USA
Today Editorial
By FBI Director Robert S. Mueller, III
This
week, the Joint Intelligence Committee released a report
containing a number of significant recommendations for
improving our nation's counterterrorism efforts. The
FBI agrees with the committee's assessment that many
of the FBI's counterterrorism and counterintelligence
functions required improvement. However, the FBI has
made significant changes since 9-11 in an effort to
prevent future terrorist attacks and protect the American
people.
Last
December, I announced a comprehensive reorganization
to strengthen our counterterrorism and counterintelligence
units. In addition to redirecting the efforts of our
Special Agents, we have hired more than 330 additional
contract linguists and language specialists, increasing
our ability to translate Middle Eastern languages by
more than 200%. Before 9-11 we were conducting 70 full
field investigations into Al Qaeda in the U.S. Today
we are conducting more than 340 investigations, and
our newly established Foreign Terrorist Tracking Task
Force has identified more than 200 known or suspected
terrorists.
We
have also moved decisively to ensure information gets
into the hands of the people who need it to protect
Americans. The FBI has established Joint Terrorism Task
Forces in each of our 56 field offices to strengthen
information sharing with federal, state, and local law
enforcement agencies. We have established a National
Joint Terrorism Task Force at FBI Headquarters to aggressively
pursue intelligence leads and to coordinate intelligence
gathering among more than 30 federal and local agencies.
We have doubled the resources we devote to analyzing
intelligence data, and we have created an Office of
Intelligence to ensure that intelligence is shared both
within the FBI and with the rest of the US government.
We
have also accelerated the implementation of Trilogy,
our urgently needed technology upgrade program. Trilogy
will provide the capabilities needed to support priority
cases and will enhance information access and analysis
in all FBI offices.
Since
its founding in 1908, the FBI has protected this country
through two World Wars, the Cold War, and other domestic
and international crises. It adapted, as needed, to
the challenges of espionage, organized crime, prohibition,
civil rights upheavals, and war. For nearly 100 years,
the FBI's ability to collect, analyze, and act on information
has made it the world's premiere law enforcement agency.
The FBI remains uniquely positioned with experts to
simultaneously handle criminal, terrorism and counterintelligence
matters - all of which are inextricably woven together.
The
Bureau has adapted to meet the needs of our country
through every national crisis of the past century. We
are committed to building on this expertise and experience
as we meet the threat of international terrorism and
fulfill what always has and always will be our most
fundamental mission: to protect and serve the American
people.
