Editing Joint Terrorism Task Force

{{Short description|Multi-agency law enforcement partnerships in the United States}}
[[File:FBI-NYPD Joint Terrorist Task Force.jpg|thumb|The FBI–NYPD Joint Terrorism Task Force moving evidence]]
A '''Joint Terrorism Task Force''' ('''JTTF''') is an American locally-based multi-agency partnership between various federal, state, and local [[law enforcement agencies]] tasked with investigating [[terrorism]] and terrorism-related crimes, led by the [[Federal Bureau of Investigation]] and [[U.S. Department of Justice]].<ref name="Bjelopera">Jerome P. Bjelopera, [https://fas.org/sgp/crs/terror/R41780.pdf The Federal Bureau of Investigation and Terrorism Investigations], Congressional Research Service (April 24, 2013).</ref> The first JTTFs were established in the 1980s and 1990s, with their numbers increasing dramatically after the [[September 11 attacks]].<ref name="Bjelopera" />

==History and organization==
[[File:FBI and JTTF at Boston bombing.jpg|thumb|[[Boston]], Massachusetts, JTTF members addressing news media during the investigation into the 2013 [[Boston Marathon bombing]]]]
The first JTTF was established in 1980 in [[New York City]], with ten FBI [[special agent]]s and ten [[New York City Police Department]] (NYPD) [[detective]]s.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.fbi.gov/page2/dec04/jttf120114.htm |title=Protecting America Against Terrorist Attack – A Closer Look at the FBI's Joint Terrorism Task Forces |publisher=FBI |date=December 1, 2004 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161225050733/https://www2.fbi.gov/page2/dec04/jttf120114.htm |archive-date=December 25, 2016 }}</ref> In 1999, the United States had 26 JTTFs; shortly after the attacks, [[Director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation|FBI director]] [[Robert Mueller]] instructed all [[List of FBI field offices|FBI field offices]] to establish formal terrorism task forces.<ref name=Bjelopera/> By December 2011, there were more than 100 Joint Terrorism Task Forces nationwide, the vast majority established after the [[September 11 attacks]].<ref name=Bjelopera/>  There were 113 JTTFs as of 2013,<ref name=Price>Michael Price, [https://www.brennancenter.org/sites/default/files/publications/NationalSecurity_LocalPolice_web.pdf National Security and Local Police],  [[Brennan Center for Justice]] at the [[NYU School of Law]] (2013).</ref> and approximately 200 JTTFs as of 2022.<ref name=DeVine>Michael E. DeVine et al., [https://www.everycrsreport.com/files/2022-09-01_R47229_6489ffa6eaf640d2ade53f0973c079f2651e4eb9.pdf Intelligence Coordination on Domestic Terrorism and Violent Extremism: Background and Issues for Congress], Congressional Research Service (September 1, 2022).</ref>

JTTFs are led by the [[Federal Bureau of Investigation]], which is part of the [[U.S. Department of Justice]].<ref name=Bjelopera/><ref name=Price/> The various investigators, analysts, and specialists who participate in JTTFs (including linguists and [[Special Weapons and Tactics|SWAT]] personnel) are drawn from more than 600 state and local agencies and 50 federal agencies (including both federal law enforcement and intelligence agencies).<ref name=Bjelopera/> The FBI's 2011 ''Domestic Investigations and Operations Guide'', cited in a 2013 [[Congressional Research Service]] report, stated that more than 4,400 federal, state, and local law enforcement officers and agents work in JTTFs.<ref name=Bjelopera/>

The regional JTTFs coordinate their efforts through the interagency National Joint Terrorism Task Force (NJTTF), based at [[FBI Headquarters]] in [[Washington, D.C.]]<ref name=DeVine/> As of 2003, NJTTF was composed of representatives from 35 federal agencies<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.fbi.gov/congress/congress03/mefford090403.htm |title=FBI Congressional Testimony |publisher=FBI |date=September 4, 2003 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161230151500/https://www2.fbi.gov/congress/congress03/mefford090403.htm |archive-date=December 30, 2016 }}</ref> and fell under the Operational Support Branch of the [[FBI Counterterrorism Division]].<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.usdoj.gov/oig/reports/FBI/a0410/orgchart.htm |title=Counterterrorism Division Organizational Chart |publisher=Office of the Inspector General |date=December 2003}}</ref>

A 2013 report from the [[Brennan Center for Justice]] at the [[NYU School of Law]] noted that "JTTFs tend to focus on investigative work while [[fusion center]]s are geared towards information collection and analysis, but their missions are intimately related and often overlapping"; JTTFs and fusion centers are sometimes "co-located" in the same physical working space.<ref name=Price/>

== Investigations ==
[[File:US Navy 990913-N-1350W-004 Anti-terrorism Training Washington, D.C.jpg|thumb|A [[United States Park Police]] [[SWAT]] officer arresting a terrorist during a [[hostage situation]] [[training exercise]] at [[Naval Support Facility Anacostia]] in 1999. An FBI JTTF was one of the agencies involved in the exercise.]]
Joint Terrorism Task Forces have participated in high-profile investigations, including investigations into the [[2007 Fort Dix attack plot]],<ref>[https://www.cnn.com/2007/US/05/08/fortdix.plot/index.html Official: Radicals wanted to create carnage at Fort Dix], CNN (May 9, 2007).</ref> [[2007 John F. Kennedy International Airport attack plot]],<ref>[https://archives.fbi.gov/archives/newyork/press-releases/2011/russell-defreitas-sentenced-to-life-in-prison-for-conspiring-to-commit-terrorist-attack-at-jfk-airport Russell Defreitas Sentenced to Life in Prison for Conspiring to Commit Terrorist Attack at JFK Airport], FBI (February 17, 2011).</ref> 2009 plot by [[Najibullah Zazi]] [[2009 New York City Subway and United Kingdom plot|targeting the New York City subway]],<ref>William K. Rashbaum, [https://www.nytimes.com/2009/12/14/nyregion/14imam.html Interagency Rift Cited in New York Terror Case], ''New York Times'' (December 13, 2009).</ref> [[Tarek Mehanna]] case,<ref>{{cite web|url=https://archives.fbi.gov/archives/boston/press-releases/2011/massachusetts-man-convicted-on-terrorism-related-charges|title=Massachusetts Man Convicted on Terrorism-Related Charges|date=December 20, 2011|publisher=Federal Bureau of Investigation}}</ref><ref>Mark Clayton, [https://www.csmonitor.com/USA/Justice/2009/1022/p02s10-usju.html How FBI traced Tarek Mehanna in his quest to become a jihadi], ''Christian Science Monitor'' (October 22, 2009).</ref> 2012 [[Jose Pimentel]] case,<ref>Joseph Goldstein, [https://www.nytimes.com/2012/11/14/nyregion/fbi-had-greater-role-in-jose-pimentel-terrorism-case-documents-show.html Documents Show Extent of F.B.I.'s Role in Terror Case], ''New York Times'' (November 13, 2012).</ref> 2015 [[2015 Boston beheading plot|Usaama Rahim plot]],<ref>Adam Goldman, [https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/national-security/boston-terrorism-suspect-had-planned-to-attack-police-officers-fbi-says/2015/06/03/5528f2e2-0a25-11e5-a7ad-b430fc1d3f5c_story.html Boston terrorism suspect had planned to attack police officers, FBI says], ''Washington Post'' (June 3, 2015).</ref> Ahmad Khan Rahami's [[2016 New York and New Jersey bombings]],<ref>Adam Goldman, [https://www.nytimes.com/2016/09/22/us/fbi-terror-ahmad-khan-rahami.html Why Didn't the F.B.I. Stop the New York Bombing?], ''New York Times'' (September 21, 2016).</ref> Mark Steven Domingo's failed 2019 plot to bomb a rally in [[Long Beach, California]],<ref>Jennifer Medina, [https://www.nytimes.com/2019/04/29/us/terror-attack-los-angeles.html Terror Attack Thwarted in Los Angeles, Authorities Say], ''New York Times'' (April 29, 2019).</ref><ref>[https://www.justice.gov/opa/pr/san-fernando-valley-man-who-plotted-bombing-long-beach-rally-sentenced-25-years-federal San Fernando Valley Man Who Plotted Bombing of Long Beach Rally Sentenced to 25 Years in Federal Prison], U.S. Department of Justice (November 2, 2021).</ref> and [[January 6 United States Capitol attack]].<ref>[https://www.wkyc.com/article/news/local/ohio/ohio-man-charged-threas-witness-tampering-capitol-riots/530-2638dbaf-6001-40fe-85ae-5188665ed8cd Ohio man charged with making threats, witness tampering regarding his participation in Capitol riots], WKYC (January 15, 2021).</ref>

Before [[U.S. Army]] psychiatrist [[Nidal Hasan]] [[2009 Fort Hood shooting|murdered 14 people in a mass shooting]] at [[Fort Hood]], the JTTF in San Diego had acquired two messages from  Hasen to radical Islamic ideologue [[Anwar al-Aulaqi]]. Concerned by the content of the messages, the San Diego JTTF contacted FBI Headquarters and the JTTF based in the FBI's Washington Field Office. The Washington Field Office did a limited assessment and concluded that Hasan was not "involved in terrorist activities." In the meantime, agents in San Diego acquired 14 additional emails and messages (12 from Hasan to al-Aulaqi and two from al-Aulaqi to Hasen), but San Diego did not forward these communications to the D.C. JTTF, and neither JTTF took any action.<ref name=LessonsSanDiego>[https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/CHRG-112hhrg81127/html/CHRG-112hhrg81127.htm Lessons from San Diego: Improving Our Ability to Connect the Dots], [[United States House Committee on Homeland Security]], Subcommittee on Oversight, Investigations, and Management Serial No. 112-118, September 14, 2012.</ref> Hasan committed the terrorist attack at Fort Hood several months later.<ref name=LessonsSanDiego/><ref name=Webster>[https://www.hsdl.org/?abstract&did=717443 The William H. Webster Commission on the Federal Bureau of Investigation, Counterterrorism Intelligence, and the Events at Fort Hood, Texas, on November 5, 2009], Homeland Security Digital Library, [[Center for Homeland Defense and Security]].</ref> A commission led by [[William H. Webster]] investigated the FBI's counterterrorism intelligence in the lead-up to the Fort Hood shooting, and released its final report in 2012. The Webster Commission found that the assessment of Hasan conducted by the FBI and JTTFs was "belated, incomplete, and rushed, primarily because of their workload" and an "exponential growth in the amount of electronically stored information."<ref name=Webster/><ref>[https://www.aclu.org/sites/default/files/assets/unleashed-and-unaccountable-fbi-report.pdf Unleaded and Unaccountable: The FBIs Unchecked Abuse of Authority], American Civil Liberties Union (September 2013), pp. 24-25.</ref> The report did, however, conclude that all the FBI and task force personnel "acted with good intent" and that their mistakes did not result "from intentional misconduct."<ref name=Webster/>

==Local participation and withdrawals==
[[File:FBI-NYPD Joint Terrorist Task Force.jpg|thumb|Members of the FBI–NYPD JTTF carrying evidence as part of an investigation in the early 2000s]]
In 2005, [[Portland, Oregon]] became the first city in the nation to withdraw from a JTTF after the [[Government of Portland, Oregon|City Council]] voted 4&ndash;1 to leave.<ref name="ACLU20050428">{{cite web | url=http://www.aclu-or.org/content/fbis-joint-terrorism-task-force | title=FBI's Joint Terrorism Task Force | publisher=ACLU Oregon | date=April 28, 2005 | url-status=dead | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20101025081430/http://aclu-or.org/content/fbis-joint-terrorism-task-force | archive-date=October 25, 2010 }}</ref> The city rejoined the task force in 2015, with the City Council voting 3&ndash;2 to approve the assignment of two of its city's police officers to join the JTTF staff.<ref>{{Cite web|title = After 10-year hiatus, Portland OKs cops for FBI's Joint Terrorism Task Force|url =https://www.oregonlive.com/portland/2015/02/after_10-year_hiatus_portland.html|author=Brad Schmidt|publisher=The Oregonian/OregonLive|date=January 9, 2019}}</ref><ref name=Templeton>{{cite web|url=https://www.opb.org/news/article/portland-joint-terrorism-task-force-withdraw-vote/|publisher=Oregon Public Broadcasting|title=Portland Withdraws From Federal Joint Terrorism Task Force, Again|author=Amelia Templeton|date=February 13, 2015}}</ref> In 2019, Portland again voted to leave the JTTF by a 3&ndash;2 vote.<ref>{{cite web |last1=Shepard |first1=Katie |title=Portland Leaves the Joint Terrorism Task Force Again, Becoming Second U.S. City to Cut Ties |url=https://www.wweek.com/news/city/2019/02/13/portland-leaves-the-joint-terrorism-task-force-again-becoming-second-city-to-cut-ties/|newspaper=Willamette Week|date=February 13, 2019}}</ref><ref name=Templeton/>

After joining in 2002, [[San Francisco, California]] withdrew its [[San Francisco Police Department|police officers]] from the JTTF in 2017.<ref name=Templeton/> It was later revealed in 2019 from an FBI white paper that San Francisco police officers and the FBI were not truthful about the JTTF's violations of local law and policy, and that the police involved with JTTF thought civil rights and free speech in San Francisco were a problem.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Devereaux |first=Ryan |title=FBI and San Francisco Police Have Been Lying About Scope of Joint Counterterrorism Investigations, Document Suggests |url=https://theintercept.com/2019/11/01/fbi-joint-terrorism-san-francisco-civil-rights/ |access-date=2023-05-06 |website=The Intercept |date=November 2019 |language=en}}</ref>

==Criticism==
After the September 2001 terrorist attacks, the FBI began to establish or intensify working relationships with [[campus police department]]s; by January 2003, JTTFs included campus police officers from at least a dozen universities. This prompted some criticism from faculty and student organizations.<ref>Dan Eggen, [https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/politics/2003/01/25/fbi-taps-campus-police-in-anti-terror-operations/c303eb1b-77d3-4bf5-8398-4bc56d76eb2c/ FBI Taps Campus Police in Anti-Terror Operations], ''Washington Post'' (January 25, 2003]</ref>

Documents obtained by various [[American Civil Liberties Union]] (ACLU) affiliates in 2004, 2005, and 2006 in response to [[Freedom of Information Act (United States)|Freedom of Information Act]] requests showed that JTTF investigations have focused on "peaceful advocacy organizations such as the [[School of the Americas Watch]], [[Greenpeace]], [[Catholic Worker Movement|Catholic Workers Group]], the Rocky Mountain Peace and Justice Center in Colorado, and the [[Thomas Merton Center (Pittsburgh)|Thomas Merton Center for Peace and Justice]] in Pennsylvania, among others."<ref name=ACLUCriticism>{{Cite web|url=https://www.aclu.org/other/more-about-joint-terrorism-task-forces|title=New documents confirm that FBI's Joint Terrorism Task Force wastes resources and threatens First Amendment rights by targeting peaceful protest activity as "domestic terrorism"|publisher=American Civil Liberties Union|date=n.d.}}</ref> The ACLU has criticized these investigations,<ref name=ACLUCriticism/><ref>{{cite press release|url=http://www.aclu-co.org/news/pressrelease/release_JTTF120705.htm |title=Press Release|publisher=ACLU of Colorado|date=December 8, 2005 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060206165726/http://www.aclu-co.org/news/pressrelease/release_JTTF120705.htm |archive-date=February 6, 2006 }}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|author=G.W. Schulz|title = Are things any different in Denver?|url=https://publicintegrity.org/national-security/are-things-any-different-in-denver/|publisher= Center for Public Integrity|date=September 3, 2009}}</ref> calling them "inappropriate" targeting of "peaceful political activity having nothing to do with terrorism."<ref name=ACLUCriticism/>

After a detective with the [[Fresno County, California]] Sheriff's Department who was a member of the JTTF attended public meetings of Peace Fresno in 2003, the Sheriff's Department issued a statement saying that "For the purpose of detecting or preventing terrorist activities, the Fresno County Sheriff’s Department may visit any place and attend any event that is open to the public, on the same terms and conditions as members of the public generally."<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.democracynow.org/article.pl?sid=03/10/09/1556226 |title=Peace Group Infiltrated by Government Agent |publisher=Democracy Now! |date=October 9, 2003 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070214091219/http://www.democracynow.org/article.pl?sid=03%2F10%2F09%2F1556226 |archive-date=February 14, 2007 }}</ref>

In June 2008, according to ''[[City Pages]]'', the [[Minneapolis]]-based JTTF approached a source to infiltrate [[Veganism|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, Minnesota|Saint Paul]].<ref>{{cite web | url=http://blogs.citypages.com/blotter/2008/06/whackamole.php | title=Whack a Mole | publisher=City Pages | author=Matt Snyder | date=June 3, 2008 | url-status=dead | archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20080611154336/http://blogs.citypages.com/blotter/2008/06/whackamole.php | archive-date=June 11, 2008 }}</ref>

In 2010, the [[United States Department of Justice Office of the Inspector General|Justice Department Office of Inspector General]] (OIG) issued a report that criticized the FBI for investigating various domestic activist groups from 2001 to 2006, including [[People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals|PETA]], the Thomas Merton Center, and the Catholic Worker. The OIG faulted the FBI for providing the OIG "with speculative, after-the-fact rationalizations for their prior decisions to open investigations that [OIG] did not find persuasive."<ref>Marian Wang, [https://www.propublica.org/article/watchdog-faults-fbi-for-factually-weak-basis-for-investigating-activists Watchdog Faults FBI for 'Factually Weak' Basis for Investigating Activists], ''ProPublica'' (September 20, 2010).</ref><ref>''[https://oig.justice.gov/special/s1009r.pdf A Review of the FBI's Investigations of Certain Domestic Advocacy Groups] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200322154533/https://oig.justice.gov/special/s1009r.pdf |date=2020-03-22 }}'', Oversight and Review Division, Office of the Inspector General, September 2010.</ref>

A 2013 report from the [[Brennan Center for Justice]] at the [[NYU School of Law]] argued that, "The most significant oversight problem with assigning police officers to JTTFs is that there is no mechanism geared towards ensuring compliance with state and local laws. This problem is exacerbated by the fact that rules relating to how police officers should act in the event of a conflict between their federal and state/local obligations are sometimes unknown and almost always unclear."<ref name=Price/>

==See also==
* [[Terrorist Screening Database]]
* [[Terrorist Screening Center]]
* [[Integrated National Security Enforcement Teams]] (Canada)
* [[National Counter Terrorism Policing Network]] (United Kingdom)

==References==
{{Reflist}}
{{FBI}}

[[Category:United States Department of Homeland Security]]
[[Category:Task forces]]
[[Category:United States national commissions]]