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FBI reorganises, focuses on cybercrime
Thursday, May 30 2002
by Andrew McLindon


A major new reorganisation at the US Federal Bureau of Investigation will see it
increase its use of technology and step up efforts against cybercrime.

The FBI's director, Robert Mueller, told a press conference on Wednesday that the
crime-fighting body had to be "refocused and redesigned." His remarks were
made in the wake of reports that the FBI had evidence and clues in its possession
that could have been used to uncover the 11 September plot.



As part of this reorganisation, the FBI will now be giving a higher priority to
cyber-crime, which now becomes the organisation's number three priority behind
protecting the United States from terrorist attack, and guarding against foreign
intelligence operations and espionage. 



"Foreign intelligence services continue to target US secrets and technology,
often for their own countries' economic advantage," commented Mueller in early
May. "Cyber-space is threatened by increasingly malicious criminal activities.
Organised crime of all types operates without regard to geographic borders."



Muller added in the press conference that preventing high-tech crime "is a
protection of our infrastructure," and since cybercrime can happen anywhere,
"you need the overarching responsibility in an agency such as the FBI." 



This renewed focus on cybercrime comes just months after the FBI established a
Cybercrime Division to co-ordinate the agency's technology-related efforts. The
division includes the bureau's National Infrastructure Protection Center, which
tries to protect the United States' most important computer networks from
attacks. 



In addition, Mueller said the re-organisation would see the FBI adopt new
technologies to support new and different operational practices. "We have to do
a better job recruiting, managing and training our workforce; collaborating
with others; and, critically important, managing, analysing and sharing
information on a real-time basis," he commented. 



As part of its "key near-actions" in countering terrorism, Mueller said the
bureau would expand its use of data mining, financial record analysis and
communications analysis. An Office of Intelligence would also be established to
oversee this activity. 



He added that the upgrading of technology was now a major concern for the FBI.
"This means not just getting our computers on board and our hard drives, but
everybody from the top to the bottom getting used to and using the technology. We
are years behind where we should be," he remarked. 



Among the recent allegations of FBI mis-handling of investigations into possible
terrorist activity was the revelation that there had been a fault in its e-mail
wiretap system.



The restructuring announced this week will also see a doubling of the number of
agents devoted to counterterrorism, and hundreds of linguists, scientists and
other specialists will be hired to focus on preventing terrorist attacks.