Professional Documents
Culture Documents
I. Introduction
[We are not the congressional "Joint Inquiry" whose report has been in
the news recently. We are a special Commission that by law is required to
present its report to Congress and the President next spring.]
C. We asked to meet with you based upon the position you have at the FBI
and the work you do - we are not investigating you personally, and did not
ask to interview you because of anything you did or did not do.
D. We will use the information that we obtain from you in today's interview
to assist the Commissioners prepare their report to Congress and the
President.
E. In the future the 9-11 Commission will be holding public hearings based
upon our work - it is unlikely (but possible) that you would be asked to
appear as a witness at a public hearing.
F. We appreciate you taking the time to talk with us and tell us about your
work - before we begin, do you have any questions about why we are here
and what we are doing?
II. Background
A. How decisions to open an investigation are made, and the extent to which
investigative decisions are driven by either the Field of HQ
counterterrorism strategy and priorities.
C. How FISA/Title III targets are selected, including the criteria used for
selection, and the approval process.
H. The current state of the FBI's information technology, and how this affects
your work.
I. Access to information:
1. Information flow within the FBI, and your ability to access all
relevant FBI intelligence on a timely basis.
L. The overall functioning of the JTTF, and the relationship with other
federal agencies and state and local law enforcement authorities.
D. The extent to which training is mandated, and to which you can pursue
training opportunities of interest.
E. Your background (and that of those on your squads) in international
terrorism prior to assuming your position, and how you stay abreast of
important developments in your field.
A. To whom you report, whom do you supervise, and the quality of the
management and of the personnel you supervise.
B. How much guidance you receive in performing your duties, and who
provides this guidance.
A. DOT and FBI policies and regulations, and other laws governing the
collection of information during the course of FBI international terrorism
investigations.
3. Specific steps your office has taken to ensure that civil liberties are
adequately protected, particularly in terms of FBI efforts to ensure the
protection of individuals' First Amendment rights.
B. DOJ and FBI policies for processing information collected during the
course of your investigations, and how this actually occurs.
C. DOJ and FBI policies for disseminating information collected during the
course of your investigations, and how this actually occurs.
F. Please describe the process through which you or your unit shares
information with outside entities.
G. In your judgment, how timely is the information you receive from outside
entities? Conversely, what priority is placed within your office with
sharing information on a timely basis with other agencies?
H. Please describe the extent of your direct access to the data bases of outside
law enforcement or other Intelligence Community databases. Are you
able to submit specific requests for intelligence to other agencies? Have
you ever done this? Please describe.
I. To the extent you are able, please provide some illustrative anecdotes of
collaboration with outside agencies.
J. Have there been any changes in the way you and your office have
collaborated with other agencies over the past couple of years?
K. In what ways do you feel the collaboration has been particularly effective?
In your judgment, how could the collaboration and information sharing
with outside agencies be improved upon? What obstacles do you perceive
making these improvements?
A. During your tenure within the FBI, what changes, if any, have been
proposed or implemented in the way you perform your work and the way
your particular unit or office strives to accomplish its mission?
B. What is your sense of how well your unit's function was performed prior
to these changes?
C. Has your office undergone more than one round of reforms since you
started? Please describe them in detail. Is your office currently
undergoing reform? Are there proposed reforms to the way your office
works that are yet to be implemented?
E. In what ways, if any, have the reforms created new issues or obstacles to
successfully completing your mission?
B. During your tenure at the FBI, have you detected a shift in emphasis on
Counterterrorism? How has your office's actual approach to
Counterterrorism changed? When did it change? Is it changing still? Did
a shift in resources (personnel, technology, etc.) accompany the shift in
strategy?
C. In your estimation, were the changes necessary and substantive? Has the
increased emphasis on Counterterrorism changed the way in which you
have worked? Please describe in detail the specific ways hi which your
work has changed as a result of the shift in strategy.
D. To what extent do you and/or your office have input on developing the
FBI's Counterterrorism strategy? What is the process for providing your
input?
E. Who within your office allocates resources and determines priorities for
accommodating or implementing changes to the FBI's counterterrorism
strategy? Is there a formal process for setting goals and objectives within
the WFO and within your particular office with respect to achieving an
effective counterterrorism strategy?
F. What discretion does your office have in shifting strategy, priorities, and
resources? To what extent is your office's investigations and priorities
determined by Headquarters? To what extent are other members of the
Intelligence Community and/or the JTTFs shaping your counterterrorism
strategy?
A. What is your overall assessment of the way in which your office, and the
FBI more broadly, operated to detect, prevent, and deter terrorism in the
United States prior to 9/11?
B. What is your overall assessment of the way in which your office, and the
FBI more broadly, operates to detect, prevent, and deter terrorism in the
United States today?
C. hi your view, what accounts for the failures, if any, in the FBI's approach
to counterterrorism prior to 9/11? What barriers existed that prevented the
accomplishment of any necessary reforms before 9/11?
D. hi your view, how far along is the FBI in actually implementing the
changes proposed?
E. Once the current proposals are actually implemented, in your view, will
the FBI have the best approach to counterterrorism possible? Are
additional reforms necessary?
F. If it were up to you, what additional improvements would you suggest to
help achieve the most effective counterterrorism policy possible? In your
view, what would be some of the most helpful suggestions we could
make?