The FBI has reinvented itself to fight against terrorists. The goal is to prevent terrorist attacks; but it has to be less brutal, in this regard, than the CIA, which has been under fire over torture.
The FBI agent, with his Glock 23 at the ready, carefully approaches the home of a suspected terrorist. Then, a bearded man in jeans appears at the front door and opens fire. The agent does not hesitate and shoots. He hits the suspected terrorist in the back, as he retreats into the house. The suspect has an advantage inside the house, because he could use the cellar window as an escape.
This exercise, in which future FBI agents shoot laser pistols at a canvas wall, is part of a teaching module at the FBI Academy, located on the grounds of the Marine Corps Base in Quantico, Virginia. Here, recruits learn about situations in which they should use deadly force. What is new in Quantico is that the war on terrorism plays a central role in the basic training of the 850 recruits the FBI brings in each year.
The FBI is reinventing itself. The investigation of white-collar, civil rights and corruption crimes has taken a back seat to the fight against terrorism. “We had an enormous shift in resources,” says Brian Lamkin, Assistant Director of the FBI’s Training Division in Quantico. More than 50 percent of the FBI’s agents were hired after the September 11 terrorist attacks.
What applies to the agents also applies to the FBI laboratory, where 570 employees analyze the DNA of hair, match automobile paint with a database, test banknotes for authenticity and investigate bombs and their construction. Every state and local law enforcement agency in the United States can request assistance from the FBI Laboratory in the investigation of violent or financial crime. “However, when a terrorism case comes in, we let everything else sit,” says Bob Fram, the Chief of the FBI Laboratory’s Scientific Analysis Section.
The intelligence gathering tasks of the FBI have been expanded, with the establishment of the Directorate of Intelligence and the creation of approximately 100 counter-terrorism task forces across the country. At the same time, communication between the FBI and the CIA’s foreign intelligence service was required, for example, with the regional integration of both agencies’ counter-terrorism units. “This was a watershed moment for us,” says Jeff Mazanec, who trains analysts for the FBI. “Before September 11th, we neglected integration of our information.”
Mazanec says the relationship between the two agencies is “like yin and yang.” One agency protects the U.S. Constitution against attacks from abroad, and the other flouts the law in foreign countries to gather information. However, the threat from international terrorism has blurred the boundaries. Today, the FBI has 62 offices abroad and only 56 in the U.S. Whether after the attacks in London in 2005 or the Mumbai hotel massacre last year, FBI agents were on the ground to help with the investigation.
The new cooperation also means that FBI and CIA agents interrogate the same detainees. The FBI always wants to avoid being involved in discussions of its sister agency’s interrogation methods, which include torture. “We teach our agents how to interrogate suspects. We do not torture, we do not deal with the subject, and we do not talk about it,” says Assistant Training Director Lamkin.
“We have a pretty clean reputation,” says Mazanec. “We have complied with our mission of confronting threats and protecting civil liberties.” Terrorism expert, Robert Baer, a former CIA agent and a prominent critic, considers this image plausible. “FBI employees have a genuine interest in keeping themselves clear of such interrogations. Unlike the CIA, they need usable material in court. The application of torture devalues each confession.” Civil rights organizations, on the other hand, charge the FBI with complicity, at the very least.
The testimony of former FBI agent, Ali Soufan, has recently caused a stir. In 2002, he and a colleague interrogated suspected al-Qaida terrorist, Abu Zubaydah, who, in the process, revealed the role of Khalid Sheikh Mohammed as the mastermind of the organization. When their CIA colleagues received instructions to subject the suspect to waterboarding, Soufan was pulled out by FBI Director Robert Mueller. That is why this FBI agent, who knew the most about Sheikh Mohammed, missed further interrogations. Soufan said the “Great Wall of China” between the CIA and the FBI has been raised again, “similar to the communication barrier that kept us from preventing the September 11 attacks.”
_________________________________
The FBI on the Rise
State of Law – The Obama Administration would like to enhance the role of the FBI and the Justice Department in the war against terrorism in the U.S.. Constitutional transparency should replace the CIA-dominated system of secret interrogations, the situation during the Bush Administration.
Overzealousness – Critics of the “Global Justice Initiative” charge the government with overzealousness. They do not realize that “enemy combatants” should have the same claim to legal instructions (the so-called Miranda rights), as do normal criminals.
Leave a Reply
You must be logged in to post a comment.