The FBI's High-Tech Gold Rush
During a speech in London on Monday, FBI Director Robert Mueller likened his agency's counterterrorism work to panning for gold. "First, we have to determine in which streams we are likely to find gold. Which suspected networks? Which human sources? Which Web sites?" hje said. "Then, agents and analysts must take their pans and wade through the waters of intelligence, carefully searching for nuggets of gold amid streams of repetitive or irrelevant information."
The gold might be a phone number, or name, or bank receipt, Mueller said, and it is often hidden among thousands of other scraps of information. "With deft, methodical sifting, we can separate the gold from the dross," he added, quoting Dame Eliza Manningham-Buller, former head of the U.K.'s MI5 intelligence agency. Upon their first meeting in 2001, Mueller asked her what she thought was the key to MI5's success. She said, "Two things: sources and wires" and that is as true today as it was the day he heard it, he said. Read Mueller's full speech at Chatham House here.
Join the Discussion
The National Journal Group has the right (but not the obligation) to monitor the comments and to remove any materials it deems inappropriate.
Comments powered by Disqus