An Interview with the FBI's International Operations

Protecting America from Afar
A Few Words with Tom Fuentes of FBI International Operations

09/12/05

In this global age, we place a high priority on building partnerships across the planet-by stationing our agents permanently in more than 50 embassies worldwide so they can work daily with their international counterparts...by sending teams of experts overseas on a case-by-case basis to work with and support their colleagues...and by training together worldwide. We talked with Tom Fuentes, special agent in charge of our International Operations, about why these relationships are so important to preventing terrorism and major crimes from being exported to the U.S.

Q: Why the strong focus on international relationships in the FBI today?
Mr. Fuentes: Because terrorists and criminals can now train their operatives, finance their operations, and plan their attacks from anywhere on the planet. Several of the 9/11 attackers, for example, conducted their planning while living in Germany. The investigations into the attacks on the Madrid train system and the recent attacks in London demonstrate the international nature of terrorism. The more we partner up globally—sharing information, developing strategies together, and even working side-by-side—the better off we’ll all be.

Q: How has the Bureau’s work overseas changed since 9/11?
Mr. Fuentes: Our focus has shifted much more to terrorism, so we’ve developed much closer relationships not just with national police agencies but also with foreign intelligence agencies and their counterterrorism components. There’s no question that the quality of our relationships is stronger across the board. More than ever, we have a common goal of defeating terrorism, and that makes a huge difference.

Q: How specifically do you cultivate global relationships?
Mr. Fuentes: Our approach is this: if you want to have a friend, you need to be a friend. We are working all over the world, for example, to help British authorities with their investigation into the London bombings. Last year, the government of Mauritius asked for our help after an explosion at a restaurant killed nine people. Our post-blast investigation determined that the explosion was the result of an accident, not a terrorist or criminal act. The Mauritian authorities were extremely grateful for our help in resolving the matter. If a foreign country asks for FBI assistance and the U.S. ambassador in that country concurs, we’ll respond.

Q: Does the FBI plan to keep expanding its international presence?
Mr. Fuentes: Absolutely. We have 50 offices and 10 suboffices now, and within the next two years, we expect to have 63 main offices and 17 suboffices. At that time, we’ll have essentially doubled our overseas staff and tripled our International Operations staff at Headquarters since 9/11. Our strategy is to not wait until we’re attacked—we need to identify and disrupt potential threats on a global basis today. To do that successfully, we must establish and maintain the strongest possible partnerships with our counterparts throughout the world. The best defense is a good offense.

Resources: FBI’s International Presence | More International stories