Back to Basics

This report is based on an unclassified version of a classified report the GAO issued in February 2012. The unclassified version was released on April 17 and it was immediately obtained for analysis by the National Association of Chiefs of Police and the Law Enforcement Examiner. 

In the wake of the shocking September 11, 2001, terrorist attacks, the Federal Bureau of Investigation made counterterrorism its top investigative priority. Since that fateful day, the FBI has hired thousands of additional staff, increasing its total onboard workforce by 38 percent, according to a report by the Government Accountability Office.

In particular, the FBI has increased both the size and the role of its Counterterrorism Division (CTD) that is located in Washington, D.C., according to FBI officials.

In 2005, the FBI reported that nearly 40 percent of staff positions in certain parts of CTD were vacant, raising concerns about the FBI’s ability to fulfill its most important mission, and as a result the U.S. Congress requested that the GAO review FBI CTD vacancies.

The latest GAO report describes “the extent to which counterterrorism vacancies existed at FBI HQ since 2005 and the reasons for the vacancies as well as the impact of the strategies implemented by the FBI to address these vacancies.”

GAO analysts obtained data on CTD vacancies from fiscal years 2005 through 2011 as well as strategies the FBI used to address vacancies and their costs. GAO also interviewed FBI human resources and counterterrorism officials regarding vacancies and the FBI’s steps to address them.

“From fiscal years 2005 through 2011, the Federal Bureau of Investigation’s human capital strategies contributed to reductions in the vacancy rate for all positions in the Counterterrorism Division (CTD) from 26 percent to 6 percent. Most vacancies were caused by transfers to other parts of the FBI. While overall vacancies declined, trends in vacancies varied by position. For example, vacancies for special agents and professional staff generally decreased each year while vacancies for intelligence analysts varied during the same time period,” according to the GAO analysis.

The FBI developed the Headquarters Staffing Initiative (HSI) in 2005 to reduce special agent vacancies in CTD and other divisions, and primarily used workforce flexibilities, such as recruitment incentives, and targeted recruitment to reduce vacancies for intelligence analysts and professional staff.

Overall, FBI officials claim that these strategies have been effective in the overall reduction of vacancies. Specifically, HSI included two primary strategies to reduce vacancies: allowing special agents to come to HQ on 18-month temporary duty assignments instead of permanent transfers and providing relocation incentives to special agents to permanently transfer to HQ.

Since 2006, GAO estimates that the FBI has spent $50 million to staff CTD with special agents under HSI. According to the FBI, “HSI is the primary reason agent vacancies in CTD were reduced. In addition, FBI officials said HSI yielded other benefits.”

For example, officials from all sections within CTD stated that HSI helped to build a cadre of experienced counterterrorism agents both within CTD and in field offices. HSI has reduced vacancies, but a 2005 FBI working group report noted that while HSI may be effective in the short term, a long-term solution would require a more thorough analysis.

FBI officials reported that they are planning an evaluation of HSI; however, they have not established criteria, time frames, and other factors of the evaluation.

Under the watchful eyes of President Barack Obama, the Federal Bureau of Investigation is revising its counterterrorism training programs by removing all references to Muslims and Arab-Americas that are said to be offensive to civil-rights groups such as the Council on American Islamic Relations (CAIR) and the American Civil Liberties Group (ACLU), a federal law enforcement source told the Law Enforcement Examiner on Thursday.

According to the anonymous source, Senator Dick Dubin, an Illinois Democrat, has pushed for this far-reaching change as well as other fellow Democrats who are allegedly kowtowing to the large Muslim population in their states.

The FBI boasted to the U.S. Congress that it’s academy in Quantico, Virginia removed all mentions of Islam that are viewed as offensive to Muslims, along with language saying that agents had the ability to suspend the law and impinge on the freedoms of others in the course of investigations

Sen. Durbin sent a letter to FBI Director Robert S. Mueller earlier this week about the FBI’s training program and course materials used at its National Academy.

Durbin’s letter claimed that a review of the FBI training curriculum and printed materials revealed instructions advising agents to make assumptions about Islam, Muslims and Arab Americans based on offensive stereotypes, including language such as “Islam is a highly violent religion,” and “mainstream American Muslims are likely to be terrorist sympathizers.”

Not only did Durbin demand that the FBI make the training materials public, he requested the agency hold accountable the individuals responsible for the offensive language and take disciplinary action.

Rep. Trent Franks (R-AR), one of many House Republicans, has questioned whether President Barack Obama and his administration’s review of counterterrorism training policies put politics above homeland security and the protection of the American people.

Rep. Franks said he was deeply disturbed by what he called the FBI’s training manual reviews without the input of the appropriate House committees. The Arizona Republican stated that he wishes to know the details of what individuals and organizations advised the FBI during the revision process.

“The FBI must not permit outside parties to censor the true or critical material from FBI training curricula just because someone feels it to be politically incorrect,” he told the Congressional Quarterly. “We want to know who these outside reviewing parties are, what their affiliations are, and whether they are being permitted in some instances to overrule the judgment of seasoned FBI trainers.”

Sen. Durbin possesses a reputation for taking anti-American positions when it comes to national security. He was forced to apologize when he called U.S. soldiers serving in Iraq “Nazis” and military detention centers “Soviet gulags.”

The FBI has released photos, videos, and documents in the case of 10 Russian secret agents arrested—and quickly deported—in 2010. The documents are mostly heavily redacted and of no practical value to those interested in the details about on-going Russian operations against the U.S. What is perhaps more interesting and significant is what the Russians are doing in plain sight by using American cable and satellite systems against us.

In this context, a complaint has now been filed with the Obama Justice Department over Russian propaganda broadcasts in the U.S.

While the FBI disclosures, such as they are, suggest that the Moscow regime regards the U.S. as an adversary, if not enemy, they are not nearly as fascinating as what Moscow is doing in the form of Russia Today (RT) propaganda broadcasts reaching tens of millions of American homes.

Media carriers for the Moscow-funded channel, which changed its name to RT from Russia Today to mask the foreign connection, include Time Warner Cable, Comcast, Verizon Fios, Cox Cable, RCN Cable, MHz Networks, and Dish Networks.

RT, a big backer of the Occupy Wall Street protests, has assigned several reporters to cover the demonstrations around the country. The channel has called the protests “America’s Arab Spring,” with an emphasis on alleged police brutality against the demonstrators. One RT program, “The Big Picture,” with self-described progressive Democrat Thom Hartmann, has also focused on the Wall Street protests. Hartmann has refused to disclose how much he is paid by RT for the rights to broadcast his show.

RT’s media “partners” include The Huffington Post and the website WhatReallyHappened, which questions whether Arab terrorists were behind 9/11.

RT employs a correspondent in Britain, Katia Zatuliveter, who went to work for the channel after being accused of conducting espionage against Britain. She is in the process of being deported. It doesn’t take much of an imagination to consider that some of its reporters working in America may also be agents of the Vladimir Putin regime.

One of the charges made against the Russians in the spy case was that they were engaged in a “conspiracy to act as unregistered agents of a foreign government.” This is an interesting use of a statute that is designed to prevent secret agents of a foreign power from manipulating U.S. public opinion or U.S. policy. Broadcaster Jerry Kenney has just filed a complaint with the U.S. Department of Justice alleging that RT and Al-Jazeera are both violating the law by not disclosing in their propaganda broadcasts that they are agents of foreign powers.

The Foreign Agents Registration Act (FARA) is “a disclosure statute that requires persons acting as agents of foreign principals in a political or quasi-political capacity to make periodic public disclosure of their relationship with the foreign principal, as well as activities, receipts and disbursements in support of those activities.”

The Kenney complaint says:

“I have become aware of two nationally distributed television programming networks that appear to be produced by foreign countries, both of which clearly make political statements and otherwise attempt to influence public opinion, yet I have not noticed a conspicuous statement in the programming that it is distributed on behalf of a foreign principal and that additional information is on file with the Department of Justice, nor do the networks or their principals appear to have registered as foreign agents as required by the Foreign Agents Registration Act.

My syndicated column today expounds on the green phony, crony capitalism that has flourished — and flopped — in the Age of Obama. The latest developments breaking in the Solyndra scandal last night? Obama’s White House tried to rush the $535 million loan review, prompting complaints from financial officials. The White House, naturally, denies any improper intervention, politicization, and string-pulling.

According to the Washington Post: “The August 2009 e-mails, released exclusively to The Washington Post, show White House officials repeatedly asking OMB reviewers when they would be able to decide on the federal loan and noting a looming press event at which they planned to announce the deal. In response, OMB officials expressed concern that they were being rushed to approve the company’s project without adequate time to assess the risk to taxpayers, according to information provided by Republican congressional investigators..’We have ended up with a situation of having to do rushed approvals on a couple of occasions (and we are worried about Solyndra at the end of the week),’ one official wrote. That Aug. 31, 2009, message, written by a senior OMB staffer and sent to Terrell P. McSweeny, Biden’s domestic policy adviser, concluded, ‘We would prefer to have sufficient time to do our due diligence reviews.’”

The answer to the question “What did they know and when” is this: They KNEW Solyndra was a risky, lousy deal for taxpayers. They KNEW on Aug. 19, 2009 that the financial models their credit reviewers used predicted Solyndra would run out of cash in September 2011. They KNEW it would fail. But they forged ahead, took our money to prop it up, and pimped the company in front of the TV cameras, anyway.

Cue: Screw up, move up, cover up in 3, 2, 1…

***

Obama’s Big Green Boondoggles
by Michelle Malkin
Creators Syndicate
Copyright 2011

With the scandalous bankruptcy of Solyndra (a shady California solar power company that received $535 million in stimulus funds and is now under investigation by the FBI) hanging overhead, President Obama wisely whitewashed any mention of “green jobs” out of his latest address to Congress.

But buried in the details of his latest government jobs bill released this week — Spawn of the Spendulus, Porky’s II, Night of the Keynesian Dead — are yet more big green boondoggles that will reward cronies, waste taxpayer dollars and make no dent in the jobless rate.

After pouring half a billion bucks into Solyndra, the company filed for Chapter 11 last month and laid off 1,110 employees. Obama administration officials met with Solyndra execs at least 20 times; the green cheerleader-in-chief personally visited and promoted the company in 2009 before his administration fast-tracked approval for the loans.

Solyndra is now the third solar company to go belly-up this year. Yet the Energy Department is doubling down on failure. As the FBI and House GOP investigators launch a probe into Enron-style accounting problems with Solyndra’s books, DOE is doling out more than $850 million in new loan guarantees for another California solar firm sponsored by NextEra Energy, along with nearly $200 million more for separate solar manufacturing facilities on the West Coast.

Obama claims new “investments” in environmentally friendly school construction projects will put thousands of Americans back to work immediately.

Yesterday we talked about an FBI raid of one of President Obama’s bankrupt pet “green” companies that taxpayers took another one on the chin for.

At the time the reports were that nothing was confiscated. That has changed. Not only has the company had material removed, but the FBI has also raided the homes of company execs:

Federal agents have expanded their examination of the now-bankrupt California solar power company Solyndra, searching the homes of the company’s CEO and two of its executives, examining computer files and documents, iWatch News and ABC News have learned.

Agents visited the homes of CEO Brian Harrison and company founder Chris Gronet and a former executive, according to a source who agreed to speak only on the condition of anonymity because of the legal sensitivity of the situation.

Is there $535 million worth of stuff in those boxes:

What are the odds this story just up and disappears like Joe Biden from Blurters Anonymous meeting?

What a, uh, surprise. The solar company touted by Obama as a wonderful example of “green tech” that recently went under and took $535 million worth of taxpayer money with it has been raided by the FBI:

FBI agents armed with search warrants descended Thursday morning on bankrupt solar company Solynrda.

The investigation comes after a request by the Department of Energy’s inspector general, FBI spokesman Peter Lee told NBC Bay Area News.

Agents arrived at Solyndra at 7a.m. and were examining the factory. Solynrda has a skeleton crew of 100 workers on the scene, who are closing the factory down.

“It’s been an interesting [two weeks]” says Solyndra spokesperson Dave Miller, referring to both the bankruptcy and the FBI raid. “I don’t know what they’re looking for… but I haven’t seen them take anything.”

Solyndra filed for bankruptcy last week, shocking both workers and the Obama administration, which had given the startup $535 million in low interest loans.

Coincidentally, Solyndra execs had a cozy relationship with the White House:

According to White House visitor logs, between March 12, 2009, and April 14, 2011, Solyndra officials and investors made no fewer than 20 trips to the West Wing. In the week before the administration awarded Solyndra with the first-ever alternative energy loan guarantee on March 20, four separate visits were logged.

George Kaiser, who has in the past been labeled a major Solyndra investor as well as a Obama donor, made three visits to the White House on March 12, 2009, and one on March 13. Kaiser has denied any direct involvement in the Solyndra deal and through a statement from his foundation said he “did not participate in any discussions with the U.S. government regarding the loan.”

But the countless meetings at the White House seem hardly coincidental. Kaiser, in fact, is responsible for 16 of the 20 meetings that showed up on the White House logs.
[...]
As TheDC previously reported, Solyndra officials, including Kaiser himself, donated hundreds of thousands of dollars to Barack Obama.

Cue Drebin:

Solyndra was part of Obama’s first terrific jobs plan. He’s announcing another tonight, and I’m sure the money will be spent as wisely and ethically as it was on the first one.

The Solyndra trail shouldn’t be difficult for the FBI to track — just “follow the money.” I’m pretty sure I know where that will lead if anybody dares go that far.

House Republicans smelled a rat back in July.

Related trivia: Two anagrams of Solyndra are “dry loans” and “nary sold.”

Update: From Verum Serum, here’s a video that was on the White House blog praising the Solyndra “success story.” If “success” is defined by “taxpayers fleeced, Obama re-election campaign enriched,” then yes, a success it was:

Abdul-Latif

I’m posting the FBI affidavit filed today in the case of the Seattle jihad plot against our military. Keep track of how many media outlets pass up Abu Khalid Abdul-Latif and Walli Mujahidh’s Muslim monikers for their whitewashed Western names. (see here for today’s post on both the D.C. and Seattle Muslim suspects).

Takeaway paragraphs:

“The object of the conspiracy was to kill officers and employees of the Department of Defense who worked at the MEPS [Military Entrance Processing Stations] located in the Federal Center South building in Seattle Washington, and to kill other persons assisting such officers and employees in the performance of their duties…

…The defendants planned to carry out the attack using fully-automatic weapons pistols, and fragmentation grendates. Their goal was to kill and maim numerous officers and employees of the United States Military…Abdul-Latif explained the reasons for the attack, specifically his anger of the US Military’s real or perceived activities in Afghanistan, Iraq, and Yemn. Abdul-Latif explained that, in his view, murdering American soldiers was justifiable.

…78. Abdul-Latif then revisited the idea of attacking Fort Lewis. In response, the Source said that their current target (the MEPS) was a good one and they should stick with their plan. The discussion then moved to other topics, including Abdul-Latif complaining again about the American military presence in the Middle East. Abdul-Latif also discussed historical figures who have sacrificed for a cause, and then specifically compared the conspirators’ intended “sacrifice” during the MEPS attack to the actions of Nidal [Hasan] (the Army officer charged in the attack that killed 13 people at Fort Hood.

Abdul Latif Complaint

In a front page story about a major FBI terrorism investigation, The Washington Post has reported that the targets include “Chicagoans who crossed paths with Obama when he was a young state senator and some who have been active in labor unions that supported his political rise.” The implication is that the trail could lead to the White House.

This is an unusual investigation that does not primarily involve Islamists. Instead, it is focused on elements of the old international communist networks that many people mistakenly thought had faded away with the collapse of the Soviet Union. Those under investigation are suspected of providing support to foreign terrorist organizations such as the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) and the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine in the Middle East, a Marxist group. The Post called them “Colombian and Palestinian groups designated by the U.S. government as terrorists.”

The investigations came into public view last September when the FBI raided the homes of several “activists,” as the Post called them. Some lived in Chicago.

One of the targets, Tom Burke, was a union organizer for the Service Employees International Union (SEIU). He was so confident he would get a fair shake from the Post that he provided the paper with a photo of himself shaking hands with Barack Obama. The other apparent intention was to send a message to the President and Attorney General Eric Holder that any investigation of Burke might lead to Obama.

The Post suggested that investigations of labor union activists might jeopardize their support for Obama’s 2012 presidential run. Indeed, it could therefore threaten his re-election bid, if investigations determine that the activists did more than “cross paths” with the President.

Deep inside the article, in the 29^th paragraph, we find out that some of the “activists” are associated with a group known as the Freedom Road Socialist Organization (FRSO), a Marxist-Leninist organization. Burke is a member of the FRSO, which the Post admitted was “far left.”

The obvious question is why Obama, as a state senator in Illinois, would ever have “crossed paths” with such people. The answer goes beyond just union support for the candidate. The “far-left” networks that include the FRSO, the Communist Party USA, the New American Movement, and the Democratic Socialists of America backed and even spawned Obama’s political career. Don’t forget that Weather Underground leaders Bill Ayers and Bernardine Dohrn hosted a fundraiser for his first run for political office. The same networks also backed CIA Director Leon Panetta’s career when he was a congressman from Santa Cruz, California. This helps explain why Obama would pick Panetta, with no intelligence background, to run the intelligence agency. They are cut from the same cloth.

Nevertheless, on Tuesday, the Senate voted 100-0 in favor of Panetta’s nomination as Secretary of Defense. It was a classic case of “head in the sand” politics, ignoring not only Panetta’s long-time relationship with Communist Party member Hugh DeLacy but his record as a congressman in undercutting then-President Reagan’s pro-defense policies at every turn.

Director Mueller covered a number of topics during his testimony before Congress. Photo: Police Times

On Wednesday, Robert S. Mueller, Director of Federal Bureau of Investigation, testified before the U.S. House Committee on Appropriations, Subcommittee on Commerce, Justice, Science, and Related Agencies. His testimony addressed terrorism, cyber crime, national security, organized crime and weapons of mass destruction.

Mueller noted that since 9/11, the FBI has shifted its focus to being an intelligence-led, threat-focused organization, guided by clear operational strategies.

“The FBI is focused on predicting and preventing the threats we face while engaging the communities we serve. This shift has led to a greater reliance on technology, collaboration with new partners, and human capital, requiring additional resources,” Mueller said.

The FBI is a full member of the U.S. intelligence community and serves as a critical and singular link between the intelligence and law enforcement communities in the United States, the FBI Director noted.

“Our adversaries are evolving and using globalization to enhance their reach and effectiveness, creating new challenges in our efforts to counter their impact,” said Mueller.

Director Mueller noted that:

• In the past year, the United States has been the target of terrorist plots from three main sources: al Qaeda, al Qaeda’s affiliates, and homegrown extremists. Homegrown extremists are a growing concern and priority of the FBI, as evidenced by the number of recent disruptions and arrests.
• The asymmetric intelligence threat presented by certain foreign governments endures as the damage from compromised sensitive information and financial losses from economic espionage and criminal activity remain significant.
• Technological advancements and the Internet’s expansion will continue to empower malicious cyber actors to harm U.S. national security through criminal and intelligence activities. We must maintain our ability to keep pace with this rapidly developing technology.
• The FBI’s efforts prosecuting financial crimes—including billion-dollar corporate and mortgage frauds, massive Ponzi schemes, and sophisticated insider trading activities—remain essential to protect investors and the financial system, as well as homeowners and, ultimately, taxpayers. There also continue to be insidious health care scams that endanger patients and fleece government health care programs of billions. Despite strong enforcement, both public corruption and violent gang crimes continue to endanger our communities.

These examples underscore the complexity and breadth of the FBI’s mission to protect the nation in a post-9/11 world, noted the FBI chief.

The FBI’s fiscal year (FY) 2012 budget request includes a total of $8.1 billion in direct budget authority, including 33,469 permanent positions (12,993 special agents, 2,989 intelligence analysts, and 17,487 professional staff). This funding, which consists of $8.0 billion in salaries and expenses and $81.0 million in construction, is critical to continue our progress acquiring the intelligence and investigative capabilities required to counter current and emerging national security and criminal threats.

Consistent with the Bureau’s transformation to a threat-informed and intelligence-driven agency, the FY 2012 budget request was formulated based upon our understanding of the major national security and criminal threats that the FBI must work to prevent, disrupt, and deter.

“We then identified the gaps and areas which required additional resources.