FBI Response to OIG Review of Guardian

Today, the Department of Justice’s Office of the Inspector General (OIG) issued a report entitled “The Federal Bureau of Investigation’s Terrorist Threat and Suspicious Incident Tracking System.” In response, FBI Assistant Director John Miller issued the following statement:

"We appreciate the Inspector General’s findings that Guardian represents a ‘significant improvement’ over how threat information was previously tracked and handled. Under Guardian, users can now enter suspicious activity and threat information and manage threat assessments through an automated electronic workflow process. We also want to emphasize that we have put in place measures to resolve all of the identified issues, and, further, agree with the seven recommendations for further improvement. Preventing terrorist attacks is our top priority, and Guardian plays an important role in that effort.

The Guardian Threat Tracking System was introduced in 2002. Counterterrorism suspicious activities can be stored, assigned, triaged, and searched by all FBI employees and other government agency partners who need this intelligence information in a classified closed system. As noted in report, from July 2004 to November 2007, Guardian has been used to resolve over 100,000 potential terrorism released-threats, reports of suspicious incidents and terrorist watchlist encounters.

Additionally, in response to state, local and tribal law enforcement partner requests, the FBI developed and deployed eGuardian, the unclassified version of Guardian accessible via the FBI Law Enforcement Online network. Urgent law enforcement matters, investigative issues, and higher classified matters will continue to be worked through existing established FBI channels and supplements existing Joint Terrorism Task Forces and Fusion Center coordination.

The FBI will always strive for continued improvement in the conduct of the FBI’s investigation and intelligence operation policies and procedures. We remain committed to working with the Department of Justice to increase coordination and to find best practices aimed at providing service and safety for our nation.”