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FBI, Homeland Security Boost Antiterrorism Planning
The FBI yesterday announced that it has formed a new investigative unit aimed at preventing terrorist attacks involving weapons of mass destruction, the Washington Post reported (see GSN, Dec. 5, 2005). FBI Director Robert Mueller said the new WMD Directorate, the appointment of an associate deputy to handle administrative matters, and other senior-level personnel moves are components of a plan to block acts of terrorism. The plan also calls for placing the FBI Laboratory and other technical support services within a new science-and-technology division. Mueller has implemented numerous changes since the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks, the Post reported. The modifications announced yesterday mark the third phase in remaking the FBI into a modern, fast-moving domestic intelligence service, he said. The agency has previously boosted counterterror staffing and added a directorate focused on intelligence gathering and analysis. “We have grown as an organization substantially since September 11,” Mueller said in a release. “It made sense in my mind to evolve the organization to what you see today” (Dan Eggen, The Washington Post, July 27). Meanwhile, the Homeland Security Department is scheduled to announce today plans to have national intelligence analysts work alongside state and local authorities in four states to improve information sharing on terrorism and disaster response, USA Today reported. Homeland Security personnel ultimately are expected to work in each of the 38 U.S. “fusion” centers where law enforcement agents investigate leads, tighten security and prepare for disasters, said Charles Allen, Homeland Security chief intelligence officer. “We’re going to move as rapidly as we can,” Allen said. Intelligence analysts in the first part of the plan are to be stationed at centers in New York, Los Angeles, Baton Rouge, La., and Reisterstown, Md., near Baltimore. Department personnel should be in place at all the centers by the end of 2008, Allen said. Local police departments have accused Homeland Security of not providing adequate information about potential terrorist threats. Los Angeles Police Chief William Bratton said the new system would help fix that problem. “We’ve had some frustration … but this is progress,” he said. “The name of the game is intelligence — the earlier, the better; the more, the better.” Homeland Security sent out more than 1,260 notices last year, but Bratton and others have said that the bulletins lack detail, USA Today reported. Having a Homeland Security intelligence analyst on site should boost a center’s ability to identify a potential threat and make decisions on a response, said Maryland homeland security spokesman James Pettit. “Nothing replaces face-to-face contact,” he said (Mimi Hall, USA Today, July 27).
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