Good News From the INS

W A S H I N G T O N, May 4, 2002 -- One of the most frustrating facts of life for law enforcement for years has been the incompatibility of agencies' databases with other systems.

One of the worst examples has been the inability of Immigration and Naturalization Service inspectors on the border to make use of the FBI's fingerprint database (IAFIS) and criminal information database (NCIC).

INS uses IDENT to track entries and exits of aliens, but because IDENT and IAFIS were incompatible, INS did not have access to criminal records in NCIC. The most notorious example of this occurred during the case of the so-called Railway Killer, who was allowed to cross back into the United States because INS personnel were unaware he was a wanted man.

Integrating IAFIS and IDENT is not a simple proposition; because of the two agencies' separate needs, the systems were originally developed in very different ways. IDENT relies on one fingerprint only; as a biometric identification system, it's simple and quick and allows inspectors to process large numbers of people efficiently.

IAFIS, on the other hand, was developed by the FBI to include latent prints left at crime scenes; thus, it is based on all 10 prints. As Attorney General John Ashcroft told a Senate committee on Thursday, you can't be sure that a criminal will be thoughtful enough at a crime scene to leave a good print of his right index finger.

But Ashcroft revealed that a pilot project at 10 ports to integrate IAFIS and IDENT has been an impressive success. He said in just the first four months of this year, INS was able to use fingerprint checks to nab more than 1,000 aliens wanted by federal, state or local authorities. He listed three examples of such identifications:

Feb. 7: An alien arriving from Colombia, wanted on a warrant by the FBI's Violent Crime Unit in Los Angeles;

Feb. 28: An individual wanted by the LAPD for a triple homicide; and

April 2: A homicide suspect wanted in Harris County, Texas.

An FY02 supplemental request includes $6 million to deploy this IDENT/IAFIS pilot program capability to 30 additional ports of entry.

Ah, Bureaucracy: JTTFs vs. ATTFs

For roughly the past seven years, the FBI has had Joint Terrorism Task Forces in the nation's largest metropolitan areas.

Since Sept. 11, FBI Director Robert Mueller has said he wants to establish a JTTF in each of the bureau's 56 field offices; they're up to 47 now. But also since Sept. 11, the attorney general has started forming Anti-Terrorism Task Forces in each of the 94 U.S. attorneys' offices.

The FBI's JTTFs have been considered very successful at coordinating counterterrorism efforts with other federal, state and local law enforcement agencies. But some former FBI officials and some on Capitol Hill are concerned the ATTFs would undermine the JTTFs' efforts as well as cause unnecessary confusion and duplication. Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Patrick Leahy, D-Vt., recently received written responses to a number of written questions he had posed to the attorney general; this was one area of concern.

The response reads in part: "JTTFs are focused on investigating terrorism, while the ATTFs are responsible for ensuring communication and coordination at more and higher levels of government. ... JTTFs are composed of FBI agents and other investigators in federal, state, and local law enforcement agencies. All JTTF members must have top secret clearances, which grant them access to information that is developed throughout the course of an investigation."

But the ATTFs in the U.S. attorneys' offices have three main functions: facilitation of information-sharing between federal and state authorities; coordination of anti-terrorism efforts in each district; and "serving as a standing organizational structure for a coordinated response to any terrorist incidents ..." ATTF members don't need security clearances.

There's more: "Because the state and local membership of the ATTFs exceed the state and local departments represented on JTTFs, the ATTFs also provide a force-multiplier when we engage in manpower intensive operations. For example, we enlisted the ATTF members to search for and locate several thousand non-immigrant aliens [otherwise known as the 'round-up'] in just over 30 days without diverting resources necessary for ongoing JTTF investigations."

Had enough? "The ATTFs include the JTTFs in the federal districts where JTTFs exist." And wherever a JTTF does exist, the FBI is the "primary operational authority, in coordination and consultation with the ATTF and the United States Attorneys Anti-Terrorism Coordinator, over all JTTF investigative activities that are not related to an ongoing prosecution."

I hope that's clear.

FBI Stuff

Next week, Mueller is expected to make his long-awaited first appearance before Senate Judiciary Committee since his confirmation hearings last summer. The committee has been hoping and expecting he will there and then lay out the even more hotly anticipated Phase 2 of his plans for reorganizing the bureau.

As I have written previously nigh ad nauseam, this will be moment-of-truth time; this is when he starts making people unhappy. But, as it happens, the director is not quite ready to drop all the veils yet. He wants to polish it up just a bit more and run it by the Special Agents in Charge (SACs) of the field offices. He's planning a SAC conference the week of May 13; then he'll be ready at long last for the rollout the following week.

Kathleen McChesney, the bureau's highest-ranking female agent, has received the Lifetime Achievement Award from the National Center for Women and Policing in recognition of her outstanding law enforcement career. A 30-year veteran, McChesney's career also coincides with the 30 years in which the FBI has been open to the hiring of women as special agents. There are now 2,000 female agents, 18 percent of the 11,200 total; about 100 work in top management positions, according to an FBI release.

McChesney is currently the executive assistant director for law enforcement services, where she oversees training, the lab, information services, international operations, and the Critical Incident Response Group, which includes the famous/notorious Hostage Rescue Team. She previously served as assistant director for training and SAC in Chicago and Portland, Ore. Best I can tell, she is very highly thought of by other agents, as well as the director.

Mueller announced another bunch of promotions Thursday, all in the new Counterintelligence Division: Timothy Bereznay as deputy assistant director; Daniel Cloyd as chief of the Eurasion Section; Ronald Guerin as chief of the East Asia Section; and Michael Rochford as chief of the Espionage Section.

Bereznay has most recently served as SAC for National Security in the Washington field office; Cloyd has been assistant SAC for foreign counterintelligence and counterespionage. Guerin, who has recently been on detail at CIA, and Rochford, most recently in the Overseas Espionage Unit, both learned the spy game in Washington field earlier in their careers.

Combined with other recent moves and promotions, though, these latest leave Washington field office decimated in national security; right now it's lacking an SAC for national security and all three assistant SACs, for counterterrorism, counterintelligence, and espionage. Here's hoping there are no big spies looming on the D.C. horizon.

As I'm sure most Gentle Readers are aware, the three largest FBI field offices (Los Angeles, New York and Washington) are headed by assistant directors in charge (ADICs), and they have SACs working under them. All other field offices, of course, are headed by SACs.

Beverley Lumpkin has covered the Justice Department for 16 years for ABCNEWS. Halls of Justice appears every Saturday.