Combating Proliferation of Weapons of Mass Destruction

Personnel Requirements of the FBIThe FBI has proposed the establishment of the National Domestic Preparedness Office toassist state and local emergency response agencies by providing coordination with federalefforts. This office will provide training for a broad base of state and local agencies and willbe supported by a network of coordinators located in FBI field offices around the country.The FBI’s new Strategic Information and Operations Center allows coordination of multipleincidents and enhances communications capabilities between FBI headquarters and fieldoperations. The FBI has undertaken an ambitious initiative to ensure that theconsequences of a WMD attack are managed in a coordinated effort involving all levels oflaw enforcement and public safety officials. The Commission, consistent with restrictionscontained in its charter legislation, did not address the effectiveness of these efforts.The Commission did consider, however, whether the FBI agent force is adequatelyprepared to prevent the illegal acquisition or use of WMD in the United States. We foundthat the FBI lacks the technical expertise among its agents and analysts to meet thischallenge. FBI agents do not have adequate training in how to conduct an investigationwhere such weapons may be present.The FBI has increased the number of agents to meet new missions, but many have littleexperience or technical expertise to deal with proliferation-related threats. Likewise, theBureau’s intelligence analysts are not well-prepared in this area. Field offices depend onquality analysis in pursuing their detection and prevention efforts against those who wouldacquire weapons of mass destruction. More analysts with appropriate skills are requiredto support these efforts.While the FBI has historically focused on the investigation and prosecution of violations oflaw, its responsibilities in detecting and preventing the use of weapons of mass destructionwithin the United States require a more proactive approach. In the FBI’s foreigncounterintelligence division, human source reporting on non-traditional threats has notkept pace with the demands of the new threat environment and in some areas has evendeclined. Human source reporting is essential to discovering acquisition methods andnetworks before an incident involving weapons of mass destruction occurs. Experts in thetechnologies of emerging threats, as well as regional specialists, are required to detect andprevent the acquisition and/or use of weapons of mass destruction. The activities withinthe United States of those working on behalf of foreign powers or foreign terrorist groupsmust be monitored by the FBI, and the FBI’s foreign language capability should reflectthose countries and foreign groups in order to make the best use of human sources. The86