The relationship between the FBI and the CIA has never been stronger or more productive. While we concede that there were isolated failings in the information flow between the two agencies prior to 9/11, we must not overlook the fact that a successful, systematic effort has been underway for years to develop and build upon our agencies' relationship.

Robert S. Mueller, III Director,

Federal Bureau of Investigation

Testimony to the Joint Intelligence Committee Inquiry, October 17, 2002

The Intelligence Community provided the law enforcement community, especially the Department of Justice, FBI, and the Immigration and Naturalization Service, with actionable intelligence on terrorist groups, transnational organized crime groups, and their activities, such as narco-trafficking. Policymakers expressed increasing need to be knowledgeable of the actions of these criminal figures as their influence on foreign governments grows. IC agencies collaborate via unclassified e-mail systems and database sharing in supplying foreign intelligence to US policymakers and, within established guidelines, in a robust exchange of lead information with law enforcement agencies. The IC has made valuable contributions, particularly in identifying and tracking terrorist funds, and has taken advantage of existing and new relationships with foreign governments.

Recognizing the need for a more formalized strategy to support law enforcement customers, the DCI had initiated the development of a Strategic Plan for IC Support to Law Enforcement prior to the attacks of 11 September. The plan was developed as a collaborative effort among IC representatives and with full participation from law enforcement agencies. The plan sets forth a coordinated IC strategy to address future federal law enforcement needs by specifying goals and specific IC actions to fulfill the strategy, while protecting those elements of existing support that are already working well.

The FBI's Security Division supports state and local law enforcement by ensuring that those who require access to classified information have the proper security clearance and need-to-know. It makes accurate and timely judgments of the trustworthiness of state and local officials who require access to classified information to support their counterterrorism efforts. Over 1,000 clearances were granted to state and local law enforcement officers during FY2002, a substantial increase over previous years.

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Counternarcotics

DIA focused intelligence support on Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) efforts in Mexico. A special study on the Quintana Roo region played a major role in positioning operational forces to interdict the movement of illegal drugs into the US and directly contributed to the arrests of two major drug traffickers.

CIA supported a reevaluation of US antidrug priorities by the President's Office of National Drug Control Policy by publishing a paper that addressed the strategic vulnerabilities of the global drug trade. The paper addressed the exploitable operational, logistical, financial, and geographic weakness of the many criminal enterprises that supply narcotics to the United States and other markets. The paper was well received by the Director of the Office of National Drug Control Policy, and he instructed the law enforcement community to use it as a template to craft a companion product addressing the vulnerabilities of the US domestic drug trade.

NSA provided US policymakers and law enforcement agencies, including the Office of National Drug Control Policy, Counter Drug Executive Secretariat, Coast Guard, FBI, Customs, and DEA, with foreign intelligence that contributed to the disruption or dismantlement of major foreign narco-trafficking organizations. This was accomplished by full integration into the counternarcotics community under the leadership of the DCI's Crime and Narcotics Center and was based on the robust exchange of lead information between the Intelligence Community and law enforcement agencies.

NSA also provided tailored briefings describing the threat to information systems and networks, focusing on issues of interest to the FBI. NSA provided COMSEC monitoring for the Joint Interagency Task Force-East and the Joint Interagency Task Force-West.

NIMA provided focused intelligence support to USCS, FBI, and DEA on narcotics trafficking along the US/Mexico border port of entries. NIMA also provided extensive information and analysis of suspected drug cartel facilities and airfields believed to be used for narcotics trafficking in Colombia.



CIA analysts wrote the first-ever analysis of drug flows and consumption in Brazil, the world's second-largest consumer of cocaine after the United States. The study entailed open-source field collection and an innovative methodology for calculating the prevalence of drug use.

The NIC provided policymakers with analysis on the damaging and corrupting influence that the illicit narcotics trafficking industry continues to exert on several of the young democracies in Latin America.

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Countering International Organized Crime

A joint investigation with the AFOSI, the USCS, the DoS, the Department of Commerce, and the Naval Criminal Investigative Service led to the discovery and arrest of a subject who brokered sales of military aircraft parts from US companies and had them shipped to companies in Iran. The subject was found guilty and was sentenced to 30 months in jail, 36 months probation, and $10,000 fine.

CIA, working with foreign governments, collected and reported intelligence to US law enforcement agencies conducting operations against members of Latin American and Middle Eastern terrorist groups and against smugglers of aliens into the United States. CIA also provided the DoS with an expert on human smuggling and trafficking who oversaw the assessment, drafting, and coordination of the 2002 Trafficking in Persons report.

USCG Pacific Area Intelligence worked with Law Enforcement and Intelligence Community members to identify human smuggling activities. Their analytical efforts allowed USCG forces to preposition scarce interdiction assets and interdict illegal migrants in the Eastern Pacific and off the coasts of California, Hawaii, and Guam.

The Financial Crimes Enforcement Network actively participated in these joint Law Enforcement-Intelligence Community committees: Countering Organized Crime, Counter-Narcotics, and Counterterrorism. Intelligence Community reporting was routinely used as lead information in tracking suspects.

CIA provided key research results to the Treasury Department in its efforts to apply the Patriot Act to a foreign bank involved in money laundering. CIA analysts identified key players in the bank, their relationship to international organized crime, and the bank's efforts to hide its accounts from US law enforcement.

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