December 30, 2003

MEMORANDUM

To: Commissioners

From: Team 6

Subj: , 111 FBI Case Study and Office of Intelligence Briefings on January 5

Participants

John S. Pistole is the Assistant Director of the FBI's Counter-terrorism Division.

Director Mueller appointed Pistole to this position in September 2003 after he had served
for a year-and-a-half as Deputy Assistant Director of the Division. Pistole has worked
organized and white collar crime matters for much of his Bureau career. He has been
assigned to FBI Headquarters since 2001, when he became an Inspector in the
Inspections Division and was selected to lead the "Blue Team" of the Information
Security Working Group charged with addressing security issues raised by the Robert
Hanssen case.

Art Cummings is the Section Chief of the International Terrorism Operations Section I
(ITOS I), the Section that handles all al Qaeda cases. He has held that position since
March of 2003. Cummings joined the FBI in 1987, and has been working
counterterrorism matters since 1994, including the investigation of the "Blind Shaykh,"
Omar Abdel Rahman. Cummings completed a number of 90-day rotations to FBI
Headquarters immediately following 9/11, and has been assigned to the CT Division full-
time since September 2002.

Maureen Baginski is the Executive Assistant Director of the FBI's Office of

Intelligence. Director Mueller appointed Baginski to that position in May 2003. Prior to
joining the FBI, Baginski was the head of NSA's Signals Intelligence Directorate (SID),
and had been responsible for merging the Directorate of Operations and the Directorate
of Technology into the SID. She joined the NSA in 1979 as a Russian language
instructor and held various operational and management positions throughout her NSA
career, including that of SIGINT National Intelligence Officer for Russia.

Case Study Briefing

John Pistole and Art Cummings will present a case study that is illustrative of the more
proactive, preventive, and intelligence-oriented approach that they claim the FBI is now
applying to counterterrorism cases. This is usually a 45-minute briefing, but they have
been instructed to limit their presentation to 20 minutes to allow as much time as possible
for questions.
Possible Questions

• During the course of any investigation, how does the FBI decide whether to maintain
an intelligence focus or pursue a criminal prosecution? At what level is this decision
made? To what extent is the Department of Justice involved? What happens when
FBI and DOJ personnel disagree as to the best course of action? We understand that
in some cases, the Attorney General has had to get involved in this type of dispute -
how frequently is that the case? Are the views of other US Intelligence Community
agencies, in particular the CIA, solicited and taken into account in making these
decisions?

• During the Commission's last hearing, John MacGaffin implied that the
"Lackawanna Six" investigation was handled incorrectly because several of the
subjects should have been sent abroad to help us collect intelligence, and instead the
FBI chose to prosecute them. Why did the FBI decide to handle the case this way?
How is this a new way of doing business?

• Have there been any instances in which suspected terrorists have been recruited as
sources? If not, why not?

• We have heard that the FBI is considering creating a separate career service for FBI
agents working counterterrorism and counterintelligence matters. What are the
specifics of this proposal? Has the Director endorsed this initiative?

• How effective have investigative techniques such as material witness warrants,

immigration detentions, voluntary interviews and deterrent prosecutions been in the
prevention of terrorist attacks?

• We have heard that a significant number of criminal agents have been reassigned to
counterterrorism squads. What training programs are in place to ensure that these
agents are well-prepared for their new role and responsibilities?

Office of Intelligence Briefing

Maureen Baginski will deliver a 20-minute presentation on progress made in establishing

the Office of Intelligence and the FBI's overall approach to its intelligence mission.

Possible Questions

• How does the current intelligence initiative differ from the FBI's past attempts at
improving the Bureau's analytic and intelligence gathering capabilities, such as
former Deputy Director Bob Bryant's Investigative Services Division? What factors
will allow the current initiative to succeed where others have failed?

• What performance metrics is the FBI putting in place to measure whether or

not it is succeeding at this new intelligence-focused approach?
 • How can the FBI leadership ensure that this new approach to counterterrorism
investigations has been adopted by the field?

• What role does the FBI's information technology infrastructure play in its
ability to succeed?

Has the FBI arrived at a new set of collection requirements? If not, when will it do
so? How is the FBI assessing its and the US Intelligence Community's intelligence
gaps in order to determine corresponding collection requirements? What role are
analysts playing in this process?

In recent months, how much success has the FBI had at recruiting qualified analytical
personnel? How many Reports Officer positions have been filled? Has the FBI
established a career path for analysts adequate to ensure retention of top performers?