January 2024
Message from the Assistant Director, Office of Public Affairs
Hello FBI Family,
The holidays are over and 2024 is off and running, and so are we here at the Office of Public Affairs (OPA). We will continue to
engage the public about our role and more importantly, our people, as we continue the important work of keeping the U.S. safe from terrorists, spies, criminal and cyber threats, and much more.
Director Wray has stated many times, we cannot succeed without our partners. And frankly, our strength among the various partners in the law enforcement, and intelligence communities as well as throughout the many community organizations has never been stronger. Communications is at the center of making it all work.
So please, keep following what we are doing. Help us where you can. If you disagree with something we are doing, let us know. We need to build that trust with the public and we are appreciative of you advocating on our behalf.
Thank you all for your service and support. Have a safe and healthy 2024. We always appreciate your feedback. Just drop a note at alumni@fbi.gov.
Cathy Milhoan
By the Numbers: Victim Services
The Victim Services Division (VSD) informs, supports, and assists victims in navigating the aftermath of crime and the criminal justice process with dignity and resilience. Since its inception in 2001, the program has provided services—such as crisis intervention, emergency travel assistance, and local referrals for counseling, housing, and other services—to more than 2 million victims.
There are victim services teams (VST) in every field office and at
Headquarters. There are even two crisis response canines that deploy.
In fiscal year 2023, VSD provided over 250,000 services to victims (on average over 600 services per day) and conducted over 3,000 child and adolescent forensic interviews.
The largest number of victims/services for FY23 fall under the following programs: Violent Crimes Against Children (VCAC) (36%); Violent Crime and Gang (35%); and complex financial crime (11%). The program's Victim Services Response Team has deployed 38 times since its inception in 2006.
Message from the Assistant Director, Finance and Facilities Division
Ensuring the FBI’s men and women have the resources, tools, and training they need to do their job is my number one responsibility. Last
year, the Fiscal Responsibility Act of 2023 was enacted, which established federal budget caps for fiscal years 2024 and 2025.
While Congress is currently debating how these caps will impact our specific FY 2024 budget, we are anticipating a minimum of a $300 million budget shortfall just to sustain current operations. This type of reduction will directly impact our capacity to respond to growing terrorism, foreign intelligence, cyber, violent crime, human trafficking, fentanyl, and other threats. These cuts will negatively affect our ability to appropriately support state and local communities and law enforcement partners at a time when they are requesting more support from the FBI, not less.
We are working hard to ensure key stakeholders understand the operational impact of these potential budget reductions. Director Wray sent letters to the leadership of the House and Senate showcasing the value the FBI provides to the American people, and we are talking with stakeholders every week to explain the powerful return on investment that the FBI provides to the American people through lives saved and justice served. We are sharing one of the letters with you both for your awareness and for your advocacy to be explaining to those in your current professional and personal communities the value of an investment in the FBI and the importance to the country of appropriately funding our work.
Nicholas Dimos
News
Metal trident from the east facing side of the North Tower. 76 Tridents formed the base of each of the Twin Towers. This remaining piece weighs 30 tons and is 40 ft tall.
20 Years at the TSC
"We are truly interagency here," said Michael Glasheen, director of the TSC and an FBI assistant director. "DHS and U.S. Customs and Border Protection are embedded on the watch floor. NCTC and State Department are here. The key to TSC’s success is leveraging the authorities of the supporting federal agencies to negatively impact our adversaries."
Learn more
- FBI, NSA Leaders Talk Election Security, Power of Collaboration at Fordham ICCS
- Salt Lake City Field Office PSA Details How to Report Hate Crimes
- Chinese Police Imposters Incorporate Aggressive Tactics to Target U.S.-Based Chinese Community
- Justice Department Marks More Than 500 Illegal Firearm Purchases Stopped by New Enhanced Background Checks
- Terrorism Charges Announced Against Hezbollah Member Who Helped Plan 1994 Bombing in Buenos Aires, Argentina
- Brothers Sentenced to More Than 35 Years Combined for Manufacturing and Distributing Machineguns Intended for ISIS
- Former SAC of New York FBI Counterintelligence Division Sentenced to 50 Months for Conspiring to Violate U.S. Sanctions on Russia
- Arizona Man Arrested for Making Online Threats Against Federal Agents and Employees
- Colorado Man Arrested for Attempting to Provide Material Support to ISIS
- Nigerian National Arrested In Ghana Facing Federal Charges For An Alleged $7.5 Million Business Email Compromise Scheme
- Prominent Lobbyist and a Political Consultant Agree to Deferred Prosecution for Not Disclosing their PR Work for an Embassy of a Foreign Government
- D.C. Man Pleads Guilty to Defrauding Corporations By Using Their UPS Accounts to Create and Sell Shipping Labels
FBI, Austin Police Department Remind the Public That Lasers Aimed at Aircraft Are a State, Federal Violation
The FBI's Austin office and Austin Police Department are reminding the public that it is a federal violation to aim a laser at an aircraft in the air.
Since June 2023, the Austin FBI office has received information about 11 incidents, with several others reported across the state of Texas.
For more information on this, view the FAA’s laser visualization tool to see where laser strikes are happening in Texas
Behind the Mic
- Inside the FBI Podcast: Pan Am Flight 103
On this episode of Inside the FBI, we'll discuss the relentless efforts to find Joshua Garcia, who was nearly 2 years old when he was kidnapped in 2003 in Mexico City.
In Case You Missed It
The skill, knowledge, care, and precision of an evidence team can make or break a case. The FBI trains its evidence collection teams to be the best in the world. Evidence Response Team (ERT) Basic is where that training begins.
This series features stories, images, and videos produced by the team that manages fbi.gov.
Features
Building Partnerships in the LGBTQIA+ Community
FBI employee wearing a t-shirt with the letters FBI highlighted in rainbow colors and holding a PRIDE flag takes part in an event honoring the LGBTQIA+ community in Kansas City.
LGBTQIA+ Americans can be some of the most vulnerable populations with which the FBI works. Community attitudes, political divisiveness, and perceptions of law enforcement can all serve as roadblocks in building effective relationships.
The FBI’s Kansas City community outreach and public affairs people, though, have navigated these difficulties to build one of the most robust relationships in the country.
This work has been years in development. In 2021, the KC Pride Alliance Vice President, Clint Hylton, began working to bring back the KC’s PRIDE Festival. After coordination between the FBI and KC PRIDE, the field office was allowed to host a vendor booth at the festival.
“In the beginning, people were scared to let the FBI in,” Hylton said. “There are so many (false) stigmas about the FBI and what they do. Even I was a little scared about having them at PRIDE, but we came to the agreement that this would be an opportunity for both sides to see each other in their respective environment.”
The first year presented its challenges, and trust in the community took time to build. While potentially a little suspicious or guarded, festival attendees came to the Bureau’s table – some out of curiosity, some with the intention to meet the FBI, and many just to learn what the FBI was doing there.
The FBI’s goal was simple: make sure everyone who attended the festival knew they could come to the Bureau to report hate crimes – whether they were a victim or a witness. The FBI also encouraged LGBTQIA+ community members to consider a job with the FBI.
From that first year, a partnership began to develop. FBI Kansas City, with public affairs officers Bridget Patton and Dixon Land leading the charge, continued to invest time and resources into the community. The Kansas City office’s public corruption and hate crimes squad also joined with local law enforcement to meet with area LGBTQIA+ bars and restaurants to discuss hate crimes reporting. In addition, they recruited Hylton to join FBI Kansas City’s Community Engagement Council (CEC), providing valuable input into the FBI’s outreach program and to field office leadership as a representative voice to the FBI on LGBTQIA+ issues.
“Because of the experience on both sides, we are seeing more understanding about law enforcement and our community. In fact, this year (at PRIDE), we had a huge turnout of FBI, state, and local law enforcement,” Hylton said. “I cannot express my gratitude enough to the FBI and their staff. I am looking forward to a safer community now that this started.”
At the 2023 festival, law enforcement – including some in the LGBTQIA+ community – spoke to thousands of festival attendees about building relationships and cultivating trust. This ability to connect – and thus better serve this community – would not have happened without the foresight and hard work of PAOs Patton and Land.
“In the beginning, people were scared to let the FBI in. There are so many stigmas about the FBI and what they do. Even I was a little scared about having them at PRIDE, but we came to the agreement that this would be an opportunity for both sides to see each other in their respective environment.”
Clint Hylton, vice president, KC Pride Alliance
Thanks to this initial relationship and connections, Clint has since become an FBI Citizens Academy alumni member and is active in continuing to serve as a liaison between the FBI and the LGBTQIA+ community. The result? FBI Kansas City can ensure that the Bureau's hate crimes messaging reaches all corners of the community while citizens and leaders have a robust platform for sharing concerns and ideas with the us.
This relationship-building process - and the trust that results from it - helps the FBI fulfill our mission of protecting and serving the American people.
CJIS Year in Review
The CJIS Year in Review demonstrates CJIS’s commitment to provide the best possible tools to help its partners fight crime and terrorism.
Highlights of our accomplishments during FY2023 included the promotion of the National Crime Information Center’s Violent Person File that increases officer safety, as well as the continued implementation of the Bipartisan Safer Communities Act for National Instant Criminal Background Check System (NICS) background checks and the NICS Denial Notification Act, which has yielded great benefit to public safety.
Law enforcement agencies added more than 200 million records to the CJIS Division’s National Data Exchange in FY2023, more than four times the annual volume submitted over the last few years, and the Law Enforcement Enterprise Portal continued to be a valuable tool for our partners.
LEB Spotlight: Facing the Talent Crisis in Law Enforcement (Part 2)
This is the second of three articles in the “Facing the Talent Crisis in Law Enforcement” series, which provides a valid and reliable coaching model for agencies to follow. The first article focused on coaching individuals to solve problems in real time using the 4P’s Coaching Model. It also introduced a generalized case study to demonstrate how an effective leader employs this model to ask questions, not give advice.
Learn more in the Law Enforcement Bulletin | LEB Website
History
Year of the Spy (1985)
The Cold War was on its last gasps, but you would have never guessed it by all the moles in the U.S. government who were passing secrets. It was 1985—and as a result of a string of high-profile espionage arrests by the FBI and its partners, the press dubbed it the “Year of the Spy.”
Protect Yourself: Reporting Federal Crimes
Ever have a neighbor ask you how to submit a tip to the FBI? Share this link to tips.fbi.gov.
The site is used to report federal crimes and submit tips regarding terrorist activity. If you are reporting Internet-based fraud, submit a tips to the Internet Crime Complaint Center at IC3.gov.
Winter Weather
For those of you who choose to live where it's cold, tips from Ready.gov
What is InfraGard?
InfraGard is a unique partnership between the FBI and individuals in the private sector for the protection of U.S. critical infrastructure and the American people. As one of the nation’s largest public/private partnerships, InfraGard connects critical infrastructure owners, operators, and stakeholders with the FBI to provide education, networking, and information-sharing on security threats and risks. Learn more
91 New*
The FBI has long used publicity to enlist the public’s help in taking dangerous criminals off the streets—from wanted posters tacked to post office walls in decades past to the social media and web technologies of today.
The Bank Robbers website—and the FBI Bank Robbers mobile app—continue that tradition by calling specific attention to unknown violent and/or serial bank robbery suspects who are wanted by the Bureau.
* 91 New refers to a radio call for bank robbery
The FBI Alumni E-Brief is distributed through our alumni and family organizations. These groups share it through their membership lists, we do not maintain an individual email list. Currently, the groups receiving the AEB are:
- The Society of FBI Alumni
- Society of Former Special Agents of the FBI
- FBI Agents Association
- FBI National Citizens Academy Alumni Association
- FBI National Academy Associates
- FBI National Executive Institute Associates
- FBI LEEDA
- InfraGard
- Not a member of one of these organizations? The AEB is on Facebook: FBI-Federal Bureau of Investigation Family (Current/Retired)
If you are aware of another group to assist in sharing this AEB with the FBI family, please let us know. You can also send content suggestions, photo or story submissions, as well as critiques to alumni@fbi.gov.
