Terrorism in the USA:threat & response

[Rifleman]

Maybe an FBI special agent should sit down and have coffee with a CIA case officer.

Who knows, something positive and productive might happen for both sides.

[bourbon]

Maybe an FBI special agent should sit down and have coffee with a CIA case officer.

Who knows, something positive and productive might happen for both sides.

Phil Mudd had 20 years at CIA and was the deputy director of CIA's Counterterrorism Center. My understanding is that was the whole point of putting him at FBI's National Security Service, to have someone who knows the difference between the West Bank and the West Side. I hope there is another angle to this story.

[Jedburgh]

Robert S. Mueller, FBI Director, 7 Apr 08:

From 9/11 to 7/7: Global Terrorism Today and the Challenges of Tomorrow

.....We in the FBI are panning for gold. First, we have to determine in which streams we are likely to find gold. Which suspected networks? Which human sources? Which websites? Then, agents and analysts must take their pans and wade through the waters of intelligence, carefully searching for nuggets of gold amid streams of repetitive or irrelevant information.

The gold might be a phone number, or a name, or a receipt from a bank transaction. It will likely be hidden among thousands of other scraps of information. With deft, methodical sifting, we can separate the gold from the dross, as Dame Eliza would say. But as she also points out, gathering the intelligence is just the start. It then must be verified and connected to other intelligence. And even then we are only seeing part of the picture.

Our goal is to get as close as possible to having the complete picture. For the FBI, this means we often continue to collect information long after we have gathered enough evidence for prosecution. Once we have the threat under control, we use these cases as intelligence collection platforms. Our mission is not just to disrupt an isolated plot, but to thoroughly dismantle the entire network that supports it.....

[jcustis]

I have a very close friend who just graduated the academy, career pathed to CT. I'll have to remember to refer his butt to this thread.

[bourbon]

FBI planning a bigger role in terrorism fight, by Josh Meyer. Los Angeles Times, May 27, 2009.

The FBI and Justice Department are significantly expanding their role in global counter-terrorism operations, part of a U.S. policy shift that will replace a CIA-dominated system of clandestine detentions and interrogations with one built around transparent investigations and prosecutions.

Under the "global justice" initiative, which has been quietly in the works for several months, FBI agents will have a central role in overseas counter-terrorism cases. They will question suspects and gather evidence to ensure that criminal prosecutions are an option, officials familiar with the effort said.

[davidbfpo]

FBI planning a bigger role in terrorism fight, by Josh Meyer. Los Angeles Times, May 27, 2009.

I assume in some places the host nation allows the FBI to interview suspects, many others would recoil at such a practice as I would. Are FBI methods compatible with host nation laws and procedures, for example audio-visual recording throughout? Same applies to gathering evidence. Another website refers to the Italians seeking a CIA kidnap team.

Liasion is very different and usually is not "hands on".

davidbfpo

[bourbon]

Legal attaches work out of the embassy and are part of the country team. In this diplomatic environment I imagine the State Department tries to keep them on a short leash and in line.

I don’t know how useful this is going to be if more agents are assigned to the semi-isolation of the embassy. NYPD liaison officers work from a desk provided by the host law enforcement agency. The responsibilities between FBI legal attaches and NYPD liaison officers are of course different; the NYPD doing strictly CT, and the legatts having more areas to cover. If this is strictly CT the FBI should do more like the NYPD has done.