9/11 Law Enforcement Privacy

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II \~vent:
MEMORANDUM FOR THE RECORD

T~ of Event: Intervie~"of~1 ~~~ __ ..tSurveillance Specialist/Team

Coordinator, Washington Field Office)

'Date: Ju'l~'.~1,2003 .

Special Access Issues: None

Prepared by: Mle.hae"I""J",aCObson

\,\Team number: 6

Location: FBI, W ashington Field Office

P~rticipants Non-Commission: ..Assistant Special Agent in Charge Bob Blecksmith

Paz1,~cipants- Commission: Pei~'.Rundlet and Michael Jacobson

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\,\~ackgrou nd

kraduated from the 'o.~iversity of Tampa with a finance degree in

1989. He joined the FBI as a surveillancespecialist in 1991. He worked in the New
York Office for five years, before transferring to the Washington Field Office. This past
July, he was promoted into a supervisory sUrV'e~,~,~ance position.

Training'. -.-.
When he joined the FBI, he went through the six week,SSG training course at Quantico.
He has received ongoing training, often done in conjunction with other agencies. The
FBI has some training courses with the CIAJ

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More recently, he attended a training lecture on Arab culture. W,ith the change in
the FBI's focus since 9/11, they've been trying to have more training opportunities like
\ this. Since 9/11 ~they are receiving some more training. They are trying t~'~,~

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:~ at Quantico to focus less on FCl and more on IT. I should check WIthL-J
L..Jabout training matters. They plan to have a series of lectures, including one on
radical Islamic fundamentalism. It is important for them to understand these issues. For
• example, if people from different sects and cultures are meeting, perhaps this might mean
something. This type of thing could be a flag. They also need to understand the role of
women in these cultures to know what to expect and what might be unusual. They didn't
have this type of training pre-9/ll. He commented that the lecture he attended was very
helpful.

Background on SSG program

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Surveillance Logs

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Transition from FeI to IT

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Interaction with analysts

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• Legal and Policy restrictions

As far as policy changes since 9/11, they used to be restricted from going into
mosques, and they are no longer prohibited from doing so. Since they are doing discrete
surveillance, however, they will not go in.

In his opinion, the case agents do a pretty :OOd job of keeping them posted on the
investigations. This was true even before 9/11J Inoted. The case agents will
send them updates through their supervisor. In ad luon, each team leader is designated
as liaison to a certain squad. This is a permanent liaison assignment.

Interaction with other FBI Field Offices

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• The FBI Lookout program

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Access to relevant intelligence and databases

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• Career development

The surveillance specialist position begins at a as-5 or 7 level, and they can be
promoted to a as-II. The team coordinators are GS-12s, and the supervisory
surveillance specialists are OS-13s. A number of surveillance specialists have left to
become intelligence analysts. Some have also became agents, and others have transferred
to the CIA.

Interaction with other agencies

As far as working with other agencies, he recalls working with Naval Intelligence
for a year ona particular espionage investigation. He hasn't worked with any other
agencies in the U.S. .

Performance evaluation

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Interaction with state and local law enforcement authorities

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Recommendations

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