|
 Nathan
T. Gray - FBI
By Henry Bostic
The Special Agent in Charge of the Federal Bureau of
Investigation's Charlotte Field Office spoke to
Charlotte Rotarians on Tuesday about the changes in the
nation's chief national law enforcement agency and the
focus of the agency's efforts in North Carolina's 100
counties since the 9/11 attack.
What keeps Nathan T. Gray up at night is that some
individual committed to another country or a citizen
with radical ideas will "get under the radar," remain
undetected and carry out some dastardly act.
He said he thinks law enforcement in the country has a
good handle on international and domestic terrorist
groups. Groups are being identified; actions taken.
"It's those that could get under the radar that we never
hear of that worry me."
Gray said most of the bureau's successes don't get in
the press nor do they go to court. In many cases charges
can't be brought. But suspects are being deported.
"There are not a lot of court cases, but a lot of work
is being done."
"Our number one goal is to ensure that there is not
another 9/11; that's our number one focus," said Gray,
who has held his current position since May 2006. Then
he added a sobering admonition, "We are doing our best
but it's not a question of if, but when" there is
another such attack. Preventing terrorist acts in the
United States - either by international or domestic
perpetrators stands at the top of the list for the
agency, which celebrated its 100th anniversary last
year.
Changes in the national laws, especially passage of the
Patriot Act, makes is easier to share information about
terrorism and terror suspects among law enforcement
agencies. That has made the job a bit easier, Gray said.
The agency spends lots of time on domestic terrorism.
"There are a lot of groups that are threats based on
their politics. There are lots of threats against the
president and we work closely with the Secret Service
which has primary responsibility for protecting the
nation's chief executive. "There are lots of mentally
unstable people who make threats against the president
and it's a tough, time-consuming job to separate the
real threats," the former Kansas City, Kansas police
officer explained.
Another threat is the PRC - the Peoples Republic of
China, Gray said, especially when it comes to cyber
crime. "That's a real threat," he noted. "If you don't
think you have a problem in your business, you do."Gray
explained that PRC computer experts "are pinging
businesses" (trying to get into computer systems)
regularly to discover how they do business, their
secrets and their research.
It's impossible with only 125 agents in North Carolina,
for the agency to do all this work by itself. It depends
greatly, said the agent who joined the bureau in 1990,
on cooperation with other law enforcement agencies,
corporations and individuals.
Gray mentioned specifically the Joint Terrorism Task
Forces established in 2002. There are small groups of
highly trained, locally based, investigators, analysts,
linguists, SWAT experts, and other specialists from
dozens of U.S. law enforcement and intelligence
agencies. He also encouraged members of the club to get
involved in InfraGard. It is a local effort to gain
support from the information technology industry and
academia for the FBI's investigative efforts in the
cyber arena.
InfraGard and the FBI have developed a relationship
of trust and credibility in the exchange of information
concerning various terrorism, intelligence, criminal,
and security matters.
Another area of heavy emphasis is the significant
increase in mortgage fraud. He noted that he was not
talking about individuals who falsify information on a
loan application but "organized groups" that include
appraisers, realtors, loan officers and straw buyers.
Gray said agents are now looking at such crimes
committed about two years ago; "we haven't seen what's
been happening in the last two years," a time during
which that segment of the economy has tanked.
Gangs are an increasing concern, noting that his agency
working with other local, state and federal law
enforcement agencies had made significant arrests
involving gangs with local ties - Hidden Valley Kings
and MS13, an international gang with connections to El
Salvador. The former special assistant to FBI Deputy
Director John S. Pistole described how the bureau, using
an authorized phone tap, had listened to a Charlotte
member of MS13 talk to the head of the gang who at the
time was in an El Salvadorian prison.
One of the areas of FBI emphasis is working with the
military in Iraq and Afghanistan. "The army does a good
job of what they are trained to do in the military."
Once it captures insurgents and terrorists, they are
turned over to the FBI whose agents are trained in
interviewing and developing intelligence. Other role FBI
agents fill in Iraq and Afghanistan is in putting
together information about IEDs used against American
and allied targets. FBI experts take finger prints, DNA
and other information from parts of these improvised
explosive devices and use that information to build
cases against suspected bomb makers who may be arrested.
The bureau has a special lab at Quantico for this work.
The special agent in charge left plenty of time for
questions. In answer to a question about what the
closing of the Guantanamo prison might mean to the War
on Terror, Gray said he couldn't speculate but did note
that many of the countries who have citizens at the
Cuban facility don't want them and there is the
potential for those released to return to the fray.
In response to a question about the effect the new
administration might have on FBI operations, Gray said
that the FBI director is appointed for a 10 year term
which in the case of the current director runs until
2011. This makes the director somewhat immune to DC
politics, he said. To a question about a memo warning
employees not to divulge information in the wake of the
recent death of Deep Throat, Gray said he had not seen
such a memo. But he did say that he and all other
employees get periodic polygraph exams as part of the
bureau's efforts to avoid situations such as the Hansen
affair in which an agent sold damaging information to
the Soviets.
Gray explained that the FBI has about 30,000 employees
nationwide including 12,000 to 12,500 sworn officers. It
will hire another 850 agents this year. North Carolina
is 10th among states in providing recruits. There are 56
offices in the U.S. like his in N.C. with offices in 75
countries. About half the some 125 agents assigned to
the state are in Charlotte with the rest in 8 resident
agencies throughout the state. There are 450 resident
agencies in the U.S. The bureau, he said, needs all
sorts of specialists - not just people from law
enforcement. He ticked off attorneys, CPAs, computer
scientists and engineers, and those with critical
language skills - especially Arabic, Farsi, Chinese -
Mandarin and Cantonese. Candidates must be between the
ages of 23 and 37, except for those with critical
language skills. "If you can speak these languages, we
can get you in now."
Head Table:
Tom Hutchins; Ali Perrin, Mac McCarley, Trent Merchant,
Bob Knight, Karen Steffens;
Invocation:
Jessica Brasington;
Visitors & Guests: Herb Harriss; Health &
Happiness: David Anderson; Song: Gregg Walker; Piano:
Thomas Moore; Photos: Bert Voswinkel |
