7. Operations CIA DoD NEST JTTF (FBI) Many US government agencies have a role in counterterrorism. CIA has a big role beyond the intel role we’ve already discussed: Paramilitary operations of CIA. CIA has its own special forces-style units that hunt down and capture or kill wanted terrorists. These capabilities have been expanded since 9/11. Of course, CIA has its own drone capabilities and the Dept. of Defense and CIA have been fighting over who should control these types of operations since 9/11. NEST: Dept. of Energy’s Nuclear Emergency Support Teams. These are civilians with expertise in nuclear energy and weapons issues who can be called to operation in cases where the US government thinks that there is the danger of a nuclear weapon being used by a terrorist. JTTF: This is the big one. When you hear about someone in the US being arrested on suspicion of a terrorist plot, it is the JTTF.

JTTF NJTTF (38 agencies) JTTFs OIG Report State and Local Law Enforcement (MOUs) JTTF’s are run by the FBI and attached to FBI field offices. They go back to the early 1980s. They are interagency. They include federal, state, and local law enforcement as well as federal, state, and local agencies that deal with transportation, health, emergency management, intelligence, you name it, it’s part of the JTTF. Think about the Apuzzo and Goldman book and all the federal, state, and local agencies involved in that. The key points re: There is the National JTTF, located in Washington that organizes and supervises it all. It includes 38 federal agencies. JTTF’s in local field offices work on cases on a regional basis and have all the federal, state, and local agencies under the supervision of the local JTTF. The federal, state, and local agencies don’t always get along and there are a huge number of cases where they fight each other and work at cross purposes. Some localities have actually withdrawn from the JTTF in their area. The Memorandum of Understanding in the PPT slide is an illustration of how the federal government and the local government’s try to work together. The MOU details everything the Portland PD wants from the FBI – use of cars, use of computers, cell phones, and insane minor details. It reads like a treaty between hostile parties.

Dilemmas of CT for JTTF and Local Law Enforcement (1) Intelligence Identify a threat? Track a threat? Decision: to share with other government agencies? To share with foreign institutions? The next two slides are self-explanatory. They illustrate some of he dilemmas and all of them are detailed in the Apuzzo and Goldman book.

Dilemmas of CT (2) Decision: Considerations Goal: Prevention or Prosecution? When do you have enough evidence to arrest and charge? Is this a small/single who will lead you to bigger target or group of targets? Are you allowed to detain someone without charge as a preventive measure? Would that make it difficult to then charge them later or become a controversy that hurts support for policy? How close is the person or group to an actual attack?