domestic trafficking of children
for the purposes of prostitution. To date, this initiative
has been expanded to 26 cities with an identified
child prostitution crime problem. Eighteen task forces
have been established with state and local law enforcement
to combat this crime problem, with strong support
provided by the National Center for Missing and Exploited
Children. There have been 188 investigations (child
exploitation or child trafficking cases) initiated,
which resulted in 574 arrests, 115 indictments and
101 convictions. Prosecution at the federal level
has resulted in the dismantling of 16 criminal organizations
engaged in child prostitution.
Indian
Gaming
In
February 2003, FBI established the Indian Gaming Working
Group. This group consists of seven federal agencies
and representatives from FBI subprograms including
financial crimes, public corruption, and organized
crime. Since March 2004, the FBI has hosted eight
Indian gaming conferences and trained more than 500
personnel assigned to work IG matters. This training
and the fiscal 2005 enhancement contributed to the
initiation of 16 IG investigations focusing on public
corruption, theft, and embezzlement.
As
a result of the IGWG, an investigation was initiated
in New York in which members of an organized crime
family had infiltrated IG casinos in North Dakota
and Oklahoma. Investigators learned that these members
were moving large sums of money through the Indian
reservations and offshore gambling operations. From
2000 04, more than $200 million in illegal bets were
placed with $65 million being wagered on horse races.
In January 2006, 17 individuals were indicted and
arrested.
Financial
Crimes
Since
October 2001, the FBI's Corporate/Securities and Commodities
Fraud has remained as a priority within the White
Collar Crime (WCC) Program. The outbreak of large-scale
corporate fraud threatened to undermine investor confidence
and trust in the stock market, and financially injured
millions of investors and employees. To address this
significant crime problem, the FBI established a Corporate
Fraud Initiative (CFI) as part of the President's
Corporate Fraud Task Force. The CFI effectively focuses
and coordinates the FBI's limited WCC resources on
combating the corporate fraud crime problem. As a
participant on the President's Corporate Fraud Task
Force, and the lead agency investigating corporate
fraud, the FBI has concentrated its efforts on those
cases that involve accounting schemes, self dealing
by corporate executives and obstruction of justice
to conceal illegal activities from criminal and regulatory
authorities.
Since
initiating the CFI in 2001, the FBI has opened 465
corporate fraud investigations in which it is alleged
that corporate officers intentionally "cooked
the books" in order to artificially inflate the
value of their corporation's stock and/or to justify
paying themselves millions of dollars in bonuses to
which they were not entitled. Major corporate fraud
investigations since 2001 include Enron, Worldcom,
and Qwest Communications.
In
addition, an emerging corporate fraud problem that
the FBI is currently investigating involves allegations
of the fraudulent backdating of stock options grants
issued by public companies. FBI offices are working
with information provided by the Securities and Exchange
Commission to investigate these matters and we currently
have over 45 separate investigations on backdating.
To date, the FBI has obtained 2,962 indictments/informations,
2,569 convictions, and restitution totaling over $14.9
billion related to corporate and securities fraud.
As of July 26, 109 FBI agents were dedicated to corporate
fraud investigations, with an additional 158 FBI agents
working securities fraud investigations.
Since
October 2001, the FBI's Financial Institution Fraud
Program has targeted the most egregious financial
institution offenders, both insiders and outsiders.
The
FBI's Mortgage Fraud Program, for example, consists
of our working with approximately 200 contacts in
law enforcement and industry at the national level,
and task forces and contacts at the field office level,
in order to address this over $1 billion crime problem.
The Mortgage Fraud Program focuses our resources on
those engaging in mortgage fraud for profit, as opposed
to property, typically involving rings of professional
insiders. In December of 2005, the FBI participated
in Operation Quick Flip, a national takedown that
resulted in 156 indictments, 81 arrests and 89 convictions.
The losses associated with these cases alone cost
the mortgage industry $607 million.
Since
October 2001, the Financial Institution Fraud Program
has made more than 6,000 arrests, obtained more than
13,000 indictments and informations, and secured more
than 12,000 convictions. These investigations have
resulted in more than $131 million in recoveries,
$159 million in seizures and forfeitures, $14 billion
in restitution payments, and $632 million in fines.
The
Health Care Fraud Program has remained within the
top five WCC program national priorities since October
2001. The overall mission of the program is to target
the most egregious health care fraud offenders, both
organizations and individuals, who are defrauding
the public and private health care systems.
The
FBI has a number of initiatives in place to combat
this activity, including: the Pharmaceutical Fraud
Initiative, focused on investigations that involve
drug diversion, off-label marketing and prescription
fraud; the Internet Pharmacy Initiative, focused on
the identification of Internet pharmacies involved
in the illegal distribution of pharmaceuticals in
the United States and internationally; the Outpatient
Surgery Center Initiative, which addresses the nationwide
schemes in which health care providers and facilities
are billing private insurance plans for unnecessary
outpatient surgeries arranged through a network of
individuals that includes owners of medical clinics,
physicians, marketers and recruiters; and the National
Automobile Accident Insurance Fraud Initiative that
was developed to enhance investigations involving
members of staged accident rings formed specifically
to defraud health care entities. The number of pending
health care fraud investigations has shown steady
increase since October 2001 from approximately 500
cases in 1992 to over 2,500 cases through 2005.
Partnerships
with Law Enforcement
Our
partnerships with foreign, state, local and tribal
law enforcement have been integral to our ability
to protect this nation.
In
May 2002, we established the Office of Law Enforcement
Coordination (OLEC) to enhance coordination and communications
between the FBI and its state, local, tribal, federal,
and international law enforcement partners. In just
a few short years, OLEC has become central to our
outreach and educations efforts for law enforcement.
OLEC
developed, implemented and manages the Police Executive
Fellowship Program, a six month work exchange program
for mid level and above law enforcement managers.
Since its inception, 22 fellows have served in a variety
of assignments at FBIHQ, including: the National Joint
Terrorism Task Force, National Gang Intelligence Center,
Interpol, the Directorate of Intelligence, Law Enforcement
On Line, and MS 13 National Gang Task Force.
OLEC
has produced two suicide bomber broadcasts and videos
which raised law enforcement partners' awareness of
new trends in suicide bombings. And, in conjunction
with DHS and a number of state and local law enforcement
agencies, OLEC produced and disseminated a roll call
training video entitled, "Vigilance: Patrolling
in the New Era of Terrorism." The video was sent
to over 20,000 state, local, and campus law enforcement
agencies along with an informational brochure on terrorism
indicators. OLEC continues to receive requests for
both the video and brochure.
Office
of International Operations
The
Office of International Operations (OIO) and the Legal
Attache (Legat) Program support the FBI's core investigative
priorities through liaison and operational interaction
with the FBI's foreign law enforcement counterparts
and overseas intelligence community. The relationships
developed by the Legats are essential to the successful
fulfillment of the responsibilities of the FBI. The
Legat program provides for a prompt and continuous
exchange of information with foreign law enforcement
and intelligence agencies enabling the FBI to effectively
and expeditiously achieve its international responsibilities.
Since
9/11, OIO has aggressively pursued expanding the Legat
program in an effort to identify countries and regions
in critical need of new or expanded Legat offices
in areas known for terrorist group development, fundraising,
transit, and/or support. Additionally, in conjunction
with substantive FBIHQ divisions, OIO is attempting
to identify areas, such as South America, which have
historically been predominately involved in illegal
drug trafficking, but are becoming increasingly involved
in significant terrorist related activities. The cultural
and geographic span of some of the existing Legats,
such as those in Africa, is too large and should be
narrowed; Legat Pretoria, for example, covers 16 countries.
In
fiscal 2001, there were 44 Legat offices with 112
agent and 74 support employees for a total of 186
personnel stationed abroad. Today, the FBI has 57
fully operational Legat offices and 13 sub offices
with 167 agent and 111 support personnel assigned
for a total of 278 employees stationed abroad, an
increase of nearly 70 percent.
Since
September 11, we have opened Legat offices in Abu
Dhabi, United Arab Emirates; Baghdad, Iraq; Beijing,
China; Doha, Qatar; Freetown, Sierra Leone; Jakarta,
Indonesia; Kabul, Afghanistan; Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia;
Rabat, Morocco; Sana'a, Yemen; Sarajevo, Bosnia Herzegovina;
Sofia, Bulgaria; and, T'bilisi, Georgia.
Investigative
analysts have been placed in eight Legat offices since
September 11, and the number of international students
attending the National Academy at Quantico has increased
by 20 percent in an effort to provide direct law enforcement
assistance to our Legat personnel. OIO has emphasized
the importance of providing financial assistance to
countries and/or agencies of first time academy attendees
who could not otherwise afford to attend, such as
candidates from East Timor and Namibia.
Science
and Technology
The
FBI's science and technology capabilities have always
been significant. From fingerprints to DNA analysis,
the FBI has provided exceptional service to the law
enforcement community. The FBI remains a leader in
technical innovation and developments in the sciences
that support investigative and intelligence-gathering
activities.
FBI
Laboratory
Investigations
and intelligence gathering are the lifeblood of the
FBI, and the FBI Laboratory supports those efforts.
FBI Laboratory personnel routinely examine evidence
from major cases, as well as other cases that do not
receive publicity. Whether the case is big or small,
just around the corner or halfway around the world,
the FBI Laboratory approaches each one with the same
steadfast determination and desire to be the world's
foremost forensic laboratory upon which FBI field
offices, investigative and intelligence agencies,
and the American public can always rely.
Relocation
to New Laboratory Facility and Re Accreditation
In
2003, the FBI Laboratory employees began moving from
FBI Headquarters in Washington, DC, to its new facility
in Quantico, Virginia. The Laboratory's nearly 500,000
square foot, state of the art design reveals four
floors for specialized laboratories and offices and
a library on the fifth floor, a 900 space parking
garage, and a stand alone central utilities plant.
The facility is a model for security and evidence
control with specified paths for the acceptance, circulation,
and return of evidence. The Laboratory successfully
achieved re accreditation in its new facility from
the American Society of Crime Laboratory Directors/Laboratory
Accreditation Board after this significant relocation.
Terrorist
Explosive Devices Analytical Center
The
Terrorist Explosive Devices Analytical Center was
established in 2004 to serve as the single interagency
organization to receive, fully analyze and exploit
all terrorist improvised explosive devices of interest
to the United States worldwide, and to develop actionable
intelligence to respond to the threat. The TEDAC is
co located within the FBI Laboratory and as such leverages
the FBI Laboratory's broad based technical and forensic
capabilities along with electronic exploitation services
provided through the Operational Technology Division.
The
TEDAC has successfully made 56 positive identifications
of bomb makers since beginning operations. In one
case, a latent print developed in January 2004 on
a keyless car entry system used in an IED, was matched
to a specific individual taken into custody for unrelated
reasons on October 30, 2004. DNA removed from this
same IED component was linked to DNA recovered in
another bombing. In addition, the identified individual
was linked through fingerprints to a rocket attack
on the al Rashid Hotel in October 2003.
Overall,
as of August 2006, the TEDAC has received over 8,670
submissions from Iraq and Afghanistan. It has developed
in excess of 2,500 latent prints with over 450 matches
and associations that have forensically connected
one TEDAC device to another through device construction,
latent prints, trace evidence (both hairs and fibers)
and by DNA.
Combined
DNA Index System (CODIS) Enhancements/ National Missing
Persons DNA Program/ Federal Convicted Offender Program
CODIS
blends forensic science and computer technology into
a tool for linking violent crimes. It enables federal,
state, and local forensic laboratories to exchange
and compare DNA profiles electronically, thereby linking
serial violent crimes to each other and to known offenders.
The
Federal Convicted Offender Program has been fully
integrated into CODIS. As of June 2006, CODIS has
achieved 36,000 investigations aided, 8,000 offender
hits and 3,500 forensic hits.
The
National Missing Person DNA Database stores the mtDNA
profiles in the Combined DNA Index System Missing
Person (CODISMP) software. In fiscal 2004, 199 cases
were reported out and 283 cases were submitted to
the National Missing Person DNA Database Program for
analysis. Nationally, there were 21 cases where a
match was made between the unidentified human remains
and a biological relative of a missing person.
Latent
Fingerprint Improvements
As
a result of the misidentification of a latent print
in the Madrid train bombing investigation in 2004,
a number of critical reviews of the operations of
the three Latent Print Units were conducted. One of
these reviews consisted of an internal review by eight
teams of experienced forensic examiners and scientists
in the FBI Laboratory and outside experts. The internal
review resulted in a large number of recommended changes
which were approved by the FBI Laboratory in April
2005.
Teams
within the units were established to develop new policies
and procedures to implement the numerous recommendations,
many of which have been completed. We have established
standard operating procedures pertaining to friction
ridge analysis, Integrated Automated Fingerprint Identification
System (IAFIS), and digital imaging, including minimum
evidence requirements. All unit personnel have received
training in analysis methods and new standard procedures.
We
have developed new case acceptance policies governing
acceptance of state and local latent print cases,
as well as guidelines for accepting international
cases. We have also developed quality assurance practices
and procedures pertaining to blind verification, administrative
and technical reviews, conflict resolution, and casework
documentation requirements. The former latent print
units have been reorganized into the Latent Print
Operational Unit and the Latent Print Support Unit.
Criminal
Justice Information Services
The
mission of the Criminal Justice Information Services
Division is to reduce terrorist and criminal activities
by maximizing the ability to provide timely and relevant
criminal justice information to the FBI and to authorized
law enforcement, criminal justice, civilian, academic,
employment, and licensing agencies concerning individuals,
stolen property, criminal organizations and activities,
and other law enforcement related data
IDENT/IAFIS
Interoperability
The
DHS/US VISIT and Department of Justice/FBI Interoperability
initiative was merged with the DHS transition to 10
print effort in September of 2005 in order to better
coordinate the interdependent efforts. By transitioning
from two flat to 10 flat fingerprints, the IDENT database
will be based upon a 10-finger standard similar to
the 10 rolled standard used in IAFIS. Thus, the databases
will be more compatible and will assist in achieving
IDENT and IAFIS interoperability. The FBI and the
Department of State will work together with DHS to
begin piloting at select foreign consular posts a
10 print search of visa applicants against the full
IAFIS criminal master file this month. Pilot sites
have been identified based on locations of most significant
risk.
The
FBI/DHS Interoperability project team delivered its
interim data sharing model as scheduled on September
3. The iDSM delivered the systems and connectivity
to share a limited subset of live data from the FBI's
IAFIS system and the DHS's IDENT system in near real-time.
This data includes the fingerprint images for all
wanted persons from the IAFIS and the expedited removals
and Category 1 visa refusals from IDENT.
There
are three piloting agencies scheduled to participate
in the iDSM. The Boston Police Department is the first
law enforcement agency to participate and began sending
submissions on September 3, with the Texas Department
of Public Safety (Dallas Police Department) and the
Federal Office of Personnel Management to follow.
The iDSM pilots the exchange of information between
the DOJ and the DHS and provides biometric-based access
to immigration violation information to selected state
and local law enforcement and authorized non-criminal
justice agencies for the first time. The total number
of records shared as of September 7 is as follows:
677,207 wants and warrants; 377,994 expedited removals;
and 41,718 Category 1 visa refusals.
Law
Enforcement National Data Exchange (N DEx)
