FBI Threat Tracking Improves

System, However, Still Needs Work

By Carrie Johnson
Washington Post Staff Writer
Saturday, November 8, 2008; A02
Courtesy Of The Washington Post

The FBI's main electronic system that tracks terrorist threats and suspicious incidents amounts to a "significant improvement" over earlier computer packages, but the bureau could do more to improve its accuracy, the Justice Department inspector general said yesterday.

The system stored 108,000 threats and suspicious incidents between July 2004 and November 2007, the "overwhelming majority" of them bum leads, according to the report by Inspector General Glenn A. Fine. Agents ultimately opened 600 criminal investigations based on the tips.

Fine said that the bureau generally handled high-priority tips quickly. Still, his report faulted the bureau for allowing low-priority incidents to remain in the computer tracking system for longer than a month. He also said that FBI supervisors should have reviewed more of the false leads before line agents decided to close the cases.

"The FBI's policy to investigate every credible terrorist threat that it receives requires the FBI to ensure that it uses its resources as effectively as possible," the report said.

Fine urged the bureau to resolve technical problems and to more closely track the system to make sure that it is properly deploying its limited resources.

Under FBI policy, tips about suspicious incidents that come from members of the public and other law enforcement partners are entered into the computer system. The bureau requires agents to review, even in a cursory way, each threat tip, including raw leads from the public that come by phone or over the Internet. The results of those assessments by FBI agents are supposed to be logged into the Guardian tracking system so officials can ensure they are being investigated. They also use them to run reports for trends across regions of the country.

FBI Assistant Director John Miller said the bureau has taken steps to resolve the issues that the inspector general's report identified.

"Preventing terrorist attacks is a top priority, and Guardian plays an important role in that effort," Miller said.

The Guardian system debuted in 2004 and was revamped two years ago. It is an important law enforcement tool because it stores tips on terrorist incidents and can be searched by FBI employees and workers at other government agencies. The computer system also helps analysts identify trends and patterns.

The system has proved so critical that bureau officials are developing a related, unclassified computer tracking program for use by state and local law enforcement agencies. That program, known as E-Guardian, has been delayed by about a year because of contracting problems, the inspector general reported. FBI officials now say the companion program should be rolled out nationwide by the end of this year.

The report also said that computer patches to the regular Guardian system had been delayed because of contractor issues. Additional delays "could hamper the system's ability to track terrorist threats and suspicious incidents," according to the inspector general's findings.

"The FBI will always strive for continued improvement in the conduct" of intelligence operations and procedures, Miller said.