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| THE FBI REORGANIZATION | |
 May 29, 2002  |
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Attorney General John Ashcroft and FBI Director Robert Mueller announce the FBI plan to focus on counterterrorism.
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ATTORNEY GENERAL JOHN ASHCROFT: Good afternoon. On September the 4th, 2001, Bob Mueller took the oath of office as the director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation. At that time, Bob certainly knew he faced enormous challenges in leading the bureau's 27,000 employees. One week later, on September 11th, those challenges were unbelievably magnified. Yet, as a former Marine, Bob well understood the concepts of adapting and overcoming. For over eight months now, Bob has simultaneously adapted the bureau to the new mission of preventing future terrorist activities while overcoming bureaucratic hurdles to restructure dramatically anti-terrorism operations. We appreciate your leadership, your integrity, Bob, and your passion for reform. When Bob was unanimously confirmed by the United States Senate as the director of the FBI, he was lauded by Republicans and Democrats alike. Senator Dianne Feinstein, who came to know Bob through his service as U.S. attorney in California, praised him as a hands-on manager who was known as a man who can come in and whip an operation into shape; no nonsense, no excuses, just results. Senator Barbara Boxer, who recommended Bob for his job as the US Attorney for Northern California, lauded his selection. Senator Leahy expedited Bob's nomination as FBI director stating, "Is the president's choice the best person? I believe it is. I have faith in him." Senator Leahy also acknowledged, "We know he has a very difficult job ahead of him." That difficult job on September 4th became the Herculean task He's met it by working to enact new laws to strengthen dramatically our information-gathering capacity. He's met it by sharing intelligence and investigative information more broadly than ever before within the law enforcement community and intelligence community. Bob has met the challenge by reorganizing the FBI's senior headquarters
management and planning at the upper levels of the FBI headquarters,
and establishing new leadership positions to oversee counterintelligence
and Bob has realigned the work force, with 900 new agents scheduled to
come online by September of this year, including a massive campaign
to recruit specialists in areas like computers, language, engineering
and science. And Last November, I announced a wartime reorganization and mobilization of the nation's justice and law-enforcement resources to meet the overriding counterterrorism mission of the Department of Justice. Director Mueller continues that transformation in our mission today in announcing the second phase of the FBI's reorganization. This reorganization goes forward with the knowledge that Congress and those within and outside the FBI will provide us with constructive advice and criticism. Where there are responsible changes to be made, we will make them. Where there are mistakes to acknowledge, we will not shy away from doing so. Those who step forward to voice their legitimate concerns will be welcomed, and often, their ideas reviewed and embraced. We have worked and will continue to work with the September 11th joint
inquiry of the House and Senate Intelligence Committees to examine the
deficiencies in our intelligence-gathering and analysis. We will strive
to As Bob highlighted in his nomination hearings last summer, the FBI
is, and I quote Bob, "is on the frontlines every day in the battle
against terrorism and violent crime." Bob Mueller has never retreated
from the frontlines, whether it was in Vietnam, where he led in battle
as an officer in the United States Marine Corps and received the Bronze
Star, two Navy Commendation Medals, the Purple Heart, and the Vietnamese
Cross of Gallantry, or There is a difficult job. There is a difficult job ahead. Bob Mueller is the right man for that job. He has a mandate for change from this administration. This battle-tested leader will execute his mission. This reformer will overhaul the FBI. It is now my pleasure to introduce FBI Director Bob Mueller, to thank him for his service. Thank you, Bob. FBI DIRECTOR ROBERT MUELLER: Thank you, General. Thank you for being here. Appreciate it. Well, I want to, quite obviously, start by thanking the attorney general for those words. I still find them somewhat embarrassing. The work that's been done by the FBI since September 11th has been done by the agents of the FBI, the men and women who comprise the FBI. Let me just go back and start with what I perceive to be where we've been and where we're going. When I arrived at the FBI in September, it was already clear that there was a need for change at the bureau. Recent events, such as the Hanssen matter, the McVeigh documents and the Wen Ho Lee case, all brought to light certain problems that needed to be addressed. And that was before the events of September 11th. But then came the events of September 11th, and the events of September
11th marked a turning point for the FBI. And I say that because I think
it's fair to say that after 9/11, it became clearer than ever that we
had to Now, as I recently testified, responding to the post-9/11 realities
requires a redesigned and a refocused FBI. New technologies are required
to support new and different operational practices, and we have to do
a lot better -- a much better job a recruiting, managing and training
our workforce. We have to do a better job of collaborating with others.
And as critically important, we have to do a better job managing, analyzing
and sharing information. In essence, we need a different approach that
puts prevention above all else. And simply put, we need to change, and
we indeed are In December, I described to you a new headquarters structure, one designed to support not hinder the critically important work of our employees stationed here and around the world. It is working, but quite obviously, there's a lot more work that needs to be done. And today, I am presenting for congressional consideration the second,
and I think clearly the most important part of what must be done. And
it comes after much consultation within the bureau, with the attorney
general and his And what I'm about to describe does not necessarily stand by itself.
Much else needs to change if we are to succeed, not the least of which
is the new information technology, which is critical to conducting business
a different And as an aside, I should note that we are, as we go along, becoming much better connected, intertwined with our colleagues, particularly the CIA. And I want to spend a moment to thank Director Tenet's willingness to share his analytical resources with us in this redefinition of our mission. In the last few weeks, two separate matters have come to symbolize
that which we must change. First is what did not happen with the memo
from Phoenix, which points squarely at our analytical capacity. Our
analytical And second, the letter from Agent Rowley in Minneapolis points squarely to a need for a different approach, especially at headquarters. And with that proposition there really should be no debate. And let me -- let me just take a moment to thank Agent Rowley for her letter. It is critically important that I hear criticisms of the organization, including criticisms of me, in order to improve the organization, to improve the FBI. Because our focus is on preventing terrorist attacks, more so than in the past, we must be open to new ideas, to criticism from within and from without, and to admitting and learning from our mistakes. And I certainly do not have a monopoly -- a monopoly on the right answers, and so I seek the input from those both within the organization as well as those without the organization. Now, from new priorities, to new resources, to a new structure applying a new approach, I do believe that we are on the way to changing the FBI. And while we believe that these changes are relatively dramatic and dramatic departure from the past, in the end, our culture must change with them. Long before me, the bureau had years of major successes, based on the efforts of the talented men and women who make up the FBI. It is a history we should not forget as we evolve to an agency centered on the prevention of any further terrorist attacks. We must never forget as well that our actions must be undertaken according to a constitutional and a statutory framework that protects the rights and the privacy of our citizens. That, too, is part of our culture, representing an appreciation unique to those who enforce the laws. And that must not get lost either. Now what I propose to do is talk to you for a few minutes about the changes I am proposing to Congress. After that, I'd be happy to respond to some of your questions. Let me start by talking to you about FBI priorities. When I first started in September and looked at the way we stated our priorities, I did not believe they were as clearly designated as they should be. In my mind, the FBI, both for its employees but also for the American people, should have a short, readily understandable statement of its priorities. And let me run through what I have put out to the field in the last couple of weeks as what I believe our FBI priorities should be, what I believe our priorities will be for at least the next two years. Number one, protect the United States from terrorist attack. That
goes without -- in the wake of September 11th, that goes without further
explanation. But number two, the second priority is to protect the United
States against foreign intelligence operations and espionage. And these
two priorities are somewhat unique in the sense that, in its history,
the bureau has had -- television programs, had accolades for its work
on the criminal side, all justified, but when you come right down to
it, the American people look to the FBI to protect the United States
against further We are the one federal agency that has the mandate. And while state
and local law enforcement can help us, really the American people look
to the FBI to perform those two missions, and therefore, they have to
be our two top priorities. And when I say priorities, what I mean is
that each special Number three: protect the United States against cyber-based attacks and high-technology crimes. Again, this is a protection of our infrastructure. As with the first two priorities, a cyber-attack can occur any place in the country. A terrorist attack can occur any place in the country. And consequently, you need the overarching responsibility, the overarching supervisory responsibility of those investigations in an agency such as the FBI. Number four: combat public corruption at all levels. This is another area in which the FBI, throughout the years of its existence, has expended its manpower and developed the cases. And again, if the FBI does not do this, there are very few other prosecutorial bodies that would be able to perform it. Protect civil rights. Critically important. Again, the bureau has been the agency, the federal agency over the years to protect the civil rights of our citizens, and that has to be one of the top priorities that we pursue. Number six: combat transnational and national criminal organizations
and enterprises. A number of people have said that the bureau cannot
be all things to all people. That's absolutely true, particularly when
you understand that our principal priorities are protecting the United
States from attack Combat major white-collar crime. When there's major white-collar crime,
the FBI has been at the forefront in addressing, whether it be major
securities fraud cases, health care fraud, environmental crimes. And
accordingly, we have to stay, in my mind, in the investigation of substantial Combat significant violent crime. Having been a prosecutor here in D.C. for a number of years, I come away from that experience believing that every law-enforcement individual who can do something to protect neighborhoods from violence should work to do that. Now, the challenge for the FBI is to do that in such a way that it
does not replicate the great job that's done by state and locals, and
we ought to stay on those task forces where we're addressing violent
crime, but be brought in when we bring something special to the mix,
whether it be the statutes Now, the last two priorities do not really fit with programmatic And I am want to say that the bureau is only so good as its relationships not only with state and local law enforcement within the United States, but with our counterparts overseas. So supporting federal, state, local and international partners is critically important for everybody in the bureau to work on. And lastly, you've heard me talk about the necessity for upgrading our technology. And upgrading our technology means not just getting the computers on board, the hard drives; it means everybody from top to bottom becoming facile with the computer, understanding the computer and understanding how technology can assist us to do our job better. And that is somewhat of a transformation for an organization such as the FBI, which is years behind where it should be in terms of having the technological infrastructure. Those are the 10 priorities. Let me turn to the near-term actions to address counterterrorism that -- some have been implemented and some I'm requesting the support of Congress on. Number one, restructuring the Counterterrorism Division at FBI headquarters.
And there are a couple of things that need to be addressed here. One
of the arguments made by Agent Rowley is that the headquarters needs
to expedite and be aggressive in assisting the field. She's absolutely And to that end, I brought, for instance, Pat DeMoro down from New York, who was the head of the New York task force, the ASAC up there who was responsible for counterterrorism for a long period of time. And nobody who knows Pat would say that he is shy, retiring or not aggressive. And with him have come a new set of section chiefs and others from the field so that headquarters can be as aggressive as the field. But by the same token, it is important to have at headquarters people who are knowledgeable about UBL, people who are knowledgeable investigators, and people who -- and agents who are respected from the field, because headquarters has to play a principal role in addressing terrorism. It has to be the focal point for the intelligence not only from around the country, but from the CIA, from countries overseas, and should be in the position to take that intelligence, analyze that intelligence, disseminate that intelligence, and suggest to the field avenues of investigation. It is critically important to our ability to address terrorism that we have a vibrant, active, aggressive headquarters and it has the analytical capability to support that mission. And that's what I mean by -- when I say up here, "Redefine the Relationship Between the Headquarters and Field." And there's one other aspect in that -- of that; is we cannot expect an office in the field to know what other offices are doing. It's up to headquarters to make certain that, in the case of Moussaoui
for instance, that the agents who were working on the Moussaoui case
got the Phoenix memorandum that was put out in July by Agent Williams
there. It is Now shift to reactive to proactive orientation. In my own mind, the
Bureau has done a superb job -- and particularly the New York office
-- in investigating Osama bin Laden, particularly the World Trade Center,
where Establish flying squads to coordinate national and international investigations.
We have not had agents at headquarters for probably a long time active
in investigations. In my mind, we need a cadre of agents here who stay
here for a period of time, and who are well versed in the particular And I'll give you an example. We have up in Boston now the prosecution
of Richard Reed. And, as you are all aware, Mr. Reed boarded a plane
in Paris. The plane was destined for Miami. And a very alert flight
attendant saw that he was trying to light a match to his shoes. He was
taken down, subdued, and we come to find that he had plastic explosives
in his shoes. Well, the pilot on that plane does a jog on the rudder,
and the plane goes into Boston. And under our venue laws, that's where
this case has to be prosecuted. You have agents doing a great job up
there. You have assistant US Attorneys investigating that case, bringing
in intelligence and information to address the case. And what we need
in the future, in my mind, is to have persons from headquarters to participate
in that. So when that case is done, the information from that case is
not lost on those So when I talk about flying squads to coordinate national and international investigations, I do not mean flying squads to supersede the agents in the field, but flying squads that go out and assist with a body of knowledge that will be helpful throughout not just the United States but also overseas. When we get something like the kidnapping of Pearl, Danny Pearl, or some other incident such as that, we would want agents overseas who are familiar with the players on the ground to assist, whether it be the Pakistani authorities or legats or other law enforcement agencies. Establish national joint terrorism task force. We have, as many of
you know, around the country, 56 joint terrorism task forces. And actually
there's some more because there are divisions that are somewhat broader
and have subunits of JTTFs. And they are -- in each of those divisions
there And it brings together the federal agencies as well as the state and locals. What we need back here at headquarters is a replica of that. We had it in the days after September 11th, where we had in SIOC downstairs agents from all federal agencies, but we did not have state and locals. And what we are hoping to do is put up a national joint terrorism task force that will have not only the federal agencies represented, but also state and local agencies represented. We have currently two officers from the New York police department who are working down here. We want to expand on that, so that we incorporate in the war on terrorism not only the skills of the federal agencies but also the skills, the intelligence and the dedication of state and local law enforcement. Let me use one other example to tell you how and why I think this Now, let me just say as I say that is that you would hope that those in the future, that those databases would be better able to talk to each other without having quite obviously two sets of computer terminals on every desk. But we are not there. We are hopeful, but we are not there yet. But, in the meantime, we need something like a joint terrorism task force to address that. Number four, substantially enhance our analytical capabilities with
personnel and technology. Let me talk about the personnel. I'll tell
you the analysts that have been working here in headquarters since September
11th are just The technology I've talked about -- it would have been very nice if
at some point in time I could say -- recently I could say that you put
into our computer system a request for anything relating to flight schools,
for instance, and have every report in the last 10 years that had been
done that mentions flight schools or flight training and the like kicked
out. We do not have that capability now. We have to have that capability.
And, beyond that, we ought to have the artificial intelligence that
doesn't require us to query it -- doesn't require us to query it, but
automatically looks at We have expanded the use of data mining, financial record analysis and communications analysis since September 11th. We've set up particular groups that address each of those areas. And the other point under here is establish an office of intelligence. When I talked to you earlier about the reorganization, initial reorganization last December, I had there this office of intelligence. And I'll discuss it a little bit in more detail in a moment. But let me just say that the office of intelligence will be that office that oversees both counterintelligence and counterterrorism, and will be part and parcel of the process of doing the predictive work and the report writing, which is so important to the policymakers. Build a national terrorism response capability that is more mobile,
agile and flexible. And the first question will be, Well, how does that
differentiate from the flying squad you talked about in two? And let
me preface it by saying that what we have come to find since September
11th is we'll get a terrorism alert anyplace in the country -- it could
be Albuquerque, it can be Portland, Oregon, it can be New York City,
it can be Boston, Massachusetts, it can be Atlanta. And by a "terrorism
alert" I mean information that something may be hit there, or information
that there are I am reminded of back in the early 1990s when we had the savings and
loan crisis, and we had the savings and loan crisis and we took -- and
Congress gave us many resources. By "us" I mean not only the
FBI, but also prosecutors. And they sent these resources to particular
cities -- it Augment our overseas capabilities and partnerships. As many of you
know, we have 44 legal attache offices overseas. They have been incredibly
helpful in the investigation of the events of September 11th. We have
asked And finally -- well, actually number eight, target recruitment to
acquire agents, analysts, translators and others with specialized skills
and backgrounds. We have always sought in the Bureau those individuals
whom we felt had other life experiences that they brought to the Bureau
-- whether it be a lawyer, an accountant, former military, former law
enforcement -- that brought to the Bureau a maturity and a judgment
that is appropriate to somebody who is given the powers of being an
FBI special agent. What we need to do in the future is augment that
background, that type of person with particular skills -- computer skills.
We talk about cyber crime, we talk about protecting the United States
against cyber attacks. We need the computer skills in agents. We need
the language skills. We are dealing with the anthrax threat. We need
the scientists and we need the engineers. And And, finally, enhance counterterrorism training for FBI and law enforcement
partners. We are expanding on the counterterrorism training that we
give to new agents, and we are putting in new classes for those who
are further along in their careers, so that we all are singing off the
same sheet in terms Those are the actions that we have undertaken or are in the process of undertaking. Let me just spend a moment on the reorganization of the counterterrorism
division. The units that were there before are in green. The new units
are in yellow. And I throw this up briefly to show you that in the past
we were I've talked -- I spent some time on upgrading our analytical capabilities.
Actually let me talk about one last thing here in terms of the -- how
we handle intelligence coming from the field. In the past, documents
would come up through the domestic terrorism or international terrorism
operation Now, this individual heading the Office of Intelligence is an experienced CIA officer who started on Monday. And in addition to him running the office, we will have a combination of both FBI and CIA. I think both agencies have a lot to learn from working together in ways we have not worked in the past. And, consequently, again, the Office of Intelligence will be handled -- will be run, I should say -- by an individual who is an experienced CIA intelligence officer. Let me spend a moment also talking about the -- upgrading our analytical capabilities. Prior to September 11th we had a total of 153 analysts devoted to counterterrorism; 41 at headquarters and 112 in the field. We received in the counterterrorism supplement in the fall 108 additional analytical analysts, or positions for 108 additional analysts. We are in the process of recruiting and hiring those analysts, but it is a lengthy process. It is frustrating, because you want to get the right people with the right experience to do the job. George Tenant and the CIA has agreed to give us in the meantime 25
detainees -- detainees I should say --sorry, George. Detainees -- 25
detainees to address our analytical capabilities, and I expect to have
them Let me just mention additionally we put in the '03 and '04 budgets
requests for additional analysts, both in the field as well as at headquarters.
And my hope is that by the end of the -- when we get the resources from
the '04 Let me just spend a moment talking about the redirection of agents.
Over the last several months I have talked to state and local authorities,
I have talked to other federal agencies, I have talked to Congress,
I talked to those in the Bureau to determine how best to redirect our
resources to address counterterrorism. I've had the special agents in
charge in on a number of occasions and discussed with them the best
way to do it, what their needs are in their particular division. And
ultimately after looking at the needs of each of the SACs and their
divisions, and looking at the Let me just talk about the narcotics. What I've -- it's critically
important to this country that we continue the war on drugs aggressively.
What I hope to do there is have our agents still participate in the
task forces. But where we There are some cases that we'll defer to the inspector general on, but we have a fairly minor adjustment in white collar crime and violent crime. I still believe that we need to participate in task forces addressing violent crime around the country, not only because we bring something unique to the table, but also because it's important for our agents to work side-by-side with state and local authorities in matters of consequence to particular communities. And so the reassignment of approximately 60 agents represents fewer agents than will participate in particular task forces. It'll mean that our special agents in charge in the field have to look at a particular threat to a community. And if it's an important one and the state and local authorities wish us to participate and we bring something unique to the table, we ought to be addressing that threat. And when that threat is over, those agents should be going back to other programs. But it's important for us to stay in violent crime. Let me finish up with a couple of charts that show where we were prior to September 11th and where we expect to be with the new resources, if approved by Congress. You'll see Joint Terrorism Task Force resources along with our agent
base was almost -- it was 2,178, and by JTTF resources, Joint Terrorism
Task Force resources, I mean other federal agents that are assigned
to those task And let me finish by saying that it is a substantial shift, yes, of
resources, but more importantly, it is a substantial shift and an understanding
that our mission, our responsibility in the future is to prevent additional
terrorist Thank you. |
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