Homeland Security

Fact Sheet: New Terrorist Threat Integration Center Will Open May 1

(Goal will be to enhance terrorist intelligence analysis) (1480)
President Bush announced plans on February 14 to launch a new
Terrorist Threat Integration Center (TTIC) on May 1 to "better protect
America by strengthening counterterrorism intelligence."
The TTIC is designed to help minimize any seams between analysis of
terrorism intelligence collected overseas and inside the United
States..
Bush also announced that the FBI's Counterterrorism Division, the
Director of Central Intelligence's Counterterrorist Center, and TTIC
will relocate to a single new facility "to improve collaboration and
enhance the government's ability to thwart terrorist attacks and bring
terrorists to justice," according to the announcement.
Following is the text of the fact sheet:
(begin fact sheet)
Fact Sheet
The White House
Office of the Press Secretary
February 14, 2003
Strengthening Intelligence to Better Protect America
Today's Presidential Action
The President spoke today at FBI Headquarters to federal, state, and
local employees on the front lines of the war on terror about plans
for the Terrorist Threat Integration Center (TTIC) announced in the
State of the Union Address.
To better protect America by strengthening counterterrorism
intelligence, TTIC will continue to minimize any seams between
analysis of terrorism intelligence collected overseas and inside the
United States. Today, the President announced that TTIC will begin its
work by May 1, 2003.
As an important next step in this effort, the President today
announced that the FBI's Counterterrorism Division, the Director of
Central Intelligence's Counterterrorist Center, and TTIC will
relocate, as soon as possible, to a single new facility in order to
improve collaboration and enhance the government's ability to thwart
terrorist attacks and bring terrorists to justice.
The New Terrorist Threat Integration Center
As directed by the President in his State of the Union address, the
Director of Central Intelligence, the Director of the FBI, working
with the Attorney General, and the Secretaries of Homeland Security,
Defense, and State have developed plans for the nation's first unified
Terrorist Threat Integration Center. TTIC will have unfettered access
to all terrorist threat intelligence information -- from raw reports
to finished analytic assessments -- available to the U.S. government.
TTIC will:
-- Make full use of all of our terrorist threat information,
expertise, and capabilities to conduct threat analysis and inform
collection strategies, though TTIC will not conduct collection
operations.
-- Create a structure to institutionalize sharing across agency lines
of all terrorist threat intelligence, whether collected overseas or
inside the United States, in order to form the most comprehensive
possible threat picture.
-- Provide comprehensive terrorist threat assessments to our national
leadership.
TTIC will be headed by a senior U.S. government official, who will
report to the Director of Central Intelligence. This individual will
be appointed by the Director of Central Intelligence, in consultation
with the Director of the FBI and the Attorney General, and the
Secretaries of Homeland Security and Defense.
TTIC will play a lead role in overseeing a national counterterrorism
tasking and requirements system and in maintaining an up-to-date
database of known and suspected terrorists accessible to appropriate
officials at all levels of government.
The administration will ensure that this program is carried out
consistent with our constitutional liberties and our national security
requirements. Current privacy and other legal protections will apply
to TTIC.
-- TTIC participants will continue to be bound by all applicable
privacy statutes, Executive Orders, and other relevant legal
authorities for protecting privacy and our constitutional liberties.
-- Information technology and information handling procedures will be
designed consistent with the protection of our constitutional
liberties, and participants will continue to be answerable both to
internal agency oversight and congressional oversight.
TTIC is a joint venture of its participating agencies. A legal review
has concluded that TTIC will require no new statutory authority.
-- TTIC will have no independent authority to conduct intelligence
collection or other operations.
-- The Director of Central Intelligence, as statutory head of the U.S.
intelligence community, has authority to oversee the activities of
TTIC.
-- As TTIC and our ongoing war on terrorism evolve, the administration
will continue to consult with Congress and seek new statutory
authorities if needed in the future.
TTIC will be implemented in three phases:
-- In its initial stage, TTIC will be primarily focused on the
production of integrated terrorist threat analysis for the senior
national leadership. TTIC will have a 24/7 watch center at its
inception. Total staffing will be approximately 60 U.S. government
employees with additional contractor capability. This phase will begin
by May 1, 2003. At this initial stage, TTIC will occupy secure
facilities at CIA Headquarters, as do several other independent
intelligence community entities.
-- In the second phase of TTIC implementation, TTIC will be the
principal gateway for policymaker requests for analysis of potential
terrorist threats to U.S. interests and will maintain a database of
known and suspected terrorists. Total staffing at this stage will be
approximately 120 U.S. government employees with additional contractor
capability.
-- In its final stage, TTIC will serve as the U.S. government hub for
all terrorist threat-related analytic work, with between 250-300 U.S.
government employees staffing TTIC. TTIC, along with the co-located
FBI Counterterrorism Division and CIA Counterterrorist Center, will be
located in a facility separate from CIA and FBI Headquarters.
Better Integrating Counterterrorist Efforts of the FBI and CIA
-- The FBI's Counterterrorism Division and the Director of Central
Intelligence's Counterterrorist Center will relocate, as soon as
possible, to a single new facility with TTIC in order to improve
collaboration and enhance the government's ability to thwart terrorist
attacks and bring terrorists to justice. Appropriate sites for TTIC
and Counterterrorism Division/Counterterrorist Center co-location are
under consideration.
Operational elements of the FBI's Counterterrorism Division and the
Director of Central Intelligence's Counterterrorist Center will retain
their distinctive operational responsibilities and authorities and
will continue to report through their respective chains of command.
Co-location of the CIA's and FBI's counterterrorism operational
elements will:
-- Speed the creation of compatible information infrastructure with
enhanced capabilities, expanded and more accessible databases, and
greater network sharing on counterterrorism issues.
-- Enhance interaction, information sharing, and synergy among U.S.
officials involved in the war against terrorism.
-- Maximize resources dedicated to the counterterrorism mission by
reducing overhead and redundant capabilities.
-- Further enhance the ability of comprehensive, all-source analysis
to guide our collection strategies.
Co-location will afford greater opportunity for the FBI and the
intelligence community to enhance the coordination of operations
against terrorist targets inside and outside the United States.
A Key Role for the Department of Homeland Security
The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) will add critical new
capabilities in the area of information analysis and infrastructure
protection. The Department -- a key participant in TTIC -- will
receive and analyze terrorism-related information; map the threats
against our vulnerabilities; take and facilitate action to protect
against identified threats and remedy vulnerabilities; and set
national priorities for infrastructure protection.
The Department will be a full partner in TTIC. TTIC will provide the
Department with a full and comprehensive picture of the terrorist
threat that will inform the actions of the Department. And, DHS,
working hand-in-hand with the FBI, will be responsible for ensuring
that threat information, including information produced by the Center,
is disseminated quickly to the public, private industry, and state and
local governments as appropriate.
Transforming the Federal Bureau of Investigation
Immediately after September 11, the President directed the FBI and the
Attorney General to make preventing future terrorist attacks against
the homeland their top priority -- and they have responded.
The FBI has:
-- Disrupted terrorist plots on U.S. soil.
-- Expanded from 35 to 66 the number of Joint Terrorism Task Forces
across America, with full participation from, and enhanced
communications with, multiple federal, state, and local agencies.
-- Created a National Joint Terrorism Task Force at FBI Headquarters.
-- Established a 24/7 Counterterrorism Watch center.
-- Created new counterterrorism "Flying Squads" to deploy into the
field at a moment's notice.
-- Created Intelligence Reports Officers to facilitate the vital flow
of information.
-- Trained new analysts for the Counterterrorism Division, using a
curriculum developed with assistance from the CIA.
-- The FBI is establishing an intelligence program to ensure that the
collection and dissemination of intelligence is given the same
institutional priority as the collection of evidence for prosecution.
A new Executive Assistant Director for Intelligence will have direct
authority and responsibility for the FBI's national intelligence
program. The FBI is establishing intelligence units in all of its
Field Offices.
The FBI is implementing a new data management system to ensure that it
shares all the FBI's terrorism-related information internally and with
the CIA, the Department of Homeland Security, and other appropriate
agencies.
Last year, by enacting the USA Patriot Act, the President and Congress
took an important step to enhance the ability of the FBI and other law
enforcement agencies to investigate and prosecute terrorism, and to
share information with other government agencies.
(end fact sheet)
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Department of State. Web site: http://usinfo.state.gov)