Joint Terrorism Task Force
Encyclopedia
A Joint Terrorism Task Force (JTTF) is a partnership between various U.S. law enforcement agencies that is charged with taking action against terrorism
, which includes the investigation of crimes such as wire fraud
and identity theft
. The agencies that a JTTF comprises generally include the Federal Bureau of Investigation
, other federal agencies (notably Department of Homeland Security
components such as U.S. Coast Guard Investigative Service
, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement
, U.S. Customs and Border Protection
, the Transportation Security Administration
, and the U.S. Secret Service
as well as the Department of State
's Diplomatic Security Service
), state and local law enforcement, and specialized agencies, such as railroad police
.
JTTFs engage in surveillance, electronic monitoring, source development and interviews in their pursuits. FBI task forces obtain written memoranda of understanding
(MOUs) between participating law enforcement agencies. The FBI provides funds to pay for participating agencies' expenses, such as officer overtime, vehicles, fuel, cell phones, and related office costs.
, and is composed of representatives from 35 federal agencies. The FBI's involvement with the JTTF falls under the Operational Support Branch of the FBI Counterterrorism Division
.
s and ten detective
s from the New York City Police Department
. Prior to September 11, 2001, the United States had 35 JTTFs. Shortly after the attacks, FBI Director Robert Mueller
instructed all FBI field offices to establish formal terrorism task forces. There are now 100 Joint Terrorism Task Forces nationwide, including at least one at each of the FBI Field Offices, except in Portland, Oregon.
In the 2009 Little Rock recruiting office shooting
, suspect Abdulhakim Mujahid Muhammad
was warned while he was in a Yemen jail by the FBI that he would be monitored by the US government, and he was investigated by the JTTF upon his return to the United States after he was deported by the Yemen government. Months after his return, he was arrested for shooting Army soldiers at a recruiting office, killing one, telling authorities after his arrest that his motive was that he was a Muslim angry about the killing of Muslims by American troops in Afghanistan and Iraq. He has since changed his plea to guilty of participating in a jihadi attack on behalf of Al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula
On October 2009, Tarek Mehanna was charged in a complaint with conspiracy to provide material support to terrorists. the complaint affidavit alleges that Mehanna and coconspirators discussed their desire to participate in violent jihad against American interests and that they would talk about fighting jihad and their desire to die on the battlefield. The case was investigated by the FBI’s Joint Terrorism Task Force (JTTF) members: Immigration and Customs Enforcement, Customs and Border Protection, Massachusetts State Police
and the Lowell Police Department, in addition to other members.
In the Fort Hood shooting
, suspect Nidal Malik Hasan
was first brought to the attention of the FBI by internet postings which justified suicide bombings as military operations, but they were not judged to be a threat. Then in December 2008, the National Security Agency
intercepted communications from an Army officer with a suspected terrorist, Anwar al-Awlaki
. After examination by a JTTF, the e-mails which asked if Islam permitted the killing of soldiers who were to be sent to combat against Muslims, and how to send money to support Awlaki's causes could be sent without reporting to the government were judged to be consistent with research he had presented in a presentation which had warned of "adverse events" if Muslims were forced to fight other Muslims.
The FBI was also notified of large amounts of money that Hasan had wired to charities in Pakistan, but the FBI determined that the money "went to people not related to terrorism," On November 9, 2009, the FBI said that investigators believed Hasan had apparently acted alone. They disclosed that they had reviewed evidence which included the 2008 e-mail conversations but said they did not find any evidence that Hasan had direct help or outside orders in the shootings. According to a November 11 press release, after preliminary examination of Hasan’s computers and internet activity, they had found no information to indicate he had any co-conspirators or was part of a broader terrorist plot "at this point". Although this was what they stressed were the "early stages" of the review, no contrary conclusions had been reached even after reports that the US government believed that Awlaki had been the target of airstrikes in Yemen, and that on December 26, 2009, investigators said that the suspect of the Northwest Airlines Flight 253
bombing admitted that he had attended camps in Yemen where al-Qaeda members including Anwar al-Awlaki
had instructed him, blessed the attack, and provided the bomb.
On the morning of September 24, 2010, several homes of people active in campaigns against US military intervention and Palestine and Columbia Solidarity were raided by FBI agents part of JTTFs. Four houses in Minneapolis were raided (including people involved with the 2008 Republican National Convention protests in Saint Paul), along with houses in Michigan, North Carolina, and Chicago. The search warrants focused on obtaining information from computers and other sources of alleged "facilitation of other individuals in the US to travel to Colombia, Palestine and any other foreign location in support of foreign terrorist organizations including but not limited to FARC, PFLP and Hezbollah." No arrests were made, but agents subpoenaed activists to testify before a grand jury in Chicago in October, with reference to “material aid to terrorist organizations.”
eliminated regulations put in place after the Church Commission
hearings in the 1970s, which disclosed evidence of politically motivated spying and obstruction of first amendments rights by the FBI's COINTELPRO
division. Critics worry that JTTF actions may constitute violations of the First Amendment
. Documents obtained through the Freedom of Information Act
by the ACLU
indicate that officers from the Colorado JTTF have been collecting personal information on nonviolent protesters. Agents involved with JTTFs have also infiltrated activist peace groups under assumed names.
On April 28, 2005, Portland
became the only city in the nation to withdraw from a JTTF.
In June 2008, the City Pages
broke news that the JTTF based in Minneapolis approached a source to infiltrate vegan
potluck
s and eventually report back to authorities on organized protesting activities in preparation for the 2008 Republican National Convention
in nearby Saint Paul
.
In the wake of the FBI's consistent performance in handling red flags of possible terrorist threats after the Fort Hood shooting
case, Clarice Feldman of The American Thinker
asked "Aside from racing to the scene of the massacre and declaring that this was not an act of terrorism, what is the FBI's role in counter-intelligence? Isn't it time we stripped them of a task they regularly perform so poorly?" . The New York Post headline stated "FBI blew off killer e-mail to al Qaeda Officials admit shrugging off gunman's e-mails to Qaeda" The article wrote "The clueless G-men said that at the time, they simply chalked up the chilling e-mails between Hasan and a radical imam and other terror-tied Islamic figures to his 'research' as an Army shrink... red-faced agency vowed to get to the bottom of things itself"
Terrorism
Terrorism is the systematic use of terror, especially as a means of coercion. In the international community, however, terrorism has no universally agreed, legally binding, criminal law definition...
, which includes the investigation of crimes such as wire fraud
Wire fraud
Mail and wire fraud is a federal crime in the United States. Together, 18 U.S.C. §§ 1341, 1343, and 1346 reach any fraudulent scheme or artifice to intentionally deprive another of property or honest services with a nexus to mail or wire communication....
and identity theft
Identity theft
Identity theft is a form of stealing another person's identity in which someone pretends to be someone else by assuming that person's identity, typically in order to access resources or obtain credit and other benefits in that person's name...
. The agencies that a JTTF comprises generally include the Federal Bureau of Investigation
Federal Bureau of Investigation
The Federal Bureau of Investigation is an agency of the United States Department of Justice that serves as both a federal criminal investigative body and an internal intelligence agency . The FBI has investigative jurisdiction over violations of more than 200 categories of federal crime...
, other federal agencies (notably Department of Homeland Security
United States Department of Homeland Security
The United States Department of Homeland Security is a cabinet department of the United States federal government, created in response to the September 11 attacks, and with the primary responsibilities of protecting the territory of the United States and protectorates from and responding to...
components such as U.S. Coast Guard Investigative Service
Coast Guard Investigative Service
The Coast Guard Investigative Service is a division of the United States Coast Guard that investigates crimes where the Coast Guard has an interest...
, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement
U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement
U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement is a federal law enforcement agency under the United States Department of Homeland Security , responsible for identifying, investigating, and dismantling vulnerabilities regarding the nation's border, economic, transportation, and infrastructure security...
, U.S. Customs and Border Protection
U.S. Customs and Border Protection
U.S. Customs and Border Protection is a federal law enforcement agency of the United States Department of Homeland Security charged with regulating and facilitating international trade, collecting import duties, and enforcing U.S. regulations, including trade, customs and immigration. CBP is the...
, the Transportation Security Administration
Transportation Security Administration
The Transportation Security Administration is an agency of the U.S. Department of Homeland Security that exercises authority over the safety and security of the traveling public in the United States....
, and the U.S. Secret Service
United States Secret Service
The United States Secret Service is a United States federal law enforcement agency that is part of the United States Department of Homeland Security. The sworn members are divided among the Special Agents and the Uniformed Division. Until March 1, 2003, the Service was part of the United States...
as well as the Department of State
United States Department of State
The United States Department of State , is the United States federal executive department responsible for international relations of the United States, equivalent to the foreign ministries of other countries...
's Diplomatic Security Service
Diplomatic Security Service
The U.S. Diplomatic Security Service is the federal law enforcement arm of the United States Department of State. The majority of its Special Agents are members of the Foreign Service and federal law enforcement agents at the same time, making them unique...
), state and local law enforcement, and specialized agencies, such as railroad police
Railroad police
Railroad police are different from one country to another. Their roles in some countries are not different from that of any other police agency in others they are more related to a type of security police. They are all commonly responsible for the protection of railroad vast networks of...
.
JTTFs engage in surveillance, electronic monitoring, source development and interviews in their pursuits. FBI task forces obtain written memoranda of understanding
Memorandum of understanding
A memorandum of understanding is a document describing a bilateral or multilateral agreement between parties. It expresses a convergence of will between the parties, indicating an intended common line of action. It is often used in cases where parties either do not imply a legal commitment or in...
(MOUs) between participating law enforcement agencies. The FBI provides funds to pay for participating agencies' expenses, such as officer overtime, vehicles, fuel, cell phones, and related office costs.
National JTTF
The many regional JTTFs coordinate their efforts through the interagency National Joint Terrorism Task Force. NJTTF is headquartered in Washington DCWashington, D.C.
Washington, D.C., formally the District of Columbia and commonly referred to as Washington, "the District", or simply D.C., is the capital of the United States. On July 16, 1790, the United States Congress approved the creation of a permanent national capital as permitted by the U.S. Constitution....
, and is composed of representatives from 35 federal agencies. The FBI's involvement with the JTTF falls under the Operational Support Branch of the FBI Counterterrorism Division
FBI Counterterrorism Division
The FBI Counterterrorism Division is the division of the United States Federal Bureau of Investigation that deals with terrorist threats inside the United States. It also provides information on terrorists outside the country and tracks known terrorists worldwide...
.
History
The first JTTF was established in 1980 in New York City, with ten FBI special agentSpecial agent
Special agent is usually the title for a detective or investigator for a state, county, municipal, federal or tribal government. An agent is a worker for any federal agency, and a secret agent is one who works for an intelligence agency....
s and ten detective
Detective
A detective is an investigator, either a member of a police agency or a private person. The latter may be known as private investigators or "private eyes"...
s from the New York City Police Department
New York City Police Department
The New York City Police Department , established in 1845, is currently the largest municipal police force in the United States, with primary responsibilities in law enforcement and investigation within the five boroughs of New York City...
. Prior to September 11, 2001, the United States had 35 JTTFs. Shortly after the attacks, FBI Director Robert Mueller
Robert Mueller
Robert Swan Mueller III is the 6th and current Director of the United States Federal Bureau of Investigation .-Early life:...
instructed all FBI field offices to establish formal terrorism task forces. There are now 100 Joint Terrorism Task Forces nationwide, including at least one at each of the FBI Field Offices, except in Portland, Oregon.
Investigations
The JTTF was assisted in the investigation of the plot on Fort Dix. However critics such as David Cole, a law professor at Georgetown University questioned the use of paid informants enabling aspiring terrorists. "It makes sense in general —but when you're pressing people to undertake conduct they would have never undertaken without an informant pushing them along, there is a real question if you're creating crime, not preventing crime."In the 2009 Little Rock recruiting office shooting
2009 Little Rock recruiting office shooting
The 2009 Little Rock recruiting office shooting took place on June 1, 2009, when Muslim convert Abdulhakim Mujahid Muhammad, aka Carlos Leon Bledsoe, opened fire with a rifle in a drive-by shooting on soldiers in front of a United States military recruiting office in Little Rock, Arkansas, in a...
, suspect Abdulhakim Mujahid Muhammad
2009 Little Rock recruiting office shooting
The 2009 Little Rock recruiting office shooting took place on June 1, 2009, when Muslim convert Abdulhakim Mujahid Muhammad, aka Carlos Leon Bledsoe, opened fire with a rifle in a drive-by shooting on soldiers in front of a United States military recruiting office in Little Rock, Arkansas, in a...
was warned while he was in a Yemen jail by the FBI that he would be monitored by the US government, and he was investigated by the JTTF upon his return to the United States after he was deported by the Yemen government. Months after his return, he was arrested for shooting Army soldiers at a recruiting office, killing one, telling authorities after his arrest that his motive was that he was a Muslim angry about the killing of Muslims by American troops in Afghanistan and Iraq. He has since changed his plea to guilty of participating in a jihadi attack on behalf of Al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula
Al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula
Al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula is a militant Islamist organization, primarily active in Yemen and Saudi Arabia. It was named for al-Qaeda, and says it is subordinate to that group and its now-deceased leader Osama bin Laden, a Saudi citizen whose father was born in Yemen...
On October 2009, Tarek Mehanna was charged in a complaint with conspiracy to provide material support to terrorists. the complaint affidavit alleges that Mehanna and coconspirators discussed their desire to participate in violent jihad against American interests and that they would talk about fighting jihad and their desire to die on the battlefield. The case was investigated by the FBI’s Joint Terrorism Task Force (JTTF) members: Immigration and Customs Enforcement, Customs and Border Protection, Massachusetts State Police
Massachusetts State Police
The Massachusetts State Police is an agency of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts' Executive Office of Public Safety and Security responsible for criminal law enforcement and traffic vehicle regulation across the state...
and the Lowell Police Department, in addition to other members.
In the Fort Hood shooting
Fort Hood shooting
The Fort Hood shooting was a mass shooting that took place on November 5, 2009, at Fort Hood, the most populous U.S. military installation in the world, located just outside Killeen, Texas. In the course of the shooting, a single gunman killed 13 people and wounded 29 others...
, suspect Nidal Malik Hasan
Nidal Malik Hasan
Nidal Malik Hasan, USA is a United States Army officer and sole suspect in the November 5, 2009, Fort Hood shooting, which occurred less than a month before he would have deployed to Afghanistan....
was first brought to the attention of the FBI by internet postings which justified suicide bombings as military operations, but they were not judged to be a threat. Then in December 2008, the National Security Agency
National Security Agency
The National Security Agency/Central Security Service is a cryptologic intelligence agency of the United States Department of Defense responsible for the collection and analysis of foreign communications and foreign signals intelligence, as well as protecting U.S...
intercepted communications from an Army officer with a suspected terrorist, Anwar al-Awlaki
Anwar al-Awlaki
Anwar al-Awlaki was an American and Yemeni imam who was an engineer and educator by training. According to U.S. government officials, he was a senior talent recruiter and motivator who was involved with planning operations for the Islamist militant group al-Qaeda...
. After examination by a JTTF, the e-mails which asked if Islam permitted the killing of soldiers who were to be sent to combat against Muslims, and how to send money to support Awlaki's causes could be sent without reporting to the government were judged to be consistent with research he had presented in a presentation which had warned of "adverse events" if Muslims were forced to fight other Muslims.
The FBI was also notified of large amounts of money that Hasan had wired to charities in Pakistan, but the FBI determined that the money "went to people not related to terrorism," On November 9, 2009, the FBI said that investigators believed Hasan had apparently acted alone. They disclosed that they had reviewed evidence which included the 2008 e-mail conversations but said they did not find any evidence that Hasan had direct help or outside orders in the shootings. According to a November 11 press release, after preliminary examination of Hasan’s computers and internet activity, they had found no information to indicate he had any co-conspirators or was part of a broader terrorist plot "at this point". Although this was what they stressed were the "early stages" of the review, no contrary conclusions had been reached even after reports that the US government believed that Awlaki had been the target of airstrikes in Yemen, and that on December 26, 2009, investigators said that the suspect of the Northwest Airlines Flight 253
Northwest Airlines Flight 253
Northwest Airlines Flight 253 was an international passenger flight from Amsterdam Airport Schiphol in Haarlemmermeer, Netherlands, to Detroit Metropolitan Wayne County Airport in Romulus, Michigan, United States...
bombing admitted that he had attended camps in Yemen where al-Qaeda members including Anwar al-Awlaki
Anwar al-Awlaki
Anwar al-Awlaki was an American and Yemeni imam who was an engineer and educator by training. According to U.S. government officials, he was a senior talent recruiter and motivator who was involved with planning operations for the Islamist militant group al-Qaeda...
had instructed him, blessed the attack, and provided the bomb.
On the morning of September 24, 2010, several homes of people active in campaigns against US military intervention and Palestine and Columbia Solidarity were raided by FBI agents part of JTTFs. Four houses in Minneapolis were raided (including people involved with the 2008 Republican National Convention protests in Saint Paul), along with houses in Michigan, North Carolina, and Chicago. The search warrants focused on obtaining information from computers and other sources of alleged "facilitation of other individuals in the US to travel to Colombia, Palestine and any other foreign location in support of foreign terrorist organizations including but not limited to FARC, PFLP and Hezbollah." No arrests were made, but agents subpoenaed activists to testify before a grand jury in Chicago in October, with reference to “material aid to terrorist organizations.”
Criticism
In 2002, the Justice DepartmentUnited States Department of Justice
The United States Department of Justice , is the United States federal executive department responsible for the enforcement of the law and administration of justice, equivalent to the justice or interior ministries of other countries.The Department is led by the Attorney General, who is nominated...
eliminated regulations put in place after the Church Commission
Church Committee
The Church Committee is the common term referring to the United States Senate Select Committee to Study Governmental Operations with Respect to Intelligence Activities, a U.S. Senate committee chaired by Senator Frank Church in 1975. A precursor to the U.S...
hearings in the 1970s, which disclosed evidence of politically motivated spying and obstruction of first amendments rights by the FBI's COINTELPRO
COINTELPRO
COINTELPRO was a series of covert, and often illegal, projects conducted by the United States Federal Bureau of Investigation aimed at surveilling, infiltrating, discrediting, and disrupting domestic political organizations.COINTELPRO tactics included discrediting targets through psychological...
division. Critics worry that JTTF actions may constitute violations of the First Amendment
First Amendment to the United States Constitution
The First Amendment to the United States Constitution is part of the Bill of Rights. The amendment prohibits the making of any law respecting an establishment of religion, impeding the free exercise of religion, abridging the freedom of speech, infringing on the freedom of the press, interfering...
. Documents obtained through the Freedom of Information Act
Freedom of information legislation
Freedom of information legislation comprises laws that guarantee access to data held by the state. They establish a "right-to-know" legal process by which requests may be made for government-held information, to be received freely or at minimal cost, barring standard exceptions...
by the ACLU
American Civil Liberties Union
The American Civil Liberties Union is a U.S. non-profit organization whose stated mission is "to defend and preserve the individual rights and liberties guaranteed to every person in this country by the Constitution and laws of the United States." It works through litigation, legislation, and...
indicate that officers from the Colorado JTTF have been collecting personal information on nonviolent protesters. Agents involved with JTTFs have also infiltrated activist peace groups under assumed names.
On April 28, 2005, Portland
Portland, Oregon
Portland is a city located in the Pacific Northwest, near the confluence of the Willamette and Columbia rivers in the U.S. state of Oregon. As of the 2010 Census, it had a population of 583,776, making it the 29th most populous city in the United States...
became the only city in the nation to withdraw from a JTTF.
In June 2008, the City Pages
City Pages
City Pages is an alternative weekly newspaper serving the Minneapolis-St. Paul metropolitan area. It features news, film, theatre and restaurant reviews, and music criticism. It is printed in a tabloid format, and is available free every Wednesday...
broke news that the JTTF based in Minneapolis approached a source to infiltrate vegan
Veganism
Veganism is the practice of eliminating the use of animal products. Ethical vegans reject the commodity status of animals and the use of animal products for any purpose, while dietary vegans or strict vegetarians eliminate them from their diet only...
potluck
Potluck
A potluck is a gathering of people where each person or group of people contributes a dish of food prepared by the person or the group of people, to be shared among the group...
s and eventually report back to authorities on organized protesting activities in preparation for the 2008 Republican National Convention
2008 Republican National Convention
The United States 2008 Republican National Convention took place at the Xcel Energy Center in Saint Paul, Minnesota, from September 1, through September 4, 2008...
in nearby Saint Paul
Saint Paul, Minnesota
Saint Paul is the capital and second-most populous city of the U.S. state of Minnesota. The city lies mostly on the east bank of the Mississippi River in the area surrounding its point of confluence with the Minnesota River, and adjoins Minneapolis, the state's largest city...
.
In the wake of the FBI's consistent performance in handling red flags of possible terrorist threats after the Fort Hood shooting
Fort Hood shooting
The Fort Hood shooting was a mass shooting that took place on November 5, 2009, at Fort Hood, the most populous U.S. military installation in the world, located just outside Killeen, Texas. In the course of the shooting, a single gunman killed 13 people and wounded 29 others...
case, Clarice Feldman of The American Thinker
The American Thinker
American Thinker is a daily conservative online magazine dealing with American politics, foreign policy, national security, Israel, economics, diplomacy, culture, and military strategy. American Thinker has been mentioned in other media including Le Monde, The Guardian, Inter Press Service, Campus...
asked "Aside from racing to the scene of the massacre and declaring that this was not an act of terrorism, what is the FBI's role in counter-intelligence? Isn't it time we stripped them of a task they regularly perform so poorly?" . The New York Post headline stated "FBI blew off killer e-mail to al Qaeda Officials admit shrugging off gunman's e-mails to Qaeda" The article wrote "The clueless G-men said that at the time, they simply chalked up the chilling e-mails between Hasan and a radical imam and other terror-tied Islamic figures to his 'research' as an Army shrink... red-faced agency vowed to get to the bottom of things itself"