The FBI, Changing to Meet Today's Challenges

Issues of the Day
The FBI, Changing to Meet Today's Challenges

04/13/04

Today, on April 13, Director Mueller is addressing the Alfred M. Landon Lecture Series at Kansas State University. His address, the first in this distinguished forum by an FBI Director, presents a snapshot of an agency that has transformed itself since the attacks of 9/11/01 to detect and prevent terrorist attacks on U.S. soil.

"Immediately following 9/11," he says, "the FBI's number one priority became the prevention of terrorist attacks. This required a systematic approach examining all aspects of Bureau operations. Everything from how we communicate inside the FBI to how we communicate outside to other agencies; how we refocus terrorism, but continue to uphold our other responsibilities; how we keep our intelligence information from being stove-piped, yet protect it from foreign spies who want to know what we know."

Audio and text copies of his address can be found at the Kansas State University website.

And please note: tomorrow, April 14, the FBI testifies before the 9/11 Commission at its 10th public hearing, which is focusing on Law Enforcement and the Intelligence Community.

• Executive Assistant Director of Counterterrorism and Counterintelligence John Pistole is testifying at 11:00 am on the subject of "Preventing Future Attacks inside the United States." Appearing with him on the panel are Terrorist Threat Integration Center Director John Brennan; Department of Homeland Security Assistant Secretary Patrick Hughes; and CIA's Deputy Director of Operations James Pavitt.
• At 2:30 pm, Director Mueller will be testifying with FBI Executive Assistant Director of Intelligence Mo Baginski on the subject of "FBI Leadership and Initiatives Post 9/11."

These hearings, as you know, closely concern the future safety of the United States and also the future shape of the FBI. We encourage you to read the testimony that will be posted on this site. We also encourage you to read the FBI's Report to the Commission, posted on this site tomorrow, entitled The FBI's Counterterrorism Program Since September 2001. More than a description of what we have done to date, this report is a blueprint for our future and lays out the 7-part plan that is fundamentally transforming our organization to ensure we predict and prevent acts of terrorism directed against America.