The White House
President George W. Bush
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For Immediate Release
Office of the Press Secretary
February 14, 2003

Fact Sheet: Strengthening Intelligence to Better Protect America

Today's Presidential Action

  • 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.

  • 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.

  • 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

  • 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.

  • TTIC will:

  • 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.

  • 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.

  • 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.

  • TTIC is a joint venture of its participating agencies. A legal review has concluded that TTIC will require no new statutory authority.

  • TTIC will be implemented in 3 phases:

    Better Integrating Counterterrorist Efforts of the FBI and CIA

  • 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.

  • 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.

  • Co-location of the CIA's and FBI's counterterrorism operational elements will:

  • 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

  • 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.

  • 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

  • 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.

  • The FBI has:

  • 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.

  • 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.

  • 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.

    For more information on the President's initiatives, please visit www.whitehouse.gov.


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