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| FBI told its cyber surveillance programs have actually not gone far enough | |
| (35 minutes later) | |
| An in-house review of the FBI has found the agency failing to go far enough in its expansion of physical and cyber surveillance programs, urging the bureau to recruit deeper networks of informants and bring its technological abilities up to pace with other intelligence agencies. | An in-house review of the FBI has found the agency failing to go far enough in its expansion of physical and cyber surveillance programs, urging the bureau to recruit deeper networks of informants and bring its technological abilities up to pace with other intelligence agencies. |
| While billed as a damning critique of the FBI, the in-house assessment known as the 9/11 Review Commission primarily attacks the bureau for not moving fast enough to become a domestic intelligence agency, precisely the direction in which the FBI has pivoted since the 2001 terror attacks. | While billed as a damning critique of the FBI, the in-house assessment known as the 9/11 Review Commission primarily attacks the bureau for not moving fast enough to become a domestic intelligence agency, precisely the direction in which the FBI has pivoted since the 2001 terror attacks. |
| The majority of the panel’s findings recommend bureaucratic changes – such as expanded training for FBI intelligence analysts or expanding cooperation with local and state law enforcement through the agency’s Joint Terrorism Task Force – or otherwise urge Director James Comey onward in the long-set course he and predecessor Robert Mueller have set, such as bolstering the FBI’s “human intelligence” (Humint) network of informants. | The majority of the panel’s findings recommend bureaucratic changes – such as expanded training for FBI intelligence analysts or expanding cooperation with local and state law enforcement through the agency’s Joint Terrorism Task Force – or otherwise urge Director James Comey onward in the long-set course he and predecessor Robert Mueller have set, such as bolstering the FBI’s “human intelligence” (Humint) network of informants. |
| In particular, the report found that the agency fails to support analysts and linguists who interpret intelligence behind the scenes. The “imbalance” between support for field agents and analysts “needs urgently to be addressed to meet growing and increasingly complex national security threats, from adaptive and increasingly tech-savvy terrorists, more brazen computer hackers, and more technically capable, global cyber syndicates”, the report’s authors wrote. | In particular, the report found that the agency fails to support analysts and linguists who interpret intelligence behind the scenes. The “imbalance” between support for field agents and analysts “needs urgently to be addressed to meet growing and increasingly complex national security threats, from adaptive and increasingly tech-savvy terrorists, more brazen computer hackers, and more technically capable, global cyber syndicates”, the report’s authors wrote. |
| Yet the “Review Commission cannot say that with better JTTF collaboration, Humint or even intelligence analysis that the FBI would have detected those plots beforehand”, the panel concedes, offering only that FBI counterterrorism “might have benefited” with an acceleration of what the agency has already been doing. | Yet the “Review Commission cannot say that with better JTTF collaboration, Humint or even intelligence analysis that the FBI would have detected those plots beforehand”, the panel concedes, offering only that FBI counterterrorism “might have benefited” with an acceleration of what the agency has already been doing. |
| Much of the report remarked approvingly on the FBI’s activities of the past decade, praising the way it shares information with government agencies and the new rules that allow it to surveil a target without a warrant. | Much of the report remarked approvingly on the FBI’s activities of the past decade, praising the way it shares information with government agencies and the new rules that allow it to surveil a target without a warrant. |
| “With the new and almost entirely unclassified AG Guidelines, special agents working on national security issues could now at the assessment stage ‘recruit and task sources, engage in interviews of members of the public without a requirement to identify themselves as FBI agents and disclose the precise purpose of the interview, and engage in physical surveillance not requiring a court order’ just as special agents working on organized crime investigations could do,” the authors wrote. | “With the new and almost entirely unclassified AG Guidelines, special agents working on national security issues could now at the assessment stage ‘recruit and task sources, engage in interviews of members of the public without a requirement to identify themselves as FBI agents and disclose the precise purpose of the interview, and engage in physical surveillance not requiring a court order’ just as special agents working on organized crime investigations could do,” the authors wrote. |
| Bulk searches and ‘mainstream’ Muslims: what’s not in the report | Bulk searches and ‘mainstream’ Muslims: what’s not in the report |
| The commission, composed of establishment figures like Reagan attorney general Ed Meese and former Indiana centrist Democratic representative Tim Roemer, had significantly less to say about the major policy controversies emerging from the FBI’s domestic intelligence expansion. | The commission, composed of establishment figures like Reagan attorney general Ed Meese and former Indiana centrist Democratic representative Tim Roemer, had significantly less to say about the major policy controversies emerging from the FBI’s domestic intelligence expansion. |
| Last year, the federal government’s civil liberties watchdog confirmed that FBI agents can search international communications from Americans collected in bulk from the National Security Agency without even a log of their access. Numerous studies, including a 2010 Justice Department report, have confirmed that the FBI abused its powers to issue nonjudicial subpoenas known as “exigent letters” or “national security letters” to improperly access Americans’ phone data. | Last year, the federal government’s civil liberties watchdog confirmed that FBI agents can search international communications from Americans collected in bulk from the National Security Agency without even a log of their access. Numerous studies, including a 2010 Justice Department report, have confirmed that the FBI abused its powers to issue nonjudicial subpoenas known as “exigent letters” or “national security letters” to improperly access Americans’ phone data. |
| Perhaps most controversially, the FBI stands accused of tracking American Muslims’ constitutionally protected activities and using them as leverage to create informants, which has led to the cultivation of terrorist plots smacking of entrapment. Bureau counterterrorism agents, as late as 2011, were instructed that Islam itself and “mainstream” Muslims, rather than specific terrorist plots, were appropriate bureau targets. Tactics like those have sparked overwhelming anger in US Muslim communities that the FBI insists it treats as a partner. | Perhaps most controversially, the FBI stands accused of tracking American Muslims’ constitutionally protected activities and using them as leverage to create informants, which has led to the cultivation of terrorist plots smacking of entrapment. Bureau counterterrorism agents, as late as 2011, were instructed that Islam itself and “mainstream” Muslims, rather than specific terrorist plots, were appropriate bureau targets. Tactics like those have sparked overwhelming anger in US Muslim communities that the FBI insists it treats as a partner. |
| Noting that Boston Marathon bomber Tamerlan Tsarnaev became “angry” and issued an outburst after a January 2013 mosque sermon, the commission suggested the FBI deepen its surveillance of mosques and other Muslim community pillars. | Noting that Boston Marathon bomber Tamerlan Tsarnaev became “angry” and issued an outburst after a January 2013 mosque sermon, the commission suggested the FBI deepen its surveillance of mosques and other Muslim community pillars. |
| “While the Review Commission recognizes the civil liberties sensibilities of source networks within religious institutions, a more extensive Humint network postured within the local community could have made the FBI aware of these outbursts,” the commission wrote. | “While the Review Commission recognizes the civil liberties sensibilities of source networks within religious institutions, a more extensive Humint network postured within the local community could have made the FBI aware of these outbursts,” the commission wrote. |
| Similarly, the commission opted to sidestep the FBI’s close relationship with the NSA, focusing instead on its collaborations with the Defense Department in which the NSA is nested. While it pushed the FBI to expand its cyber activities, it did not address the controversy over Comey’s October call to weaken encryption on mobile devices. | Similarly, the commission opted to sidestep the FBI’s close relationship with the NSA, focusing instead on its collaborations with the Defense Department in which the NSA is nested. While it pushed the FBI to expand its cyber activities, it did not address the controversy over Comey’s October call to weaken encryption on mobile devices. |
| The report praised the modern wellsprings of FBI surveillance authorities, such as the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act and the Patriot Act – a critical section of which expires in June – and envisioned “expanding” the agency’s power. | The report praised the modern wellsprings of FBI surveillance authorities, such as the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act and the Patriot Act – a critical section of which expires in June – and envisioned “expanding” the agency’s power. |
| “The FBI should ensure Congress is aware of the critical value of these programs as it considers retaining, refining, and expanding the bureau’s authorities as the threat evolves,” the commission advised. | “The FBI should ensure Congress is aware of the critical value of these programs as it considers retaining, refining, and expanding the bureau’s authorities as the threat evolves,” the commission advised. |
| “I am pleased the Review Commission recognized the significant progress we have made to build a threat-based, intelligence-driven law enforcement and national security organization,” Comey said in a statement accompanying the release. | “I am pleased the Review Commission recognized the significant progress we have made to build a threat-based, intelligence-driven law enforcement and national security organization,” Comey said in a statement accompanying the release. |