Intelligence work and the practice of neutralizing terrorists are vital tasks of the Federal Bureau of Investigation. Since 2001, after the September 11 attacks, the FBI has gone through a series of changes to improve practices of counterterrorism investigations (Bjelopera, 2013). The main differences in the work were related primarily to changes in legislation. The USA PATRIOT Act of 2001 was adopted, and in 2008 a revision to the Attorney General’s Guidelines for Domestic FBI Operations, also known as Mukasey Guidelines, was made (Bjelopera, 2013). Improvements have also been introduced by creating units of Joint Terrorism Task Forces (JTTF) throughout the country. New techniques have been developed, including the “Al Capone” approach and the use of agent provocateurs (Bjelopera, 2013). The main goal of the fight against terrorism is to ensure peace and security for all citizens.
In particular, the mission of the FBI is to uncover possible terrorist conspiracies. For this, the agency developed the practices of freezing terrorist finances and sharing information with partners worldwide (Counterterrorism, n.d.). It is important to remember that the FBI has primary responsibility, and among other partners with the National Counterterrorism Center (NCTC) and the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA). The main objective of the NCTC is the integration of intelligence related to terrorism and ensuring access to IT systems of the listed parties. The Boston Marathon explosions were another devastating tragedy that could be compared to the tragedy of September 11. This terrorist attack also gave impetus for subsequent changes in the work of counterterrorism services. Besides, members of the public have noted concern about domestic terrorism (Bucci et al., 2013). Thus, due to well-coordinated joint work in different areas, the state ensures successful countering terrorists throughout the country.
References
Bjelopera P.J. (2013). The Federal Bureau of Investigation and terrorism investigations.
Counterterrorism. (n.d.).
Steven Bucci S., Carafano J. & Zuckerman J. (2013). Terrorist plots since 9/11: Continued lessons in domestic counterterrorism.