Statement of FBI Director Robert Mueller at Counterterrorism/Information Technology Press Briefing

Over a year ago, we in the FBI committed ourselves to unprecedented change. In areas like information sharing, we recognized that to be successful, we had to share information in ways we had not done before. Today we are a changed organization -- stronger, better focused. I believe we have made monumental strides in a number of key areas which will help make us the kind of counterterrorism, counterintelligence and criminal investigative agency we need to be to best protect the American people.

Today, we are going to talk in depth about information technology, information management, but at the outset I want to mention the Terrorist Threat Integration Center. As you know, the President directed DCI Tenet, Secretaries Ridge and Rumsfeld, and myself to develop an integrated center to merge and analyze all threat information in a single location.

I believe the Center will be a powerful mechanism to jointly analyze and digest threat information emanating from anywhere in the world -- and ensure that all information on a particular threat is shared.

I look forward to working closely with DCI Tenet to form the Center -- to bring together and maximize the existing and potential strengths of the contributing agencies and to strengthen cooperation and foster closer working relationships -- all toward the common goal of protecting the American people.

The Center will be an important part of a transformed FBI, and better position us to prevent another terrorist attack.