FEDERAL BUREAU OF INVESTIGATION

2005

January - June

Materials arranged chronologically.

Schmitt, Richard B., and Greg Miller. "FBI in Talks to Extend Reach." Los Angeles Times, 28 Jan. 2005. [http://www.latimes.com]

According to intelligence and congressional sources on 27 January 2005, "[t]he FBI is significantly expanding its intelligence-gathering activities in the U.S., including stepped-up efforts to collect and report intelligence on foreign figures and governments, a function that long has been principally the CIA's domain."

Burger, Timothy J., and Brian Bennett. "The Russians Are Coming." Time, 30 Jan. 2005. [http://www.time.com]

Russia continues to field "an army of spooks in the U.S. that is at least equal in number to the one deployed by the old, much larger Soviet Union." According to senior U.S. intelligence and law-enforcement officials, "Russia runs more than 100 known spies under official cover in the U.S.... As the FBI has remade itself in the wake of 9/11 into a counterterrorism agency, the bureau's long-standing counterintelligence mission has been bumped down a notch on the priority list. During this time, Russia has been among the U.S.'s rivals most aggressively exploiting the opening to build up its spying capabilities."

Priest, Dana. "FBI Pushes to Expand Domain Into CIA's Intelligence Gathering: Common Ground Not Yet Reached on Agency Roles in U.S." Washington Post, 6 Feb. 2005, A10. [http://www.washingtonpost.com]

"FBI Director Robert S. Mueller III is pushing to rewrite the rules under which the CIA and FBI have operated domestically for decades and to assert what he views as the FBI's proper authority over all domestic intelligence gathering.... [F]or decades, the CIA has been allowed under U.S. law to recruit foreign officials, business executives and students living in or visiting the United States to spy for the agency when they return home. CIA case officers working in the National Resources Division, which has stations in major U.S. cities, routinely debrief, on a voluntary basis, U.S. business executives and others who work overseas."

Johnston, David, and Douglas Jehl. "F.B.I.'s Recruiting of Spies Causes Rift with C.I.A." New York Times, 11 Feb. 2005. [http://www.nytimes.com]

Senior government officials have said that "[a]n ambitious new effort by the F.B.I. to recruit foreigners in the United States and use them as spies overseas has created new frictions with the Central Intelligence Agency." According to senior intelligence officials, there "have been several episodes in which the F.B.I. failed to inform the C.I.A. fully about its relationships with intelligence sources overseas or practiced poor tradecraft in its dealing with them."

Burger, Timothy J., and Brian Bennett. "Negroponte's First Test?" Time, 29 Apr. 2005. [http://www.time.com]

DNI John Negroponte "already has a major shouting match between the FBI and CIA to referee. The disagreement is about human spies -- who's in charge of recruiting them inside the U.S. and then handling them abroad against terrorists and foreign governments."

Eggen, Dan. "FBI Fails to Transform Itself, Panel Says: Former Sept. 11 Commission 'Taken Aback' by Personnel, Technology Problems." Washington Post, 7 Jun. 2005, A4. [http://www.washingtonpost.com]

Former members of the 9/11 commission have "reorganized as a private nonprofit group, the 9/11 Public Discourse Project.... The 10-member bipartisan panel plans to issue a 'report card' on the government's performance in improving its counterterrorism efforts." On 6 June 2005, the group convened the "first in a series of hearings to be held this summer." Former Deputy Attorney General Jamie S. Gorelick said that the group "was 'taken aback' by the extent of FBI failures..., including the FBI's scrapping of an expensive computer upgrade and its continued difficulty hiring qualified intelligence analysts."

Eggen, Dan. "Pre-9/11 Missteps By FBI: Detailed: Report Tells of Missed Chances To Find Hijackers." Washington Post, 10 Jun. 2005, A1. [http://www.washingtonpost.com]

According to a report by Justice Department Inspector General Glenn A. Fine, released on 9 June 2005, the FBI's "inability to detect the Sept. 11, 2001, hijacking plot amounts to a 'significant failure' ... and was caused in large part by 'widespread and longstanding deficiencies' in the way the agency handled terrorism and intelligence cases."

Lichtblau, Eric. "Report Details F.B.I.'s Failure on 2 Hijackers." New York Times, 10 Jun. 2005. [http://www.nytimes.com]

According to a report by the Justice Department's Inspector General, released on 9 June 2005 "after being kept secret for a year," the FBI "missed at least five chances in the months before Sept. 11, 2001, to find two hijackers as they prepared for the attacks and settled in San Diego." However, "the report stopped short of recommending disciplinary action against any F.B.I. employees."

Johnston, David. "Antiterror Head Will Help Choose an F.B.I. Official." New York Times, 12 Jun. 2005. [http://www.nytimes.com]

The FBI "will allow" DNI John D. Negroponte "to help choose" jointly with FBI Director Robert S. Mueller III the FBI's associate director for intelligence. The recommendation to appoint a head of intelligence was contained in the report of the Silberman-Robb presidential commission on U.S. intelligence in Iraq.

Johnston, David. "F.B.I. Counterterror Officials Lack Experience, Lawyer Says." New York Times, 20 Jun. 2005. [http://www.nytimes.com]

In a letter to three senators, Stephen M. Kohn, "[a] lawyer who interviewed a number of top current and former counterterrorism officials at the F.B.I. in connection with a lawsuit against the bureau," says that "the officials lacked a detailed understanding of terrorism and had been promoted to top jobs despite having had little experience in the field." The letter was sent to Arlen Specter (R-PA), Charles E. Grassley (R-IA), and Patrick J. Leahy (D-VT).

CNN. "Bush Creates National Security Service." 29 Jun. 2005. [http://www.cnn.com]

On 29 June 2005, "President Bush ... directed the creation of a new National Security Service within the FBI.... The new service will specialize in intelligence and other national security matters and follow the priorities laid out by Director of National Intelligence John Negroponte. The service will operate within the FBI and combine the disparate assets of the Justice Department's counterterrorism, intelligence and espionage units."

Jehl, Douglas. "Bush to Create New Unit in F.B.I. for Intelligence." New York Times, 30 Jun. 2005. [http://www.nytimes.com]

On 29 June 2005, President Bush ordered the creation of "a new, semi-autonomous" national security division within the FBI. The unit will "fall under the overall direction" of DNI John D. Negroponte and report both to Negroponte and FBI Director Robert S. Mueller

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