Since September 11, 2001, the men and women of the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) have worked tirelessly to reinforce our intelligence capabilities and improve our ability to protect the American people from national security threats. We have built on 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

On June 28, 2005, the President directed the FBI to create a “National Security Service” within the FBI. The Attorney General implemented this directive through the standing up of a new organization—the National Security Branch—on September 12, 2005. On June 5, 2006, the FBI received notification that Congress had officially approved the new structure as part of the larger reorganization of the FBI. The NSB consists of the FBI’s Counterterrorism Division, the Counterintelligence Division, the Directorate of Intelligence, and the Weapons of Mass Destruction (WMD) Directorate.

The NSB integrates the FBI’s primary national security programs under the leadership of an Executive Assistant Director for the National Security Branch and through policies and initiatives designed to enhance the Bureau’s capability to support national security duties. The mission of the NSB is to optimally position the FBI to protect the United States against WMD, terrorist attacks, foreign intelligence operations, and espionage by:

· Integrating investigative and intelligence activities against current and emerging national security threats;

· Providing useful and timely information and analysis to the intelligence and law enforcement communities; and

· Effectively developing enabling capabilities, processes, and infrastructure, consistent with applicable laws, Attorney General and Director of National Intelligence guidance, and civil liberties.

The NSB’s initiatives are all aimed at our goal of integrating intelligence and operations to protect our national security. Since 9/11, the FBI has implemented significant changes to enhance our ability to counter today’s most critical threats. The NSB will build on the FBI’s strengths, ensure integration of national security intelligence and investigations, promote the development of a national security workforce, and facilitate a new level of coordination with the U.S. Intelligence Community. With the continued commitment and dedication of the men and women of the FBI, these reforms will improve the Bureau’s ability to accomplish our national security investigative and intelligence missions and, ultimately, to protect the American people.

The National Security Branch

Introduction

Since September 11, 2001, the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) has implemented a comprehensive plan that fundamentally transforms the organization to enhance our ability to predict and prevent terrorism and other national security threats. We overhauled our counterterrorism operations, expanded our intelligence capabilities, modernized our business practices and technology, and improved coordination with our federal, state, local, and tribal partners. 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 NSB structure took effect on September 12, 2005, in response to a directive from the President to the Attorney General. This directive mandated that the FBI establish a “National Security Service” that combines the missions, capabilities, and resources of the counterterrorism, counterintelligence, and intelligence elements of the FBI under the leadership of a senior FBI official. On June 5, 2006, the FBI received notification that Congress had officially approved the new structure as part of the larger reorganization of the FBI.

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.

The mission of the NSB is to optimally position the FBI to protect the United States against weapons of mass destruction (WMD), terrorist attacks, foreign intelligence operations, and espionage by:

· Integrating investigative and intelligence activities against current and emerging national security threats;

· Providing useful and timely information and analysis to the intelligence and law enforcement communities; and

· Effectively developing enabling capabilities, processes, and infrastructure, consistent with applicable laws, Attorney General and Director of National Intelligence (DNI) guidance, and civil liberties.

The vision of the NSB—to the extent authorized under the law—is to build a national awareness that permits recognition of a national security threat sufficiently early to permit its disruption. This approach will promote the collection of relevant information and minimize the gathering of extraneous data that distract from the analytical process.

Background

The Commission on the Intelligence Capabilities of the United States Regarding Weapons of Mass Destruction (WMD Commission) examined the FBI’s intelligence program and concluded in March 2005 that it had been significantly improved since 9/11. The commission rejected calling for the creation of a separate agency devoted to internal security without any law enforcement powers. It recognized that the FBI’s hybrid intelligence and investigative nature is one of our greatest strengths and emphasized the importance of the ongoing effort to integrate intelligence and investigative operations. At the same time, the commission noted the FBI’s structure did not sufficiently ensure that our intelligence activities were coordinated with the rest of the U.S. Intelligence Community. Accordingly, the commission issued the following recommendation:

To ensure that the FBI’s intelligence elements are responsive to the Director of National Intelligence, and to capitalize on the FBI’s progress, we recommend the creation of a new National Security Service within the FBI under a single Executive Assistant Director. This service would include the Bureau’s Counterterrorism and Counterintelligence Divisions and the Directorate of Intelligence. The service would be subject to the coordination and budget authorities of the Director of National Intelligence as well as to the same Attorney General authorities that apply to other Bureau divisions.

(WMD Commission Report at 465.)

The commission’s recommendation promoted the integration of the FBI’s intelligence activities within the U.S. Intelligence Community by ensuring the DNI has the ability to coordinate the FBI’s intelligence activities. At the same time, this proposal ensured that the FBI retains the ability to integrate national security investigative and intelligence activities while continuing to take advantage of our extensive network of partnerships, including our 800,000 state, local, and tribal law enforcement partners.

On June 28, 2005, the President issued a memorandum acknowledging the substantial efforts the FBI has made in strengthening our national security capabilities and coordinating effectively with other elements of the government. The President also determined that additional action was required to meet evolving challenges to the security of the United States and, therefore, directed the FBI to create a “National Security Service” consistent with the WMD Commission’s recommendation. In establishing this new service, the President instructed the FBI to combine the missions, capabilities, and resources of the counterterrorism, counterintelligence, and intelligence elements of the FBI under the leadership of a senior FBI official.

The Attorney General implemented this directive through the standing up of a new organization—the National Security Branch—on September 12, 2005. On June 5, 2006, the FBI received notification that Congress had officially approved the new structure as part of the larger reorganization of the FBI. The NSB integrates the FBI’s primary national security programs under the leadership of a single FBI official and through policies and initiatives designed to enhance the entire Bureau’s capability to support our national security missions.

Organization

The NSB consists of the FBI’s Counterterrorism Division (CTD), the Counterintelligence Division (CD), the Directorate of Intelligence (DI), and the WMD Directorate (WMDD). It integrates our counterterrorism and counterintelligence investigative and operational capabilities with our intelligence capabilities. Effective September 12, 2005, the day the NSB structure took effect, these divisions and the programs they administer were unified under the authority of a single official who reports to the Deputy Director.

F B I National Security Branch

The CTD and CD retain both their basic structure and their responsibility for management of investigative operations related to counterterrorism and counterintelligence, intelligence collection related to national security, and evidence exploitation.

The DI also retains its basic structure, including its embedded intelligence elements in each field division and in the CTD, CD, Criminal Investigation Division (CID), and Cyber Division (CyD) at FBI Headquarters. The DI will continue to supervise FBI-wide intelligence activities, including field intelligence operations, from collection to dissemination.

While the CTD, CD, and DI will currently retain their basic structure, the FBI will look for opportunities to incorporate structural changes across the NSB that will create efficiencies and promote integration. One such recent change occurred on July 26, 2006, when the FBI established the WMDD within the NSB to support and consolidate the FBI’s WMD components.

Executive Assistant Director for National Security

The Executive Assistant Director for the National Security Branch (EAD-NSB) leads the NSB. An Associate EAD and the Assistant Directors of the CTD, CD, DI, and WMDD, who bring specialized expertise to the day-to-day management of each component, assist the EAD-NSB.

Personnel Authority

As the head of the NSB, the EAD has substantial personnel authority. He can transfer personnel from one division to another within the NSB, consistent with FBI and applicable government policies and DNI guidance and priorities. He is responsible for rating the performance of the heads of the counterterrorism, counterintelligence, intelligence, and WMD programs and is the reviewing official for the immediate subordinates of those officials. This creates a clear chain of command between the EAD-NSB and the heads of the counterterrorism, counterintelligence, intelligence, and WMD programs.

The EAD-NSB participates in the decision-making process for the selection of all Special Agents in Charge (SACs) and Assistant Directors in Charge (ADICs) in FBI field offices by serving as a voting member of the FBI Senior Executive Service (SES) Board. The EAD-NSB also has input into the evaluation of all SACs and ADICs.

Operational Authority

The EAD-NSB has the authority to initiate, direct, terminate, or reallocate any of the investigations or other activities within the NSB. To facilitate exercise of this authority, the EAD-NSB has full access to information from all counterterrorism, counterintelligence, and intelligence operations, as well as information about all of the Bureau’s sources of information.

Budget Authority

The EAD-NSB exercises direct budget authority over the NSB’s components and related programs, including the investigative resources in CTD and CD, Intelligence Career Service (ICS) personnel, human source management resources, and national technical intelligence collection resources.

In addition, because the NSB-controlled budget includes a pro rata share of FBI resources supporting overall FBI operations, the EAD-NSB can influence components outside the NSB that support our national security programs, such as training, human resources, facilities, and information technology. In this way, the EAD-NSB can prioritize all FBI national security investments.

Enforcement Mechanisms

The EAD-NSB has full management authority over all FBI Headquarters and field national security programs through his control of both operations and the national security budget. Specifically:

· The NSB, through its DI, ensures that FBI raw and strategic intelligence production is consistent with national security priorities.

· The NSB exercises its authority over national security activities at FBI Headquarters and in the field through its budget authority, including management of the National Intelligence Program (NIP) budget.

· The NSB relies on a regular inspection process and program-specific reviews to ensure our national security activities are consistent with the direction of the Attorney General and DNI. The EAD-NSB is implementing management strategies over field activities and operations, which provide direction, accountability, and measurable expectations. The EAD-NSB is also establishing policies and procedures to hold personnel accountable for performance results through such mechanisms as evaluation of individual performance, the regular inspection process, and program-specific reviews.

Information Sharing and Coordination

The head of the NSB serves as the FBI’s lead intelligence official and communicates with the Attorney General and the DNI to ensure responsiveness to their guidance and to facilitate coordination with other elements of the U.S. Intelligence Community. On October 5, 2005, the FBI Director designated the EAD-NSB as the principal FBI official for information and intelligence sharing policy. In this capacity, the EAD-NSB serves as the principal advisor to the Director for these policies and provides policy direction to other FBI components with respect to information and intelligence sharing policy.

Responsibility for Intelligence Activities

Consistent with the President’s direction, the EAD-NSB’s principal responsibility is the collection, processing, analysis, and dissemination of intelligence to further enhance the security of the nation. The integration of national security components in the NSB strengthens the continuous cycle of intelligence collection, analysis, production, and dissemination.

The integration of investigative and intelligence activities will be discussed in-depth in the following section, as we take a closer look at the components that compose the NSB’s mission.

Integrating Intelligence and Investigations

The mission of the National Security Branch is to optimally position the FBI to protect the United States against weapons of mass destruction, terrorist attacks, foreign intelligence operations, and espionage by:

· Integrating investigative and intelligence activities against current and emerging national security threats;

· Providing useful and timely information and analysis to the intelligence and law enforcement communities; and

· Effectively developing enabling capabilities, processes, and infrastructure, consistent with applicable laws, Attorney General and Director of National Intelligence guidance, and civil liberties.

Introduction

The structure of the National Security Branch is designed to strengthen the integration of the FBI’s intelligence and investigative missions. This structure will enable us to capitalize on our established ability to collect information and extend that strength to the analysis and production of intelligence.

Integration also ensures that intelligence can drive investigative operations. Information collected through FBI investigations is analyzed not just to build a case for prosecution, but to give us a greater awareness of threats. Intelligence, in turn, drives investigative strategies to ensure that our resources are targeting the most pressing threats and that we collect the information decision makers need most.

Criminal and national security threats are often intertwined. Our greatest opportunity to prevent terrorist attacks is to combine intelligence gathered through both criminal investigations and national security investigations. The NSB will coordinate support from other FBI divisions, whether it is exploitation of documents and electronic media from a terrorist safe-house or outreach efforts to enlist the private sector to track acquisition of weapons materials or defend Critical National Assets.

Training, finances, recruiting, logistical support, pre-attack planning, and preparation are all required components of terrorist operations. These different facets of terrorist operations create vulnerabilities, particularly when the terrorists engage in criminal activities to achieve their ends. At each stage, terrorists may trigger a response that exposes their activities to FBI investigators, law enforcement officers, and other federal partners. The NSB will help strengthen our national security investigative and intelligence web.

Although the FBI’s CTD, CD and the DI have had many national security accomplishments prior to the standing up of the National Security Branch, the NSB will help to further integrate the counterterrorism, counterintelligence, WMD, and intelligence functions through uniform processes and procedures. To promote the integration of NSB components, we will continue to identify the basic business and operational processes the NSB will employ to carry out and support its programs. In addition, we have made changes to our management structure, hiring processes, and training programs. We have modernized our work environment and infrastructure and strengthened our partnerships. These steps, which have impacted every component of the FBI, provide the foundation for development of the National Security Branch.

National Security Branch Components

To support our centralized, integrated approach, we put in place a new management structure and reorganized and expanded both the CTD and CD and established a new WMDD. These new structures help us coordinate operations and intelligence production domestically and overseas, concentrate WMD essential capabilities into key functional sections, and establish clear lines of accountability for the overall development and success of our missions.

In the intelligence arena, we moved the FBI beyond case-focused intelligence gathering and analysis and enhanced our capacity to fuse intelligence from across the Bureau. The FBI now uses intelligence not just to pursue investigations but to have greater awareness of the threats we face.

Counterterrorism

Table of Contents

Executive Summary

The National Security Branch

Introduction

Background

Organization

Executive Assistant Director for National Security

Introduction

National Security Branch Components