COUNTERTERRORISM

The FBI's overriding priority is to protect America from terrorism attacks. Our mission is to identify and disrupt potential terrorist plots by individuals or terror cells, freezing terrorist finances, sharing information with law enforcement and intelligence partners worldwide, and providing strategic and operational threat analysis to the wider intelligence community. Over the past five years, we have dramatically strengthened our ability to combat terrorism.

Shift in resources

  • Realigned resources, shifting agents from some criminal programs to counterterrorism
  • Doubled the number of intelligence analysts and tripled the number of linguists

Joint Terrorism Task Forces

  • Increased multi-agency JTTFs from 35 to 101 since 2001
  • Increased agents and police officers on JTTFs from under one thousand to nearly four thousand
  • Thousands of clearances passed for state/local JTTF officers
  • Created National JTTF at Headquarters with 40 member agencies

Joint Centers

  • National Counterterrorism Center (NCTC) - Integrates intelligence related to terrorism; conducts strategic operational planning; serves as central repository for terrorism intelligence; provides intelligence support government-wide, allows connectivity and access to IT systems/databases of participating agencies
    • Milestone in information sharing - FBI, CIA, DOD, DHS, DOE, HHS, Nuclear Regulatory Commission, Capitol Police sit together and work as one team
    • Operates secure website, NCTC On-Line, the primary dissemination system for terrorism information produced by the NCTC and other counterterrorism mission partners, including international partners
  • Foreign Terrorist Tracking Task Force (w/ CIA, ICE. DOD, OPM) - Provides information that helps keep foreign terrorists and their supporters out of the U.S. or leads to their removal, location, detention, surveillance, or prosecution.
  • Terrorist Screening Center (TSC) - Stood up 12/03 to create a single comprehensive database of known or suspected terrorists (both domestic and international); manages one, consolidated watch list available in real-time to federal, state, and local officers 24/7, accessible through the NCIC

Operational Response and Support

  • Established 24/7 CT Watch
  • Established Fly Teams to respond to terrorism incidents or threats around the world. Fly teams have assisted investigations in places like Saudi Arabia, Indonesia, Pakistan, England, and Spain

Terrorism Financing

  • Established Terrorism Financing Operations Section to centralize efforts to track and shutdown terrorist financing and to exploit financial information in an effort to identify previously unknown terrorist cells, and recognize potential activity/planning
  • TFOS builds on the FBI's expertise in conducting complex criminal financial investigations and long-established relationships with the financial services sector.
  • The FBI has made tremendous progress in tracking and freezing terrorists' assets

Weapons of Mass Destruction

  • Established WMD Directorate
  • Highly trained WMD coordinators in each field office