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FBI, TERROR INVESTIGATION EXPLAINED TO CLERGY

By Ray King/OF THE COMMERCIAL STAFF
Monday, October 6, 2008 9:50 AM CDT

Preventing terrorist incidents in the United States became a major responsibility of the FBI after 9/11 and according to the bureau’s special agent in charge for Arkansas, “there have been some success stories.

Tom Browne, FBI special agent in charge for Arkansas, speaks at the “Coffee with the Chiefs” meeting Wednesday morning at Mount Nebo Missionary Baptist Church. Pine Bluff Commercial/Ralph Fitzgerald

“There’s been a lot of hard work and maybe a little luck but in the past six years, there hasn’t been another major attack,” said Tom Browne at the monthly meeting of “Coffee With The Chiefs,” sponsored by Weed and Seed and held Wednesday at Mount Nebo Missionary Baptist Church.

“Before 9/11, the Special Agent in Charge in each state had the authority to set their own priorities, based on the particular problems in their area,” he said last week. “After 9/11, counter-terrorism became our number one national priority, to prevent, detect and deter terrorist incidents.”

As to his role in the state, Browne said agents have tried to identify potential targets, including the Pine Bluff Arsenal, defense manufacturing plants at Camden, Arkansas Nuclear One, and major corporation headquarters including Wal-Mart, J.B. Hunt, and others.

“We know our domain,” Browne said. “That’s the buzz word now and knowing where the potential threats are, we’re able to adjust our priorities accordingly.”

A native of Pittsburgh, Browne replaced retired Special Agent in Charge Bill Temple and is in his second tour of the state. He was assistant Special Agent in Charge under Temple in 2004 before being assigned to Criminal Justice Information Services in West Virginia, the headquarters of the National Crime Information Center (N.C.I.C.).

Browne also spent time in Afghanistan where he helped that country’s government set up an Automated Fingerprint Identification System (A.F.I.S.) as a means to screen and identify terrorists.

“We trained about 50 of their law enforcement and military personnel to collect and read fingerprints,” he said.

Asked about the relationship between the FBI and CIA, both before and after 9/11, Browne said the exchange of information has improved dramatically since a scathing report prepared by the 9/11 Commission criticized the agencies.

“Sharing information was a big problem but now there are a lot of programs where we have agents embedded and we do a lot of cross training,” Browne said.

In his monthly report, Pine Bluff Police Chief John Howell said that while officers have been able to contain crime, “there’s a lot to be done.

“One of the problems we have is resources,” Howell said. “We don’t have enough officers. Sometimes, there are only five or six officers on the street and that makes it difficult for us to do pro-active police work. We have to be reactive and respond after things have happened.”

The chief noted that six officers graduated from the Arkansas Law Enforcement Training Academy last week, and two others began their training this week. At the same time, two officers have given their notices and Howell said he had heard that several others were possibly going to leave.

“We’ve got 15 people who have taken the tests and are going through the process but we will probably lose about half of them to the background investigations and other tests, so out of 15, we might end up with five, but even with those hindrances, I look at it as the glass is half-full, and not half-empty.”

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