FC: Bush lauds TTIC data-mining plan during speech to FBI today

[Declan McCullagh <declan () well com>]

See also:

"Move over, TIA: George W. Bush announces 'TTIC' data-mining system"
http://www.politechbot.com/p-04383.html

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FACT SHEET: STRENGTHENING INTELLIGENCE TO BETTER PROTECT AMERICA

                                The White House
                         Office of the Press Secretary
  ___________________________________________________________________________
For Immediate Release                                           February 14,
2003

              Strengthening Intelligence to Better Protect America

Today's Presidential Action

Ø    The President spoke today at FBI Headquarters to federal, state, and local
employees on the front lines of the war on terror about plans for the Terrorist
Threat Integration Center (TTIC) announced in the State of the Union Address.

Ø    To better protect America by strengthening counterterrorism intelligence,
TTIC will continue to minimize any seams between analysis of terrorism
intelligence collected overseas and inside the United States.  Today, the
President announced that TTIC will begin its work by May 1, 2003.

Ø    As an important next step in this effort, the President today announced
that the FBI's Counterterrorism Division, the Director of Central 
Intelligence's
Counterterrorist Center, and TTIC will relocate, as soon as possible, to a
single new facility in order to improve collaboration and enhance the
government's ability to thwart terrorist attacks and bring terrorists to
justice.

The New Terrorist Threat Integration Center

Ø    As directed by the President in his State of the Union address, the
Director of Central Intelligence, the Director of the FBI, working with the
Attorney General, and the Secretaries of Homeland Security, Defense, and State
have developed plans for the Nation's first unified Terrorist Threat 
Integration
Center.  TTIC will have unfettered access to all terrorist threat intelligence
information?from raw reports to finished analytic assessments?available to the
U.S. Government.

Ø    TTIC will:
ü    Make full use of all of our terrorist threat information, expertise, and
capabilities to conduct threat analysis and inform collection strategies, 
though
TTIC will not conduct collection operations.
ü    Create a structure to institutionalize sharing across agency lines of all
terrorist threat intelligence, whether
   collected overseas or inside the United States in order to form the most
comprehensive possible threat picture.
ü    Provide comprehensive terrorist threat assessments to our national
leadership.

Ø    TTIC will be headed by a senior U.S. Government official, who will report
to the Director of Central Intelligence.   This individual will be appointed by
the Director of Central Intelligence, in consultation with the Director of the
FBI and the Attorney General, and the Secretaries of Homeland Security and
Defense.

Ø    TTIC will play a lead role in overseeing a national counterterrorism
tasking and requirements system and in maintaining an up-to-date database of
known and suspected terrorists accessible to appropriate officials at all 
levels
of government.

Ø    The Administration will ensure that this program is carried out consistent
with our Constitutional liberties and our national security requirements.
Current privacy and other legal protections will apply to TTIC.
ü    TTIC participants will continue to be bound by all applicable privacy
statutes, Executive Orders, and other relevant legal authorities for protecting
privacy and our Constitutional liberties.
ü    Information technology and information handling procedures will be 
designed
consistent with the protection of our Constitutional liberties, and 
participants
will continue to be answerable both to internal agency oversight and
Congressional oversight.

Ø

TTIC is a joint venture of its participating agencies.  A legal review has
concluded that TTIC will require no new statutory authority.
ü    TTIC will have no independent authority to conduct intelligence collection
or other operations.
ü    The Director of Central Intelligence, as statutory head of the U.S.
Intelligence Community, has authority to oversee the activities of TTIC.
ü    As TTIC and our ongoing war on terrorism evolve, the Administration will
continue to consult with Congress and seek new statutory authorities if needed
in the future.

Ø    TTIC will be implemented in 3 phases:
ü    In its initial stage, TTIC will be primarily focused on the production of
integrated terrorist threat analysis for the senior national leadership.  TTIC
will have a 24/7 watch center at its inception.  Total staffing will be
approximately 60 U.S. Government employees with additional contractor
capability.  This phase will begin by May 1, 2003.  At this initial stage, TTIC
will occupy secure facilities at CIA Headquarters, as do several other
independent Intelligence Community entities.
ü    In the second phase of TTIC implementation, TTIC will be the principal
gateway for policymaker requests for analysis of potential terrorist threats to
U.S. interests and will maintain a database of known and suspected terrorists.
Total staffing at this stage will be approximately 120 U.S. Government 
employees
with additional contractor capability.
ü    In its final stage, TTIC will serve as the U.S. Government hub for all
terrorist threat-related analytic work, with between 250-300 U.S. Government
employees staffing TTIC.  TTIC, along with the co-located FBI Counterterrorism
Division and CIA Counterterrorist Center, will be located in a facility 
separate
from CIA and FBI Headquarters.

 Better Integrating Counterterrorist Efforts of the FBI and CIA

Ø    The FBI's Counterterrorism Division and the Director of Central
Intelligence's Counterterrorist Center will relocate, as soon as possible, to a
single new facility with TTIC in order to improve collaboration and enhance the
government's ability to thwart terrorist attacks and bring terrorists to
justice.  Appropriate sites for TTIC and Counterterrorism
Division/Counterterrorist Center co-location are under consideration.

Ø    Operational elements of the FBI's Counterterrorism Division and the
Director of Central Intelligence's Counterterrorist Center will retain their
distinctive operational responsibilities and authorities and will continue to
report through their respective chains of command.

Ø    Co-location of the CIA's and FBI's counterterrorism operational elements
will:
ü    Speed the creation of compatible information infrastructure with enhanced
capabilities, expanded and more accessible databases, and greater network
sharing on counterterrorism issues.
ü    Enhance interaction, information sharing, and synergy among U.S. officials
involved in the war against terrorism.
ü    Maximize resources dedicated to the counterterrorism mission by reducing
overhead and redundant capabilities.
ü    Further enhance the ability of comprehensive, all-source analysis to guide
our collection strategies.

Ø    Co-location will afford greater opportunity for the FBI and the
Intelligence Community to enhance the coordination of operations against
terrorist targets inside and outside the United States.


A Key Role for the Department of Homeland Security

Ø    The Department of Homeland Security will add critical new capabilities in
the area of information analysis and infrastructure protection.  The Department
-- a key participant in TTIC -- will receive and analyze terrorism-related
information; map the threats against our vulnerabilities; take and facilitate
action to protect against identified threats and remedy vulnerabilities; 
and set
national priorities for infrastructure protection.

Ø    The Department will be a full partner in TTIC.  TTIC will provide the
Department with a full and comprehensive picture of the terrorist threat that
will inform the actions of the Department.  And, DHS, working hand in hand with
the FBI, will be responsible for ensuring that threat information, including
information produced by the Center, is disseminated quickly to the public,
private industry, and state and local governments as appropriate.

Transforming the Federal Bureau of Investigation

Ø    Immediately after September 11, the President directed the FBI and the
Attorney General to make preventing future terrorist attacks against the
homeland their top priority ? and they have responded.

Ø    The FBI has:
ü    Disrupted terrorist plots on U.S. soil.
ü    Expanded from 35 to 66 the number of Joint Terrorism Task Forces across
America, with full participation from, and enhanced communications with,
multiple federal, state, and local agencies.
ü    Created a National Joint Terrorism Task Force at FBI Headquarters.
ü    Established a 24-7 Counterterrorism Watch center.
ü    Created new counterterrorism "Flying Squads" to deploy into the field at a
moment's notice.
ü    Created Intelligence Reports Officers to facilitate the vital flow of
information.
ü    Trained new analysts for the Counterterrorism Division, using a curriculum
developed with assistance from the CIA.

Ø    The FBI is establishing an intelligence program to ensure that the
collection and dissemination of intelligence is given the same institutional
priority as the collection of evidence for prosecution.  A new Executive
Assistant Director for Intelligence will have direct authority and
responsibility for the FBI's national intelligence program. The FBI is
establishing intelligence units in all of its Field Offices.

Ø    The FBI is implementing a new data management system to ensure that it
shares all the FBI's terrorism-related information internally and with the CIA,
the Department of Homeland Security, and other appropriate agencies.

Ø    Last year, by enacting the USA PATRIOT Act, the President and Congress 
took
an important step to enhance the ability of the FBI and other law enforcement
agencies to investigate and prosecute terrorism, and to share information with
other government agencies.




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