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January 22, 2009

FBI Security Support for 56th Presidential Inauguration: Barack Obama EXCLUSIVE REPORT [Inside the FBI Washington Field Office Command Center]

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INAUGURAL
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SECURITY
Behind the Scenes

Inaugural Security

Inside an FBI Command Center

Transcript

Inside the Washington Field Office’s Command and Tactical Operations Center

(ambient sounds from crowds)

John Perren, Special Agent in Charge, Washington Field Office Counterterrorism Division: We’re at the Washington Field Office Command and Tactical Operations Center. We’ve been running 24-7 since the 17 th, and we are gonna go past the 17 th to probably the wee morning hours of the 21 st.

We’ve got agents literally from all over the country that have some sort of expertise when it comes to special events, or post-blast investigation. They’ve been all over the world doing this type of thing; in case something were to happen we have experts here.

(ambient sounds)

Joe Gordon, Special Agent, National Capital Response Squad: We certainly expected the volume and certainly unexpected as to where the streets are today. The planning process for this has been going on for six months in the detailed level but really in years.

For the FBI CTOC here this is our main special event command post. We house most of our communication infrastructure here. Peak today we’ll have 155 intelligence and investigation teams JTTF teams out on the streets, out in the National Capital region.

Special Agent, National Capital Response Squad: Today we’ve been working suspicious packages and other hazmat-type related calls that have been going on during the inauguration. The challenges for this years inauguration was the number of people, just having this many people in the city is not something that we see ever.

Special Agent, Washington Field Office WMD Coordinator: We haven’t seen any protests, any violence, or anything like that. Everybody’s been in a great mood. I mean, there’s been some anger that they haven’t been able to get to see everything.

We have run less today than usual. There’s more teams on the street. There’s more assets out there. So divided among a larger number of people on the street there’s been less calls for everyone to run. So it’s been a lot more manageable.

Special Agent (unseen): This is our tracking database for all of our specialty teams that we have deployed throughout the National Capital region. They are able to get around with their lights and siren. The majority of them are outside of the main crowds on the Mall area, so they’re kind of skirting around both sides. We’ve got them deployed evenly on both sides. We also have air units deployed as well.

(ambient sounds)

Joe Gordon: This is something that we’ve never seen, and talking to the senior agents around here, and law enforcement partners that are here, they’ve never seen anything like this before either.

(ambient sounds)

Joseph Persichini, Jr., Assistant Director in Charge, Washington Field Office: The day’s only half-finished. We won’t be finished until the president ends up back at the White House, so we’ve got probably another maybe 10 or 12 hours to go.

At 3 a.m. tomorrow, we’ll talk about exciting. But until we get to that point we got a lot of work to do. As you can see the command post is humming and there’s activity going on constantly. I’m really proud to be associated with there dedicated men and women. There people are experts. Many of the people in this office are battle-tested. They were here at 9/11, responded to the Pentagon. We’ve done more NSSE here than probably most cities, but every day’s a new twist.

(ambient sounds)

As Barack Obama took the oath of office to become the 44th President of the United States, the men and women in our Command and Tactical Operations Center paused briefly to witness the historic occasion on flat screens around the room—but only briefly. Then it was back to the business of communicating with agents in the field and our partners at other command posts around the city to continue to monitor the event and to assess any possible threats.

Millions of people arrived in Washington almost overnight for inaugural activities, but we started planning security with our law enforcement partners six months ago. Our 24/7 security coverage began January 17 and continued throughout the festivities.

The Secret Service is on point for protecting the President and takes the lead for inaugural security, but issues involving terrorism, weapons of mass destruction, and crisis management are the FBI’s responsibility.

From the command center at our Washington Field Office, agents, analysts, administrators, and members of our Joint Terrorism Task Force fielded tips from the public and used sophisticated mapping and surveillance technology to track suspicious activity as well as to monitor our response teams on the ground near the Capitol and the inaugural parade route along Pennsylvania Avenue.

Inaugural Security
agents and analysts and other Bureau partners in the command center


More than 150 plainclothes teams on foot and in vehicles were “our eyes and ears on the ground—our trip wires, if you will,” said John Perren, Special Agent in Charge of our Counterterrorism Division at our Washington office.

FBI - Washington Field Office
601 4th Street, NW
Washington, DC 20535

January 17, 2009
For Immediate Release

FBI Security Support for 56th Presidential Inauguration

Today the FBI’s Washington Field Office provided a demonstration of the FBI’s tactical response vehicles which will be part of the available for deployment in support of the events culminating in Tuesday’s Presidential Inauguration. These vehicles, on standby for use in the event of a crisis, include a state-of-the-art mobile command post, an armored assault vehicle, WMD response vehicles, evidence recovery team vehicles, and bomb trucks.

Special Agent in Charge John G. Perren, Counterterrorism, Washington Field Office, provided an overview of the FBI’s role in assessing incidents and working with federal, state, and local law enforcement partners to quickly and safely resolve them. The tactical vehicles provide the law enforcement agencies with on-the-scene response capabilities. Special agents skilled in incident response, weapons of mass destruction, and bomb detection discussed their roles during the Inauguration.

The United States Secret Service is responsible for overall security of the event. The FBI takes the lead in working to prevent terrorist attacks and in gathering, analyzing, and sharing intelligence related to potential threats. Around the clock leading up to and during the Inauguration, FBI personnel will staff the Washington Field Office’s Command and Tactical Operations Center, as well as the Strategic Information Operations Center at FBI Headquarters. The FBI also will provide support to the United States Secret Service Joint Information Center.

Washington Field Office Special Agent in Charge John Perren (left) and Assistant Special Agent in Charge Andrew McCabe brief reporters on security arrangements for the Inauguration. FBI agents and support staff work inside the Washington Field Office Command and Technical Operations Center (CTOC).

Washington Field Office Special Agent in Charge John Perren (left) and Assistant Special Agent in Charge Andrew McCabe brief reporters on security arrangements for the Inauguration. High resolution


FBI agents and support staff work inside the Washington Field Office Command and Technical Operations Center (CTOC). High resolution
The FBI Mobile Command Center vehicle Inside the Mobile Command Center

The FBI Mobile Command Center vehicle High resolution
Inside the Mobile Command Center High resolution
Bomb Technicians vehicle Our Evidence Response Team vehicle
Bomb Technicians vehicle High resolution
Our Evidence Response Team vehicle High resolution
The Mine Resistant Ambush Protected vehicle Inside the Mine Resistant Ambush Protected vehicle
The Mine Resistant Ambush Protected vehicle High resolution

Inside the Mine Resistant Ambush Protected vehicle High resolution
Part of the bomb containment truck Gear from the Bomb Techs vehicle
Bomb containment vessel that transports and detonates explosives High resolution
Gear from the Bomb Techs vehicle High resolution
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The teams were looking for anything suspicious—an abandoned backpack at a Metro station that could be a bomb, http://www.fbi.gov/kids/dogs/images/design2a-04-01.gifan unknown liquid in a plastic bottle that might be a weapon of mass destruction. If necessary, ground teams could also quickly respond to a crisis situation.

The command center—the hub of FBI communications activity—enabled teams in the field to share information in real time and allowed its staff to continually update the threat assessment. Manning the operation were some of the Bureau’s most “battle-tested” personnel, said Joseph Persimmon, Jr., who heads the Washington Field Office. “Many people in the room were here during 9/11 and responded to the Pentagon after the attacks,” he said. “Our team is phenomenal.”

Inaugural Security
FBI agents from the Washington Field Office with one of the tactical vehicles we had standby

But every major event is different, he added, and despite the fact that our extensive intelligence gathering revealed no credible threats prior to Inauguration Day, the command post responded immediately to multiple threats. Our intelligence assets from around the world were put into play to “run any threats to the ground,” Perren said.

Meanwhile, over at the Joint Information Center run by the U.S. Secret Service, more than 20 agencies handled all the media for security issues. "We got every call under the sun," said Richard Kola, who along with Jason Pack represented the FBI at the center.

Inaugural Security
FBI Special Agents Rich Kola (foreground) and Jason Pack helped field a flood of media calls on inauguration security in the U.S. Secret Service's Joint Information Center.


The graphics below are a cartoon landscape scene with the following: the title FBI Working Dogs, a picture of a house, a child in a wheelchair with his dog, dynamite in a tree stump, narcotics lying beside a trash can, an ambulance, and a road sign.FBI Working Dogs/Title GraphicFBI Working Dogs/Title Graphic
Later in the day, as President Obama made his way down Pennsylvania Avenue on his way to the White House, flanked by what may be a record number of onlookers, one of our agents on the street praised the cooperation between our law enforcement partners and all the behind-the-scenes efforts that went into not only the President’s security but the public’s safety.
“It’s a good feeling,” he said, “that our work allowed people to celebrate this historic event without any major security incidents.”

Photograph of PowerHi! My name is Power and I am a black Labrador Retriever. I’m one of four K-9 Explosive Detectors at FBI Headquarters (FBIHQ).

I joined the FBI in August 2004 after spending 10 weeks training at the federal Canine Training Center in Front Royal, Virginia with my handler, Max. The training helped us learn to work together as a team. You see, dog noses are much better than human noses at detecting things like explosives. (Can you believe I can sniff out 19,000 different components that make up explosives?!) But I need Max to tell me exactly where to sniff.

[if you love when bad guys get caught, make sure and tune in for "GOTCHA" only on WFBI...I Do! TPA]

Gotcha Archive

The Gotcha series highlights a closed case in which the FBI, often working with local and state police and possibly other federal agencies, solves a crime and makes arrests.



Day in the life of a Special Agent.

Special Agents have many different responsibilities, including community outreach, investigation, and continuous training. For example, Agents spend large parts of their days outside of the office, "in the field," working on cases. However, Agents may also spend an entire day in the office completing paperwork related to investigations. These varied tasks usually mean that a day in the life of a Special Agent will differ from the one before!

Join us to learn what one particular day in the life of an Agent in Washington, D.C., may be . . .

Special Agent Sydney Becker (fictional name) explains a day in the life of an Agent . . .

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 An Agent's day begins early. Today, I woke up to begin firearms training at 7:00 a.m. Assigned to the Washington Field Office, Agents may practice at an indoor range in FBI Headquarters, or at an outdoor range at the FBI Training Academy in Quantico, Virginia. Training is an ongoing process for Special Agents in order to maintain their law enforcement skills. Today, while training outdoors, I joined other Agents to practice firing at moving targets and targets that were at close range. We need to be prepared for any situation that may develop during an arrest. After firearms training I cleaned my weapon -- all Agents are responsible for the cleaning and maintenance of their weapons.
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 While cleaning my weapon, I received a call over my radio, "suspect located, need assistance with arrest, meet at briefing location." Since I had already helped in the beginning of this investigation, a federal bank robbery case, I was familiar with the predetermined location. Meanwhile, other Agents were also contacted to meet at a location near the suspect's hideout -- close, but not close enough to alert the suspect. Here, we were briefed on the situation, looked at a map, and determined who would do what during the arrest.
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 Having determined that conditions were right for an arrest -- keeping in mind the safety of the public as well as the Agents -- Agents moved in to arrest the suspect of the bank robbery. Agents drove close to the scene and safely approached the trailer where the suspect had been hiding. I remained behind with other Agents to cover those Agents making the arrest. The suspect was taken into custody without incident.
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 The suspect was brought back to the Washington Field Office for processing. Processing usually includes fingerprinting and, if the suspect waives his rights to an attorney, questioning about the crime. The suspect was fingerprinted, questioned, and sent to a Federal Detention Center while Agents continued the investigation, which included interviewing witnesses and acquaintances, gathering evidence through the use of search warrants, and completing the necessary paperwork. After a busy day of training, investigating, and paperwork, I returned home to rest before another day in the life of an Agent.


The FBI has been around since 1908. In that time, it has changed names three times, and grown from under 40 employees to almost 30,000! Follow the historical time-line to learn more about important dates in FBI History. When you click on a link the new page will open in a seperate window. To return to this page, just close the new window.

1908 At the request of President Theodore Roosevelt, an investigative branch of the Department of Justice was created. It was headed by Chief Examiner Stanley Finch.
1913 A. Bruce Bielaski succeeded Stanley Finch as Chief of the Bureau of Investigation.
June 1917 J. Edgar Hoover began working with the Department of Justice legal staff.
January 1920 Prohibition began. Gangsterism began its rise in the United States.
August 1921 William J. Burns was appointed Director of the Bureau of Investigation; J. Edgar Hoover was named Assistant Director. By 1924, there were 650 employees, including 441 Special Agents.
May 1924 J. Edgar Hoover was named Acting Director of the Bureau of Investigation.
October 1925 Edwin C. Shanahan became the first FBI Agent killed in the line of duty.
March 1929 Al Capone was arrested by Bureau Agents.
November 1932 The FBI Laboratory was established.
June 1933 The Bureau of Investigation became the Division of Investigation. The Kansas City Massacre occurred.
July 1934 John Dillinger was killed by Federal Agents in Chicago.
July 1935 The Division of Investigation became the Federal Bureau of Investigation.
August 1940 The Disaster Squad was created when the FBI was called upon to identify its employees involved in an airplane crash in Virginia.
June 1942 Four German saboteurs landed from a U-Boat on Long Island. Four others landed in Florida. All eight were arrested by the FBI.
November 1944 Two Nazi spies - William C. Colepaugh and Erich Gimpel landed from a German submarine in Maine. They were arrested by the FBI.
March 1950 The FBI's "Ten Most Wanted Fugitives" Program began.
September 1953 6-year old Bobby Greenlease, Jr. was kidnapped and murdered.
June 1957 FBI arrested Colonel Rudolf Ivanovich Abel, a Soviet espionage agent. He was sentenced to 30 years in prison, but was later exchanged for U-2 pilot Francis Gary Powers.
November 1963 President John F. Kennedy was assassinated. President Johnson ordered the FBI to investigate.
June 1964 Three civil rights workers were murdered near Philadelphia, Mississippi.
July 4, 1966 President Johnson signed the Freedom Of Information Act (FOIA).
January 1967 National Crime Information Center (NCIC) became operational.
June 1968 James Earl Ray was arrested in London. He was later convicted of the assassination of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.
May 1972 The new FBI Academy was opened on the United States Marine Corps base at Quantico, Virginia.
July 1973 Clarence M. Kelley sworn in as FBI Director.
February 1978 William H. Webster sworn in as FBI Director.
April 1978 The use of laser technology to detect latent fingerprints was initiated.
1983 The Hostage Rescue Team became operational.
1984 National Center for the Analysis of Violent Crime (NCAVC) was established at the FBI Academy. A Computer Analysis and Response Team (CART) was established to help field offices retrieve computer evidence.
November 1987 William S. Sessions was sworn in as FBI Director. By 1988, the FBI employed 9,663 Special Agents and 13,651 support personnel.
1992 FBI Lab established its own Evidence Response Team (ERT).
September 1993 Louis J. Freeh was sworn in as FBI Director.
April 1994 The Critical Incident Response Group (CIRG) was created to more effectively deal with hostage-taking and barricade situations.
September 1995 Announcement of an undercover investigation, "Innocent Images," which targeted child pornography over the Internet.
June 1997 Timothy McVeigh was convicted of the bombing of the Murrah Building in Oklahoma City -- one of the worst acts of domestic terrorism in American history.
May 1998 Eric Robert Rudolph was placed on the FBI's Ten Most Wanted List after being charged with the Centennial Olympic Park bombing in Atlanta and the bombing of a Birmingham abortion clinic.
August 1998 Bombs were detonated near United States Embassies in Nairobi, Kenya, and Dar es Salaam, Tanzania, killing 223 people. Among the dead were twelve Americans and thirty-eight Foreign Service Nationals. The FBI sent representatives to East Africa to assist in the search, rescue, and investigative efforts.
June 1999 Osama Bin Laden was placed on the FBI's Ten Mosted Wanted List for his alleged involvement in the 1998 bombing of the U.S. Embassies in Kenya and Tanzania.
September 1999 The FBI announced the ground breaking for its new Laboratory facility in Quantico, Virgina.
February 2001 Special Agent Robert P. Hanssen was arrested and charged with committing espionage.
September 2001 Robert S. Mueller III became the Director of the FBI.
September 2001 Terrorists attacked the World Trade Center in New York City and the Pentagon in Washington, D.C.
October 2001 The FBI and other agencies responded to anthrax-laden letters.
December 2001 Director Mueller announced a reorganization of FBI Headquarters to meet evolving challenges.

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