WASHINGTON, May 4 (UPI) -- A new inspector general's report says the FBI has made some significant improvements as it tries to beef up its analytical muscle for counter-terrorism, but it still has a long way to go.
The audit by the Justice Department's Office of the Inspector General said by last September the FBI had met 34 percent of its fiscal 2004 goal for hiring analysts. Because of that, it ended fiscal 2004 with a 32-percent shortfall in analysts, the report said.
Following the Sept. 11, 2001, terror attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon, the FBI made a sea change in its primary mission. The bureau made counter-terrorism -- the need to prevent a new terror attack on U.S. soil -- its No. 1 priority, replacing the fight against violent crime.
In essence, the bureau tried to become a full-fledged intelligence agency to meet the needs of the war against terror, as opposed to being primarily a law-enforcement agency, something akin to turning around an oil tanker in harbor.
The bureau received considerable criticism in the wake of the terror attacks for failing to "connect the dots" leading up to the catastrophe, despite warnings from the field.
Prior to the attacks, an FBI agent in Phoenix wrote a memo that said Middle Eastern students at an Arizona flight school might be al-Qaida agents training for hijacking. The memo was sent to FBI headquarters, but analysts there declined to act on it, and it was never kicked upstairs to top management.
Another memo shortly before the attacks came from an FBI agent in Minneapolis who speculated that Zacarias Moussaoui, by then in custody for immigration violations, might be a suspect who could fly an airplane into a target such as the World Trade Center. Moussaoui has since been allowed to plead guilty to conspiracy in the Sept. 11 attacks.
The FBI notified the CIA about the Minneapolis memo, but it never reached the National Security Council in the White House.
Some FBI officials reacted to the criticism by saying the memos were only two out of thousands flowing into the FBI each day, many of them with warnings just as dire.
The inspector general's office conducted a "Review of the Federal Bureau of Investigation's Counter-Terrorism Program: Threat Assessment, Strategic Planning and Resource Management" in September 2002, a year after the attacks.
At the time, some bureau managers told the office investigators "that the FBI's analytical capability was broken."
"Our review found the FBI had difficulty pulling information together from a variety of sources, analyzing the information and disseminating it," the inspector general's office concluded. "In other words, the FBI lacked the ability to 'connect the dots,' or establish relationships among varied pieces of information. Moreover, the FBI lacked the capability to prepare a strategic or 'big picture' threat assessment."
The review concluded the FBI lacked a professional corps of intelligence analysts, which would be vital to its new mission.
At the time, senior FBI managers, including newly appointed Director Robert Mueller, acknowledged the bureau's shortcomings, investigators said. Mueller told Congress the FBI was a leader in gathering information, but usually did not elevate analysis beyond the individual case or investigation.
The new audit report released Wednesday -- "The Federal Bureau of Investigation's Efforts to Hire, Train and Retain Intelligence Analysts" -- said since Sept. 11, 2001, the FBI "has made and continues to make progress toward bolstering its intelligence analysis."
The audit cited the creation of a new position, the executive assistant director for intelligence, and the creation of the Office of Intelligence.
It also cited the growth in the number of analysts at the FBI. As of July 2004, the audit said, the number of FBI analysts grew to 1,272, a 24-percent increase over 2002.
As of mid-2004, the audit said, 49 percent of all employed analysts were assigned to field offices, while 42 percent were in operational divisions at FBI headquarters in Washington. The remaining 9 percent were in other FBI entities.
The audit said improvements included the streamlining of the hiring process, the establishment of a funding staffing level for analysts and the redesigning of the introductory intelligence analyst class.
But the bureau also needed to make some crucial improvements, the audit said.
Among those is the need to "determine the number of analysts needed to meet its mission, and using threat-based criteria to allocate the analysts among FBI offices." The bureau also must "establish and meet hiring goals for intelligence analysts that are based on the FBI's projected needs," given attrition and the ability to hire, train and use new analysts.
The bureau also must "increase the number of analysts trained at the FBI's College of Analytical Studies and develop a cadre of FBI instructors to teach the classes."
The audit said the FBI also must "assess the work done by intelligence analysts and reduce the extent of miscellaneous, non-analytical duties assigned to analysts" -- some analysts in FBI field offices were asked to perform secretarial duties such as answering telephones and data entry -- and "implement measures to improve the retention of qualified analysts."
The audit concluded in part, "Training is a key element in developing a well-qualified corps of FBI intelligence analysts. Without a first-rate training program, the FBI cannot fully develop its intelligence program."
Later Wednesday, the FBI issued a statement that said in part:
"Following the events of Sept. 11, 2001, the U.S. Government was presented with a tremendous challenge to develop intelligence to prevent any such future attacks. For the FBI this meant a change in the method of handling threat information, expanding our intelligence capabilities and providing a broader dissemination of terrorist threat information. To expand our intelligence capabilities we have increased our collection regarding the threat, enhanced our analytical capabilities and improved our reporting operations to other members of the intelligence community and federal, state and local law enforcement.
"The Inspector General's review, which occurred early last year, reports that the FBI needs to improve its efforts to hire more analysts, ensure they are properly trained, and have measures in place to determine the success of retaining newly recruited personnel. Even prior to the Inspector General's review of our analyst program, the FBI had underway efforts to enhance and strengthen our analytical capabilities ...
"The FBI has made significant strides in increasing our analytical cadre and is expected to meet the hiring goal of 880 new analysts by the end of this year. Additional resources have been requested for recruitment and retention in our next budget.
"Specialized training has been instituted for Intelligence Analysts and intelligence training has been incorporated into new agent training ... "
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