CIA Is Expanding Domestic Operations

More Offices, More Agents With FBI

By Dana Priest, Washington Post Staff Writer


Wednesday, October 23, 2002; Page A02

The Central Intelligence Agency is expanding
its domestic presence, placing
agents with nearly all of the FBI's 56
terrorism task forces in U.S.
cities, a step that law enforcement and
intelligence officials say will
help overcome some of the communications
obstacles between the two agencies
that existed before the Sept. 11, 2001,
attacks.In many cities, according to local FBI special
agents, the CIA employees
help plan daily operations and set priorities,
as well as share information
about suspected foreigners and groups. They do
not, however, take part in
operations or make arrests.

FBI Director Robert S. Mueller III recently
described the new arrangement
as his answer to MI5, Britain's internal
security service. Unlike the FBI,
MI5 is empowered to collect intelligence within
Britain and to act to
disrupt domestic threats to British national
security. "It goes some
distance to accomplishing what the MI5 does,"
Mueller told a House-Senate
intelligence panel last week in describing the
new CIA role in the FBI task
forces.

Separately, the CIA is undertaking what one
intelligence official called a
"concerted effort" to increase the number of
case officers working in the
agency's domestic field offices. Those offices,
directed by the National
Resources Division, are staffed by officers
from the clandestine service.

The CIA's domestic field offices recruit
foreigners living temporarily in
the United States -- for example, scientists at
universities, diplomats at
embassies and business executives -- to work as
agents for the CIA when
they return home. They also conduct voluntary
debriefings of Americans,
mainly business executives and academics, who
have recently returned from
abroad. The division also is responsible for
handling some defectors and
for limited counterintelligence targeting.
In the mid-1980s, the agency maintained close
to 35 field stations in the
United States. But over the last decade, budget
cuts and operational
restrictions reduced the agency's domestic
effort by about 30 percent,
according to one former high-ranking CIA
official. "They were in bad shape."

Since Sept. 11, the National Resources Division
has been given more money
and some of its domestic offices have been
reopened to bring the number
close to 30. "There is a concerted effort to
enhance that," said one
administration official said.

The CIA's domestic division was created in 1963
to conduct clandestine
operations within the United States against
foreign targets, usually
foreign spies and organizations. But the CIA no
longer conducts clandestine
operations at home, in part because of the 1973
intelligence overhaul that
curbed spying on U.S. citizens and enacted
stricter oversight of covert
operations. Since then, too, the FBI has
strictly limited the information
it accepts from the CIA, for fear of "tainting"
ongoing domestic
investigations with information it is not
allowed to use or, in some cases,
even possess.

While the new growth in the CIA's domestic work
does not involving spying,
it does represent a significant step in
integrating the CIA's analytical
capabilities with U.S. law enforcement efforts
to find and apprehend
terrorist suspects.

"We are stepping into an area that is fraught
with peril," said Frederick
Hitz, a former inspector general at the CIA.

But Hitz and other analysts
applauded the effort.
The CIA's work on the FBI task forces "is a
sign of the times," said Sen.
Bob Graham (D-Fla.), chairman of the Senate
intelligence committee. "The
idea is to get all the intel and law
enforcement agencies that might be
able to contribute to a coherent and
comprehensive plan against terrorist
activities."

None of the growth in the CIA's domestic work
has required changes in law.
Under Executive Order 12333, signed by
President Ronald Reagan, the CIA is
permitted to secretly collect "significant"
foreign intelligence within the
United States if the collection effort is not
aimed at the domestic
activities of U.S. citizens and corporations.
Ellen Knowlton, the special agent in charge of
the FBI's Las Vegas field
office, called the CIA officers in her office
"full and active
participants" in day-to-day operations. The
exchange of ideas among the
FBI, the CIA and local law enforcement "is very
interactive," she said.

"You balance how you use them" with the
potential for compromising officers
still under cover, said Joseph Billy Jr.,
special agent in charge of the
FBI's New York field office. "We reserve the
right for the CIA to make that
call."

For this reason, the identities of CIA officers
are often not shared with
local law enforcement officials who are
detailed, part-time, to work on the
task forces. The CIA officers also usually work
in special parts of the
larger task force building, behind walls
impenetrable to electronic
eavesdropping.

In Oregon, Portland Police Chief Mark Kroeger
said there remains a deep
distrust toward giving law enforcement or the
CIA expanded powers. Although
he approves of the CIA presence, he said he
purposefully stays clear of the
CIA officers.

"I know very little about them and I chose to
keep it that way," he said.
"The CIA is not a dirty word," he said. "They
have roles and
responsibilities that certainly have shifted. I
have a lot of admiration
for the organization."

While the CIA presence is new in many cities,
the agency has worked with
local police departments for years in New York,
New Jersey and a handful of
other locations. The New York joint terrorism
task force of 300 people from
21 agencies has had more a dozen CIA officers
for years.

The CIA is reluctant to talk about its new task
force role, or its domestic
field offices. "This increased cooperation is
critical in the fight against
terrorism," said CIA spokesman Mark Mansfield.
"It's critical to establish
more and better linkages."