Terrorism is one of the main issues that the United States has been struggling to deal with. Therefore, attempts are always made to identify potential threats and manage them in the right way. According to the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), terrorism can be described as the unlawful use of violence committed with the intention of coercing and intimidating civilians, the government or a given group in furtherance of a social, religious, or political objective ( Homeland Security, 2019 ). Over the years, the United States has witnessed a rising number of terrorism activities. FBI uses innovative techniques and technologies to collect accurate, valuable, and reliable intelligence that can be used to prevent attacks and identify terrorists in the United States.
Domestic Intelligence Collection
Terrorists usually target various groups or strategic points such as airports. Generally, there are three primary types of terrorism activities and threats that the US deal with. They include the Islamic extremists, terrorist attacks sponsored by foreign governments, and attacks launched by structured organizations. All these threats need to be identified and managed to protect the interest of the United States. The first step in dealing with the problem is intelligence collection. The process entails gathering data and insights that can be used to prevent terrorism activities within the United States. The information is then analyzed carefully before it is passed to the relevant agencies for action to be taken.
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The FBI is one of the main agencies that are involved in the collection and analysis of evidence. The formation of such agencies is usually influenced by the belief that a critical part of preventing terrorism is collecting accurate and timely intelligence information. The information may relate to the nature of the organizations involved, the capabilities of the terrorists, planned attacks, and the intention of the groups. In 1947, the passage of the National Security Act resulted in the creation of the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) as the main organization involved in the collection of foreign intelligence. The information relates to the intentions, capabilities, and plans of international organizations, countries and individuals of interest. However, the agency is not involved in the gathering of internal information on terrorism. Instead, the role is accorded to other agencies such as the Homeland Security and FBI ( UNODOC, 2011 ). Today, the FBI remains the country’s main agency of collecting counterintelligence information. In such cases, the FBI will initiate the process of collecting intelligence and conducting investigations even before an act of terror has been committed. The process may entail following and monitoring people who may be working with international terrorisms with the goal of attacking Americans locally. The intelligence collection process may also be part of an ongoing criminal investigation. In cases where a critical act like the bombing of a building has been committed, then it is upon the FBI to start the criminal investigations to identify the people who may be involved.
One of the major differences between criminal investigations and intelligence investigations is the legal framework that defined them. The legal framework determines the type of physical and electronic surveillance that can be conducted by the agency. In criminal investigations, searches cannot be done without the provision of a warrant that is given by the court. When doing electronic surveillance, then the FBI will get a warrant form the court of law. In addition, the surveillance must be done in a way that complies with the provisions of the Omnibus Crime Control and Safe Streets Act of 1968, 18 U.S.C. §§ 2510-2522. In some cases, the FBI will be forced to follow the Rule 41 requirements that sets out the Federal Rules of Criminal Procedure. The agency needs to use the right technique to be able to get the most accurate information that will help in preventing cases of crime.
One of the methods that is used in the collection of evidence on terror by the FBI revolves around using technological solutions. The advanced technologies are used to identify emerging and existing threats. It is for this reason that the agency has been investing in testing, researching, and deploying new methods (Office of the Inspector General, 2012). While using the new technologies, the FBI may be forced to work with other federal agencies, private sector organization, and the academia. In some instances, the agency works with technology companies to identify existing technologies that may be exploited by terrorisms. Throughout the process, the FBI strives to gather information that will enable to address existing threats and deal with new surprises that they may encounter. The use of technology in data collection is usually considered to be a forward driven approach that allows the agency to be more effective. Furthermore, the technologies allow the agency to establishing a nationwide networks and systems for dealing with the threats that may exist in airports, coastal areas, and the public places.
Another approach through which the agency gathers intelligence is by focusing on the US trade, immigration, international travel, and domestic travel systems. Since it was established, the FBI has been working to deal with all the local threats that may be affecting the safety and wellbeing of Americans (FAS, 2015). The process entails monitoring the activities of the actors exploit the travel, immigration, and trade systems in the country. In such initiatives, the agency will work with other partners such as the Immigration departments to enhance its detection, deterrence, and screening capabilities. The intelligence that is gathered is normally used as the basis for preventing terrorists from traveling into the country and conducting attacks. The FBI can conduct several vetting initiatives and programs that help confirm the identity for the people who may be planning to get into the county. In some instances, the FBI has been involved in interagency partnerships as it analyses the plans and intentions of the people who may be entering the country illegally.
The third approach that the FBI has been using in its intelligence collection efforts is open-source intelligence gathering. In this case, the FBI focuses on the whole population to be able to gather information that it can use to prevent terrorism. It is also worth stating that professional and technical journals can also provide lucrative insights on the plans of terrorists and the commercial activities that targeted individuals may engage in. Presently, there has been an increasing number of online databases that have been used by the FBI to enhance its capability (Air force, 2011). The open-source approach has evolved to become an important process in the gathering of information. Furthermore, it has allowed the FBI to assess the plans and background of terror actors in the country. The collection capabilities will depend on the technological system that the FBI has within its structures. SIGINT technologies for example have allowed the organization to identify adversaries of the United States, analyze their plans and determine to kind of activities that the groups may be undertaking in the country.
Intelligence Analysis
The information that is usually gathered by the FBI is meant to enable the organization to protect Americans. In addition, the information needs to be used as the basis for making decisions and taking actions that will prevent acts of terror in the United States. These objectives can only be achieved when the information is accurate, valuable and of the right form. It is for this reason that the FBI uses different data analysis methods to examine the quality, reliability, and value of the intelligence that they collect about terrorisms in the US. The nature of the data analysts approach adopted may depend on the information collected and what the FBI needs to know about an act of terrorism.
In the recent years, the FBI has been using conceptually drive approach to data analysis. In the conceptual approach, a hypothesis-based method that may take the top-down or bottom-up consideration. The agency examines the terrorism threat under question and develop models and hypothesis that can be used to judge the quality of information that has been obtained (Schum, 2011). In this approach to data collection, the accuracy of intelligence may depend on completeness of the available data. It implies that the appropriateness of the information will be judged by determining whether the information is complete enough to be used as the basis for explaining a given threat. The conceptual analysis method is normally used in cases where the FBI is dealing with a complex threat with several variables. In such an instance, there will be no analytical schema that can be used as the basis for explaining the information gathered. Instead, mental models are utilized on the data to reach conclusion and explain an event of terrorism.
Another commonly used approach is the data immersion model. In this case, it is assumed that the mental models may not offer a basis for explaining a threat. While conducting data immersion analysis, the FBI agents will focus less on fitting the information into preconceived patterns. Instead, they strive to concentrate on the new information that will give new trends and patterns related to the crime being investigated (Valtorta et al., 2005). In the case of terrorism, the data analysis method will help in generating new hypothesis related to the crime. In addition, attempts will be made to generate better hypothesis that can be used to address the threat of terrorism. The new information can be kept and used in future cases. For the data immersion analysis model to be success, it is imperative to get access to all the relevant information. Furthermore, the agents need to be competent and devoted to their work.
Conclusion
Terrorism remains one of the major challenges that the US government is dealing with today. Over the years, the government has created agencies that help in the fight of terrorism both locally and internationally. The process entails collecting accurate intelligence that can be used to make decisions and take actions aimed at preventing attacks, arresting criminals, and mitigating the outcome of the attacks. At the domestic levels, the FBI is one of the leading agencies that is involved in gathering of intelligence. The agency focuses on getting accurate and reliable information on terrorists, organizations, and groups that may be planning to conduct attacks in the US. In some cases, the intelligence is used as the basis for identifying the groups and people who may have been involved in attacks that are already conducted in the US. Once the information is collected, it needs to be analyzed carefully by the agency. The data can then be shared with different agencies that are involved in the fight against terrorism in the United States.
References
Airforce. (2011). Target Intelligence Handbook: Unclassified Targeting Principles, Washington, DC: Department of the Air Force.
FAS. (2015). Terrorist Intelligence Operations . https://fas.org/irp/nsa/ioss/threat96/part04.htm
Homeland Security. (2019). Department of homeland security strategic framework for countering terrorism and targeted violence. https://www.dhs.gov/sites/default/files/publications/19_0920_plcy_strategic-framework- countering-terrorism-targeted-violence.pdf
Office of the Inspector General. (2012). A review of the FBI's handling of intelligence information prior to the September 11 attacks. https://oig.justice.gov/sites/default/files/archive/special/0506/chapter2.htm#:~:text=Altho ugh%20the%20FBI%20has%20had,Counterterrorism%20Program%20in%20the%20199 0s .
Schum, D.A. (2011). The evidential foundations of probabilistic reasoning . Northwestern University Press.
UNODOC. (2011). Criminal intelligence manual for analysts . New York: United States.
RAND. (2018). Intelligence Collection. https://www.rand.org/topics/intelligence-collection.html
Valtorta, M.. et al. (2005). Extending Heuer's analysis of competing hypotheses method to support complex decision analysis . International Conference on Intelligence Analysis, Washington, DC. https://cse.sc.edu/~mgv/reports/IA-05.pdf
