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MEMORANDUM FOR THE RECORD

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Event: ... ....kF:~I Miami Field Office JTTF Member) Interview

Type of event: Interview .. ! • !' ....

-, ',''''~;''r',7 :>Cil'<J.:-\:~4EO .
Date: October 2, 2003
~/ I It) 7 . ,'>"~~~ tI~] J/) _~ de!{fJ
Special Access Issues: None
Prepared by: Lance Cole
.:<}~9/11 Law Enforcement Privacy
Team Number: 6 -: '://11:\\":::',
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Location: FBI Miami Field Office ,///;:/t:~~\
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Participants - Non-Commission: Fl3-(A~sl·~t~ritl&~ri.~i'~l'Counsel Sean O'Neill

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Participants - Commission: Lance Co-1~.aiId':c'~t~Hrie,Bame,s

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Personal jJack;roun.dq;i ~~~\...\......

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official assignedto the Far'-~ Miami f'ield :Qffic¢:'Joinf TerrorismTask Force ("JTTF").
.::

aft~WcompH~ting\~oll~ge \per'6 ...he joined

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________ W~w up in Puerto Ri~o, and the Puerto Rico

state police in 198Q./'·He worked for the ~t.~t¢:police for six years "and seven months before

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resigning from th'~'force,/":~e resigned J6:tause 6l the lo~ pay ,""'low\nor~le, and poor working

conditions. Jil1990 he appliedto th~ I ~ecaus~ they were se~kin~...__ "--"!- --I

I IHe was hired, relocated to 1)~nahasse~" and in 19?3 he was promot~d,,,to Lieutenant. In
1994 he transfen;e'd to Mi~i, and in\:'996 he -wJs promoted to Internal Affairs 'Supervisor. In

1998 thO;igned amemorand~ofunder$tantling ("MOU") with the FBI forthe Safe

Streets Task Force (for.major cities'nationwidcl] and in January 20061 land ;0
intelligence analyst carne to the Mismi FBI office. :This was part of a nationwide program in
which one officer and one analyst joined each [partici paring"] FBI office. It took from 1998
until January 200,Ofo~ /fabd the analystto come aboard because it took time for their
security clearances to come thiougjJ..1 i ~orked part-time at the FBI until his clearance
came through.' '
On 9/11·20011 . Iwas at aDtraining program in Denver. He and other officers
drove backbecause the planes were grounded. It took five days for him to get back to Miami,
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but when ....

he arrived he immediately began helping with leads. H~"used his remote access
capability to chec~ecDrds relevant to the 9111 investigation.') lexPlained that the
• Dinaintains a very extensive records system fori Iwhich can be a

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very valuable investigative tool. Thc.Dma1yst detailed to the FBI along wit91 Iwas

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assigned to the Joint Drug Intelligence Center (JDIG) Squad, D- 7.
Work With the Miami JTTF. In January 20021 ~oined the Miami JTTF
[moving from the Safe Streets Task Force to the JTTF]and was assignedto the NS-1 (AI-Qaeda)
squad. He then began assisting with terrorism investigations, working primarily ...
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terrorism cases. He described his work as "anything related t~ . that.\~·~s needed by the
JTTF. He accesse£:]r~60rds to get backgr.O·und inform.~ti~.riorl ... ...I

Irelated to JTTF

investigations, and he has "informal contacts" with officials ..in th9·· ... I --J

that he can use/to obtain information fr9fu those systems, .:/'In short, he prepares portfolios on
a..- Ialleged to he associated with terrorist the.FBlis seeking, He has no ongoind I
responsibilities, and in addition to his work f9tlh'e:NS-1;:;§~uads he helps the otherMiami squads
.. if they need! anything related t1 .'. .' i LFl~works closely withth~~BI agents on the

JTTF and/~lway~ takes agent~.:«'ithhim..:Wh~Jl:he}fl'tervie~A ~n terrorism matters .

.1' . r \VM~ the Miami

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as reassigned to thet'4;'9i~lligengeSquad" JTTF was
reorganized
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ih 2002. He':described:th~:jT1;F'
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as different from prior task forces he has worked
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ra~}(F'or~e:
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is the
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with: such Safe-Streets in thafthe JTTF:,.ii·"more structured and long-term."

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Otherwise, however, .•he is d9iJ1g.tht<.';~e kind ofworkfuat he did previously on the NS-l squad.
H¢' previously obtained a9·~~~·~(t9.-th·e
Fl?-r;~'ACS .s·y~~em,which he did not have. earlier because
hisprior request···lfell ~hf~n{g4--thecra~~s." It.is helpful for him to have access to ACS now that
he "knows what heiild0iJ.l-l(·' Bltas used ~CS to do two name checks, arid he believes he will

/hse:'it more<in the·:ftifure:--

.. '1 ·.' / ~$e~··F!3'Ianalysis to do research for him, such as checking databases and doing

back:.ir.d~nd:.·~.h~cks...Be s~id"there weren't enough FBI analysts in the Office prior to 9/11, but

.......' no"'t~e~?'~e:JhDalyst who came t~ the FBI ~itJ1 ~n the Safe Streets Task
} ./r9tceH).!s()~sigried to the JTTF, but she is 0ll~sit~~tl Inot at the FBI's Miami office.
'/"S~~)i~~dstbbe on-site to have accesst?~Databases; remote access is difficult with those'
.. . ..... :?4tab~~~s':"She works ful1-tiI?:~;;f?fl ~n JTTF matters and prepares threat assessments .

..' .·Plio; to the Iraqi w~; She$~ar~he~ecords to identify a11... ~ ...J

.. :.:<.··:.<>.·:·.::'::d·~tabase.
s.h.~;;i!i;~c;·i?.the··'·'s~bjectmatt~r.expetff·~~ the Columbian drug trade and is very
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knQWI~~g~·~~re·~b·~~tCohrfubla~·~i~~ figures. She spends approximately 30% of her time on

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Columbian drug matters, and 700/0 of her time on work fo,~
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1 He said he could use a

sec.onDanalyst. ,
!I /works with FBI language specialists ("LSs") when there is a language thaD
personnel aj ~a1mottranslate. There are:~o Arabic. speakers a.l Iso he mTi~tuse
FBI J-'ss in/cases where an Arabic translator isnY~dedl... ~ __ ' ~ ....
,~~_~__ ...
I He has had good experienceswit}ithe FBI LSs and has found them to be very

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responsive to his needs. ,,'
Iserves as the liaison betweenthe JTTF and
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thO Hi~upervisor
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in
Miami has only a secret level clearance,butQupervisorsin Washington at I....
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h¢adquarters have top secret clearance~', ~dhe can sha;f~:,'i~fonnatiorithat is"~lassified at that
~evd jwith them when it is necessary~ocbnvey suchinformati09,i6 thO I . I(sp?)
Jfro~eadquarters is assigned y~<theN ationatJTTF at}?BI Headquarters. ,,' I
ff s~g$ested that the Commission-might wish toint~rview.Dln his~o leas liaison to th.eD
ffI . .. Inot only obtains information froIl)theO'~r th~FBI-"h~also passes information to
J, tifl=Jabout FBI activities when thOiie~~~>iheinf6ffi.latioQ-i: or example; he may inform
/t:~Oif a large numb¢r ,9:( susp~,ct~:'~e:ab9y(to ,p:6"~~sie~.ih a white C?.1hU- crime case so that
!J~/ ,'::: ::: ",:' ""
'In,addition to,,~,e~ing as the JTTF's

;• :: i :'i;ilaisonwith th rtd his w~ti/o~th¢ described

~~w4~~~~~e,~j='~=7:'F:',',-:":F7~-r-~-a-m-,,?-,,,l~e7;~~e-w~i~ll~~-v-e-s~ti-g-~-e~,!~q~---~

[!i U//ihas made bomb.threats. /'::':::':,>:' .:'

. ..•.... . /1 .......•. ~hinksheiS)~el' ~epres~tative on FBI fiel~offi~~ JTTFs in the entire

.," coyi~,t~,/ ~li9.tf ar~,'r,6/3,sC}:~.pf~S'e'ntativ,~,s"~~signedto FBI,f1e1cfoffices nationally, but to the
,::' ,,,", b:¢S.t:o..f h~S,Jfuo~'~~,4g~::#'f::df~~.tDe?rei~ntatives at ~,?l'fi~id offices are working on Safe
..,. Stf~~ts/T,~~k:~qt~:~~;>li~
...,~:xp'fainedJhatmost of h.~s.Dol1eagues assigned to Safe Streets task
'"., . ::"£Q't~e~:;:Aid,ri~{if:W~'f~~,jio::JTT~,s''\~hen
he did(:iieis still involved in their twice monthly
..... ///i~le¢bnf~~~(}~~;c~usbid not.repj~~e him on the Miami Safe Streets Task Force.
q ///1··· .... ~~~wedt6hesugg~Sirfi~,although he did not say so explicitly, that all the JTTFs

,:",:,,' :,:;::::::'~l)?u,}p';:h~fe~;~e~!:~serii'ative.]
.,'" ,.. ,,,. "",,' , In early 2003 the FBI initiated a national
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!tgJ !//J/./~j.
;f;:(~~' :i/ ,,/

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Iprogram ~"!.::.~!h~,,.,_~l.!:~ --:--===--..I

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activities to report to thei'BI!ld .">J;sthe program repr~~~;;-iiitiveiuthe FBI's Miami Field

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Office; each FBI field ¢ifice ~~~a progr:arit-{~presentative. In June or July~·f"20n3~.. ...
had a meeting with I\1:iamHai~al\, ~nd distributed the checklist and
other information tq:,ihem., They responded Pdsidv~~y '~n4 expressed their willingness to
cooperate with th~::·,PBI. Altl~oug~ IhaS>PQt'yetre~~iv.e,d any specific benefits from the
program, he believes that in ~he long run it will beavery helpfulprogram. [On behalf of the
Commission, werequested documentation on this program, such as the-suspicious activities
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checklist, fromSean 0 'Neill']

Dntelligenc:c Collection Activities. Under pre,9711 proce~ures, ~h~as a
"Special Investigations Sectien" in charge of internal affairs at hat gathers
intelligence onl liHe was in charge of an SIS section in 't~96. Tli' re
assigned to "security threat groups" and information is collected aboutthem and their activities.
c=Jolicy is not to release this information to other law enforcement agencies without a

subpoena, whether a grand jury subpoena or an administrative subpoena. Th~'1 I

I . ~rogram is intended to ensure that all information relevant to terrorism is

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provided to the FBI.

Terrorism Training. I...__ .......

Iattended a one-week terrorism training program at
Quantico. Before attending that training program he completed an eight-hour training CD on

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terrorism. He also attends in-house training sessions when they are offered. For example, he
attended a three-day U.S. Attorneys antiterrorism symposium. The FBI pays for him to attend

these training sessions.

Suggestions for Improvements in the JTT~:A ~elieves that the FBI needs a
better hand-held radio communication system in Miami, The City of Miami has a much better

system that the one the FBI has. The JTTF members also need to have access to the FBI's
Intranet that shows photographs of FBI employees - it is embarrassing to go to meetings and not
know who the people are that you are meeting with. He also thinks the JTTF needs even more

representatives from agencies such asthe INS who can run name checks and help collect
information for the JTTF. He ~9l11d recommend adding representatives fr.?wl

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