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Good afternoon
Mr. Chairman, Vice Chairman Bond, and Members of the Committee.
I am pleased to be here today to discuss the FBI's progress
in strengthening its intelligence capabilities to protect
our homeland.
After
the attacks of September 11, 2001, the FBI's priorities shifted
as we charted a new course, with national security at the
forefront of our mission to protect America. The intervening
six years have seen significant changes at the FBI. Although
we recognize that there is much more work to be done, we have
made remarkable progress. The FBI has been engaged in a continuous
effort to build its intelligence program. We must continue
to evolve as the threat evolves. Today, the FBI is a stronger
organization, combining greater capabilities with the longstanding
commitment to the security of the United States, while upholding
the Constitution and protecting civil liberties.
Chief
among the changes has been the enhancement of an intelligence
program, which we began implementing in early 2002. In 2003,
we created an Office of Intelligence, which was charged with
creating a single program to manage all FBI intelligence production
activities. We also expanded our analytic, reporting, and
intelligence capabilities.
Since
that time, the 9/11 Commission, the WMD Commission, and the
President's Foreign Intelligence Advisory Board (PFIAB) have
offered additional recommendations and guidance on how to
further strengthen the FBI's intelligence program. In response,
in February 2005 the FBI officially established the Directorate
of Intelligence as a dedicated and integrated intelligence
service within the FBI. In September 2005, we implemented
a presidential directive based on the WMD Commission's recommendation
to establish a "National Security Service" that
integrates the FBI's national security programs under the
leadership of an Executive Assistant Director.
The National
Security Branch (NSB) comprises the FBI's Counterterrorism
Division, Counterintelligence Division, the Directorate of
Intelligence, and—as of July 2006—the Weapons of
Mass Destruction Directorate. More recently, we have been
working with the PFIAB to further our efforts to build our
intelligence program. In a relatively short period of time,
the FBI has made significant progress in implementing the
recommendations of the 9/11 Commission, the Weapons of Mass
Destruction Commission, and the PFIAB while continuing to
meet the numerous other expectations placed upon the Bureau.
With
these structures in place, we are working to implement a Balanced
Scorecard, a management system that enables organizations
to clarify their vision and strategy and translate them into
actions. We began using this strategy management system in
the Counterterrorism Division approximately two years ago,
and it has proven to be a helpful management tool. The Director
has implemented the approach Bureau-wide. Like many others
in the private and public sectors, we will use the Balanced
Scorecard to align day-to-day operations with broader strategies,
to get feedback, and to measure our progress as we move forward
in our evolution as a national security organization.
Strengthening
Our Intelligence Capabilities
The NSB
is currently adopting this approach to link strategy with
operations and further enhance our intelligence capabilities.
The NSB's mission is to lead and coordinate intelligence efforts
that drive actions to protect the United States. Our goals
are to develop a comprehensive understanding of the threats
and penetrate national and transnational networks that have
a desire and capability to harm us. Such networks include
terrorist organizations, foreign intelligence services, those
that seek to proliferate weapons of mass destruction, and
criminal enterprises.
In order
to be successful, we must understand the threat, continue
to integrate our intelligence and law enforcement capabilities
in every FBI operational program, and continue to expand our
contribution to the intelligence community knowledge base.
A key
development in the evolution of the FBI's intelligence program
was the establishment of Field Intelligence Groups (FIGs)
in each of the FBI's 56 field offices. The FIGs manage and
coordinate the FBI's intelligence collection and reporting
efforts in the field. From an information-sharing perspective,
the FIGs are the FBI's primary component for receiving and
disseminating information. They complement the Joint Terrorism
Task Forces (JTTFs) and other squads and task forces. The
FIGs play a major role in ensuring that we share what we know
with others in the intelligence community and our federal,
state, local, and tribal law enforcement partners.
Desk
Officers
As part
of the FBI's efforts to enhance our understanding of the national
threat picture, we are implementing a Desk Officer Program.
This program will consist of an integrated network of special
agent and intelligence analyst teams assigned to national,
division, regional, and field desks. The FBI's desk officers
will assess and adjust collection efforts; identify collection
gaps; target collection and source development against these
gaps so they are consistent with priority national intelligence
requirements; satisfy internal requirements; collaborate with
partners; and convert and broadly disseminate the consolidated
results, leading to enhanced knowledge of the threat environment.
The FBI's
desk structure is based on country and topical priorities,
as set forth in the National Intelligence Priorities Framework
and internal priorities. The Desk Officer Program will focus
not only on the management and advancement of existing cases
but also on maintaining a networked and coordinated national
collection effort. Over time, this program will enhance our
confidence that we understand and have penetrated terrorist,
criminal, cyber, and foreign intelligence threats.
Human
Intelligence
Another
critical element of our enhanced intelligence capability is
our Confidential Human Source Program. The FBI, in collaboration
with the Department of Justice, is completing a Confidential
Human Source Re-engineering Project to enhance and improve
the administration and operation of the FBI's Human Source
Program.
As part
of the Re-Engineering Project, the FBI and DOJ have worked
to update guidelines on human source policy and human source
validation. The ultimate goals of the Re-engineering Project
are to streamline, consolidate, and update all human source
guidelines; develop a "one source" concept; and
strengthen the validation of human sources.
The release
of the new Attorney General's Guidelines Regarding the Use
of FBI Confidential Human Sources signed on December 13, 2006,
marked a pivotal milestone to accomplish the one-source concept.
Complementing these guidelines are two manuals: the Confidential
Human Source Policy Manual (Policy Manual) and the Confidential
Human Source Validation Standards Manual (Validation Manual).
The Policy Manual governs source administration including
compliance with the AG Guidelines, while the Validation Manual
standardizes the FBI's source validation review process. These
manuals, along with the new AG Guidelines, took effect on
June 13, 2007.
Information
Sharing and Collaboration
Among
the fundamental post-9/11 changes, the FBI has enhanced its
information sharing capabilities to ensure the intelligence
we collect is disseminated to our law enforcement and intelligence
community partners. Consistent with the Intelligence Reform
and Terrorism Prevention Act, the FBI actively participates
in the Information Sharing Environment (ISE). We have a senior-level
manager detailed to the Office of the ISE Program Manager
in the Office of the DNI, have assigned FBI personnel to numerous
ISE working groups, and have designated the Assistant Director
for the FBI Intelligence Directorate as the FBI member of
the presidentially established Information Sharing Council
(ISC) and the White House's Information Sharing Policy Coordination
Committee.
Dissemination
of Intelligence Products
The FBI
also has undertaken a number of activities focused on enhancing
our intelligence production and dissemination. These initiatives
include new policy, procedures, standards, training, and oversight
to optimize our contribution to the information needs of policy
makers, the intelligence community, and our state, local,
tribal, and private sector partners. We issued policy to standardize
and streamline the processing of raw and finished intelligence
reports, gain more timely and consistent reporting, and allow
for the direct release of certain categories of reporting
without FBI Headquarters' review; established new reporting
vehicles to meet niche customer markets; and began instituting
metrics to allow us to measure performance across a range
of issues relating to the dissemination of intelligence.
Through
these efforts, we have strengthened the FBI's 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. These platforms include
the Joint Worldwide Intelligence Communications System, Secure
Internet Router Protocol Network, and Law Enforcement Online
(LEO), as well as on the FBI Intranet.
Fusion
Centers
Information
sharing with state, local, and tribal law enforcement is crucial
to fulfilling the FBI's intelligence mission. The vast jurisdiction
of state, local, and tribal officers brings invaluable access
to millions of people and resources, which can help protect
the nation and its citizens. The FBI has expanded its efforts
to share raw intelligence reporting and analysis with state,
local, and tribal entities on LEO and RISS. The FBI also produces
joint bulletins with the Department of Homeland Security for
our law enforcement partners on threat issues.
State
Fusion Centers and other multi-agency intelligence centers
have become a focal point of information exchange and relationship
building linked to many key issues important to the FBI mission.
The FBI recognizes that fusion centers are fundamental in
facilitating the sharing of homeland security and criminal-related
information and intelligence and considers our participation
in fusion centers an extension of our traditionally strong
working relationship with our state, local, tribal, and private
sector partners. In June 2006, we directed all field offices
to assign personnel to the leading fusion center in each state
or field division territory and to participate in other centers
as resources permit.
Secure
Work Environment
The FBI's
expanded role in intelligence operations has significantly
increased the requirement to build Secure Work Environment
facilities. The goal is to provide the physical infrastructure
and IT connectivity to enable FBI personnel to execute their
mission of protecting national security. We also are working
to provide Sensitive Compartmented Information Operational
Network access as quickly as possible to our prioritized locations
so we have a baseline level of connectivity in the field offices
and resident agencies most involved in national security investigations.
Training
and Development
To prepare
our national security workforce to work collaboratively against
national security threats to the United States, we continue
to strengthen our training. As part of these efforts, new
agent training has been modified to provide more than 100
additional hours of training in all national security-related
areas. This includes approximately 45 hours in counterterrorism
training and additional instruction in counterintelligence,
counterproliferation, and weapons of mass destruction. The
additional training hours are designed to add to the flexibility
and adaptability of all special agents to enable them to work
the varied programs required of them.
We have
undertaken a comprehensive restructuring of our approach to
intelligence training. In addition to augmenting new agents
training, in the past eight months we have developed and are
delivering a course targeting FBI reports officers (ROs) who
play a central role in the intelligence cycle. We are on an
aggressive schedule that will train every RO by the end of
this calendar year. We piloted and have run multiple iterations
of a course for managers of intelligence analysts that is
designed to give supervisors, many of whom are special agents,
the skills and awareness to optimize their role in the intelligence
cycle.
Working
with the DNI and the Kent School at CIA, we developed and
taught the first iteration of a 10-week Intelligence Basic
Course (IBC) that provided 24 analysts foundational skills
in critical thinking, writing, and speaking—core competencies
of the analytic art. This month, we launched the second iteration
of IBC. In addition to an intermediate version of this course,
we are developing a shorter field version that we plan to
deploy in early 2008. This field version is designed as a
"refresher course" for analysts to maintain their
critical skills.
National
training seminars reaching every field office were held to
address Field Intelligence Operations, Foreign Intelligence
Collection, and Human Source Management and Validation. Beginning
last summer, the NSB leadership began a series of small group
workshops for Assistant Directors in Charge and Special Agents
in Charge focused exclusively on decision-making and managing
field intelligence operations. We continue our successful
partnership with the Kellogg School at Northwestern University
to train senior and mid-level managers in leading the change
that comes with our intelligence responsibilities.
In September
2006, we launched a new Human Source Targeting and Development
course, which introduces agents to a systematic approach to
identifying, developing, and recruiting human sources. The
course incorporates relevant elements from tradecraft used
by other intelligence community agencies into a framework
for a curriculum that is tailored to the FBI's unique jurisdictional
authorities and mission.
Conclusion
The FBI
has a mandate from the President, Congress, the Attorney General,
and the DNI to protect national security by producing intelligence
in support of our investigative mission, national intelligence
priorities, and the needs of other customers.
The FBI
has always used intelligence to solve cases; however, today,
we count on our agents and analysts working hand-in-hand with
colleagues around the country and around the world to collectively
piece together information about multiple, interrelated issues.
With the authority and guidance provided by the Intelligence
Reform and Terrorism Prevention Act and other directives and
recommendations, the FBI has implemented significant changes
to enhance our ability to counter today's most critical threats.
We look forward to continuing to work with the committee to
strengthen our capabilities.
Thank
you for your continued support and interest in the FBI's national
security program. I would be happy to answer any questions
you may have.
Congressional
Testimony
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