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:
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.
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.
Provide comprehensive terrorist threat assessments to our national
leadership.
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 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.
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.
TTIC is a joint venture of its participating agencies. A legal
review has concluded that TTIC will require no new statutory
authority.
TTIC will have no independent authority to conduct intelligence
collection or other operations.
The Director of Central Intelligence, as statutory head of the
U.S. Intelligence Community, has authority to oversee the
activities of TTIC.
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.
TTIC will be implemented in 3 phases:
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.
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.
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
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:
Speed the creation of compatible information infrastructure with
enhanced capabilities, expanded and more accessible databases, and
greater network sharing on counterterrorism issues.
Enhance interaction, information sharing, and synergy among U.S.
officials involved in the war against terrorism.
Maximize resources dedicated to the counterterrorism mission by
reducing overhead and redundant capabilities.
Further enhance the ability of comprehensive, all-source analysis
to guide our collection strategies.
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:
Disrupted terrorist plots on U.S. soil.
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.
Created a National Joint Terrorism Task Force at FBI
Headquarters.
Established a 24-7 Counterterrorism Watch center.
Created new counterterrorism "Flying Squads" to deploy into the
field at a moment's notice.
Created Intelligence Reports Officers to facilitate the vital flow
of information.
Trained new analysts for the Counterterrorism Division, using a
curriculum developed with assistance from the CIA.
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.