Category: Security

Source: US FBI

Seeking Victims and Witnesses

In the meantime, O’Donnell and Burke continued their investigation. They believed that interviews with Roggio’s former employees—largely Estonians, but also other Europeans who’d been handpicked by his special assistant—could help strengthen the case. And that gut feeling proved right.

When the duo learned that a former female employee of Roggio’s—an Estonian citizen—was slated to travel through John F. Kennedy International Airport in New York, they worked with Estonia’s Internal Security Service to interview her about her experience with Roggio. The woman turned out to be the first international employee of Roggio’s weapons facility. She shared enough information with O’Donnell and Burke to justify a trip to Estonia to conduct a more in-depth interview with her in a friendlier setting.

Investigators hoped that the interview could help them put the finishing touches on their counterproliferation investigation. But that trip yielded more than just a follow-up conversation.

It also gave investigators the chance to meet a second former weapons factory employee, who surprised the investigators with a six-year-old cellphone recording that captured Roggio making threats of torture, confessing to that and other crimes, and even speaking to motive.

This was the first time they’d heard torture allegations concerning Roggio.

After interviewing these and other former employees, investigators returned to the U.S. with a case, having identified a new and urgent objective: to seek guidance and expertise from the FBI’s International Human Rights Unit to seek a potential prosecution for torture violations.

The FBI is responsible for investigating torture if the victim is a U.S. person, or if the perpetuator is either a U.S. person or if they’re physically located within our country’s borders. This jurisdiction comes from 18 USC, Section 2340A.

The agents knew they had to act quickly—and carefully.

Careful collaboration between the case team, the FBI’s International Human Rights Unit (part of our Criminal Investigative Division), federal victim services providers, multiple FBI legal attaché offices, the U.S. Department of Justice, and our Estonian law enforcement partners enabled the case team to travel to Estonia to conduct forensic interviews with these subjects.

The investigators got the greenlight to take a joint trip with DOJ prosecutors to explore the matter of torture in great detail. The investigative team leveraged their agencies’ resources and connections, as well as international partnerships, to locate and interview multiple former employees of Roggio’s who may have witnessed or been victims of torture.

FBI Supervisory Child-Adolescent Forensic Interviewer Jacqueline Goldstein—who, at the time, held a similar role at HSI—helped ensure these conversations were cognizant of the trauma that these people’s experiences with Roggio may have left them with, while still being admissible in court and supporting investigative needs.

“It’s designed to pass judicial scrutiny,” she said. “So it’s non-leading, non-suggestive. But it’s also trauma-informed so that the investigative interviewing process is uniquely suited to the developmental, cognitive, clinical needs of that individual, and we’re not creating additional trauma in that investigative process.”

And with that, in August 2021, investigators were finally able to interview Roggio’s victim: a man who’d been held in captivity and subjected to physical and mental torture—including physical beatings, suffocation, and choking—for more than a month.

“He had very vivid recollection,” O’Donnell said. “Some people blacked out everything. This guy remembered every detail of a lot of what happened.”

Law enforcement also captured statements from a wider group of former employees who’d been forced to witness Roggio’s brutality against the victim. They also convinced the witnesses to travel to the United States to testify against Roggio in federal court.

As a result of these efforts, a federal grand jury returned a superseding indictment in 2022—which added a charge of torture and a charge of conspiracy to commit torture to Roggio’s already long list of alleged crimes—and he was again arrested.

Source: US FBI

The Director has long stood “shoulder to shoulder” with law enforcement, but said when those charged with protecting people commit criminal acts it’s particularly egregious. 

“It’s a discredit to those scores and scores of brave men and women who do the job the right way, each and every day,” Wray said. “When law enforcement or corrections officers operate as though they’re above the law, they’re not just depriving victims of their civil rights; they’re degrading the public’s trust in everyone else in law enforcement, and in our criminal justice system as a whole, one violation at a time.”

There were more hate crimes charges last year than in any year since turn of century, the Director said. In the case examples he provided, Wray described outcomes that showed justice ultimately prevailing. 

The shooter in the Tops Supermarket case received multiple life sentences and still faces 27 federal charges, including 13 for hate crimes. The six police officers in Mississippi who mercilessly tortured two men and then tried to cover it up pleaded guilty last August amid a mountain of evidence collected in the color-of-law investigation by our Jackson Division. Their sentences, handed down just a few weeks ago, range from 10 to 40 years. FBI Birmingham’s investigation of the corrections officer who beat a 60-year-old inmate to death uncovered a trail of evidence that compelled him to plead guilty last December. He is now behind bars in a federal prisoner serving a seven-year sentence.

“Hate crimes are messenger crimes. They intend to incite terror,” Kristen Clarke, Assistant Attorney General for Civil Rights, said in her remarks. “Our prosecutions are sending a louder message that hate crimes will not be tolerated.” 

“No one is above the law,” Wray said, “And the FBI will continue investigating color-of-law abuses as one of our most important responsibilities.”

Source: US FBI

Source: US FBI

The Importance of U.S.-Persons Queries 

According to Wray, U.S.-persons queries are usually conducted in the early stages of an investigation—when it’s usually still too early to “establish probable cause or demonstrate” urgency.  

These queries can help the FBI connect the dots between bad actors and their intended targets—or between bad actors and their criminal networks—so the Bureau can prevent attacks before they happen.  

And since every second counts when you’re racing to outpace a threat, any potential delay in obtaining threat intelligence could potentially cost lives.  

For example, in 2023, the FBI was able to prevent a potential attack on U.S. critical infrastructure by a U.S. person who’d done relevant research and preparation and who’d been in touch with a foreign terrorist, Wray said. “Only by querying that U.S. person’s identifiers in our 702 collection did we find important intelligence on the seriousness and urgency of the threat,” he explained. 

Wray said the FBI was able to disrupt the would-be attacker less than a month after it conducted its first Section 702 query related to that subject. But, he noted, this query would’ve been impossible if a warrant requirement had been in place due to probable cause and exigency. “And if we hadn’t done that query, we would’ve lost valuable time we needed to get ahead of the potential attack,” he said. 

The Bureau’s ability to run U.S.-persons queries also allowed us to gain awareness that Chinese hackers had compromised a U.S. transportation hub’s network and flag the intrusion to hub personnel so they could respond, Wray said. 

“Who knows how much damage those hackers could have caused—not just monetarily, but in the disruption and even the safety of Americans’ lives,” Wray said. “Effective and prompt victim notifications like those hinge on our ability to conduct U.S.-person queries of our existing 702 collection.” 

Addressing Legal and Compliance Questions 

Neither the Fourth Amendment, nor the law, require the FBI to obtain a warrant before it can run a search against data collected under our Section 702 authorities, Wray added. 

“Multiple federal district courts and appellate courts have considered the issue, and no court has ever held that a warrant is required for the FBI to conduct U.S.-person queries—to blind ourselves from information already lawfully in our holdings,” he said. “And when the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court renews the 702 program every year, not once has it found that the law requires a warrant to conduct U.S.-person queries.” 

He also stressed that a warrant requirement isn’t necessary to ensure that the FBI follows the law when it runs Section 702 queries. “We’ve proven that,” he said. “I’ve been unequivocal that the compliance incidents we’ve had in the past are unacceptable. And in response, we’ve undertaken a whole host of reforms to ensure that we’re good stewards of this authority.”  

Both the U.S. Department of Justice and the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court “have recognized that our reforms have resulted in substantial compliance improvements, hitting compliance rates well into the high 90% range,” he noted, adding that the FBI will continue to brainstorm ways to further improve those rates. 

Finally, he noted said that lawyers are critical to helping the general public make sense of law, policy, and the definition of a warrant, “and to help illuminate the consequences of purposefully choosing to limit the American Intelligence Community from accessing key and timely information about our foreign adversaries.” 

Resources: 

Source: US FBI

Source: US FBI

Since implementing enhanced background checks for under-21 gun buyers in October 2022, the NICS Section of the FBI’s Criminal Justice Information Services (CJIS) Division in Clarksburg, West Virginia, has conducted enhanced background checks on more than 200,000 under-21 transactions. Of those, it has denied more than 600 transactions based solely on “prohibitive” information provided during the enhanced background checks.

“Those people would have received a firearm under a traditional check,” said CJIS Division Assistant Director Michael A. Christman. He went on to say that NICS Section staff have spent the past year holding more than 500 training events and reaching more than 4,000 law enforcement agencies so they will understand why the NICS examiners may be reaching out someday soon, if they haven’t already. The outreach effort encourages agencies to respond to NICS quickly, even if it’s only to say they’re unable to assist because of local laws or privacy concerns.

“When you’re lacking those criminal history records, particularly a disposition that evidences a conviction for prohibiting offenses—typically a felony—you’re left short-handed,” Christman said.

The BSCA enhanced background checks for under-21 transactions began with a handful of states in late 2022 and opened fully in January 2023. The FBI’s NICS Section provides full-service background checks to federal firearms licensees in 31 states, five U.S. territories, and the District of Columbia. Fifteen states currently perform all their own background checks through the NICS application, and in the remaining four states, the FBI and the state each provide partial service, ensuring that, together, these states have full NICS access.

Early on, state and local law enforcement and mental health agencies were generally slower to respond to NICS examiners when enhanced background checks were sent. Some people didn’t know how to respond. And many state and local agencies restrict sharing juvenile criminal histories or juvenile mental health records. The NICS Section continues to consider and pursue all viable avenues for maximizing benefits, and mitigating impacts, to prospective transferees, state and local partners, and the NICS Section itself.

About 64%, and increasing, of the agencies contacted by NICS examiners respond. That’s up from about 30% a year ago.

Source: US FBI

The FBI pursues the cause of government accountability by investigating abuses of power by law enforcement officers and the corruption of public officials, and by holding our own workforce to a higher standard, FBI Director Christopher Wray said during the University of Georgia’s 2024 Getzen Lecture on Government Accountability on March 19. The lecture—which is held annually at the school’s Athens, Georgia, campus—invites current and former government leaders and other experts to share their thoughts on government accountability. 

“Our mission at the FBI is a broad one—to protect the American people and uphold the Constitution of the United States,” Wray said. “It covers everything from cyber to counterintelligence to counterterrorism to working with our partners to tackle violent crime. And, particularly relevant to this afternoon, it includes protecting the vulnerable and holding the powerful accountable.” 

In the United States, the rule of law comes first and applies to everyone—regardless of their socioeconomic status or position of power (or lack thereof), Wray said. This approach differentiates our nation from “authoritarian regimes, like Russia and China, where the rule of law is subordinated to their leaders’ despotic will,” he added. But to maintain the public’s trust in our justice system, he said, the FBI must demonstrate that it holds powerful people accountable when they break the law. 

“While there will always be people out there looking to exploit their positions of public trust by serving themselves rather than the American people, with an agency like the FBI on the job—and with institutions like UGA shining a light on why government accountability is so important in the first place—I like our chances,” Wray said. 

Holding Law Enforcement Accountable 

The FBI leads federal government efforts to investigate civil rights violations, including the responsibility to investigate what are known as color of law violations. 

“Those crimes occur when an individual acting under the authority of federal, state, or local laws—under what’s known as the color of law—willfully deprives someone of their constitutional rights,” he explained. “And that deprivation of rights can run the gamut, from excessive force, false arrest, or obstruction of justice to sexual assault, withholding medical care or the failure to keep an individual from harm.  

While color-of-law violations can be committed by anybody acting under their lawful authority— including probation and corrections officers, public officials, prosecutors, and judges—they too often involve law enforcement officers.” 

He then described an FBI Jackson Field Office investigation into a group of white law enforcement officers who in January 2023 “kicked in the door of a home where two Black men were staying and subjected them to an hour and a half of pure hell”—including physical and psychological abuse—even though the officers had “no probable cause to believe either had committed a crime.”  

The officers then went to extraordinary lengths to cover up their actions, including (but not limited to) destroying evidence, planting a gun on a victim, filing fraudulent reports, lying to investigators, and charging a victim with crimes he didn’t commit, Wray said. 

“All of that came out through the course of the FBI’s investigation,” Wray said, adding that the FBI also learned “three of the officers had committed color of law violations just a month earlier.” 

The investigation, which Wray said was a group effort between the FBI and “our state and federal partners” resulted in guilty pleas from all six officers, who are now awaiting sentencing. 

“I recognize that what happened in Mississippi is an extreme example,” he said. “In fact, it’s hard to imagine a more atrocious set of civil rights violations than those carried out by these guys. But, on the flip side, it’s hard to imagine more important work than investigating those crimes and seeking justice for the victims.” 

These criminals don’t represent “the vast majority of law enforcement officers,” Wray stressed. 

“I’m the leader of the country’s premier law enforcement agency, and I’ve spent most of my career working shoulder to shoulder with law enforcement officers … so I’ve seen firsthand what they’re made of and what they do to make our communities safer,” he said. These ingredients, he said, include selflessness, courage, character, dedication, and service.  

Wray added that officers are overworked and underpaid, largely operate outside the spotlight, and are rarely recognized or credited for their efforts. Yet, he said, they do their jobs knowing that each time they bid their families farewell to head to work, they might be doing so for the last time. “It takes a pretty extraordinary person to choose that life,” he said.  

Wray said the contrast between officers who wear the badge to serve and protect and those who wield their power to harm others makes color of law violations harmful to both their immediate victims and the public’s faith in the way our country holds criminals to account. 

“We’ve entrusted law enforcement officers with vast power and authority,” Wray said. “And when they abuse it—when they operate as though they’re above the law—they’re not just depriving victims of their civil rights. They’re degrading the public’s trust in our criminal justice system, one violation at a time.” 

Holding Public Officials Accountable 

Investigating public corruption is the FBI’s top criminal priority because of its dollars-and-cents cost to our nation’s’ government and taxpayers, which estimates put “at billions of dollars every year,” Wray said.

Public corruption—which can be carried out by public officials, regardless of how they get their jobs—can also infect and impact everything from border security and neighborhood protection to courtroom deliberations and even the quality of public infrastructure, he added. But at its core, public corruption denigrates the American people’s trust in their government and “undermines the strength of our democracy,” he said. 

The “secretive nature” of many public corruption violations can make them tricky to detect and prove, Wray said, but the Bureau’s long track record of investigating these types of crimes gives us an advantage. 

“On any given day, we’re working about 3,500 public corruption investigations with our federal, state, and local partners across the country—and our efforts pay off,” he said. “Over the past five years, we’ve disrupted nearly 2,000 criminal schemes and helped secure more than 3,000 convictions in this arena.”  

Those convictions include that of former Ohio House Speaker Larry Householder, who, Wray said, led “the most elaborate and extensive corruption scandal the state has ever seen.” 

Householder orchestrated a bribery scheme in which FirstEnergy—a company that owned two “failing nuclear power plants”—regularly paid off a tax-exempt organization run by Householder. In exchange, Householder’s organization worked to helped get a bill passed that provided “a billion-dollar bailout” for the troubled facilities, Wray explained.  

These corporate funds helped bankroll Householder’s bid for speaker and other state House candidates’ campaigns and pad the pockets of Householder and his team.  

“All in all, the FBI’s investigation found FirstEnergy paid upwards of $61 million in bribes to bail out their plants and to put and keep in office politicians like Householder who’d be loyal to the company over their constituents,” Wray said. 

But what the corrupt politicians and his cronies didn’t know was that the FBI had an inside source who “cooperated with our agents, recorded incriminating phone calls and conversations, and shared text messages sent by members of the conspiracy,” Wray said. As a result, he said, Householder was eventually convicted of racketeering and sentenced to 20 years in federal prison. FirstEnergy signed a deferred prosecution settlement and agreed to pay a $230 million penalty for conspiring to bribe elected officials and others. 

Holding Ourselves Accountable 

The FBI’s authority and power enable our public corruption investigations, but they also rightly force us to carry tremendous responsibility and undergo careful scrutiny, Wray said.  
“The work of the FBI is subject to a wide range of internal and external controls, all with the aim of holding our organization accountable for what we do,” he said. 

The Bureau’s internal checks and balances include the Office of Professional Responsibility, the Inspection Division’s Internal Affairs Section, and whistleblower protections for all Bureau employees, he said. Department of Justice-level accountability includes oversight from the DOJ Office of Professional Responsibility and the department’s Office of the Inspector General, he added. On top of that, our efforts are monitored by Congress and our investigative steps are subject to judicial review, he noted. 

“All of those components are in place to make sure people have avenues for reporting violations of the law, dangers to public health and safety, and gross waste, fraud, and abuse” for the FBI to address and correct, he said. The oversight makes the FBI stronger and the public safer, he said. 

“For the FBI to be the world’s leading law enforcement agency, and for the American public to continue placing their trust in us as an organization, people need to know we’re committed to doing the right thing in the right way,” he said. He stressed that this commitment to process includes maintaining consistent operational rigor, “upholding the Constitution and rule of law,” and “following the facts, wherever they lead.”  

“Process is what enables us to say, ‘You may not like the result we reached, but you cannot credibly say we didn’t do our work by the book,’ and it’s what allows people to trust us in the long run: the people we do the work for and the people we do the work with,” he said. 

Learning from the Past 

Wray also acknowledged the FBI’s missteps with respect to Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.—including an October 1963 wiretap request against the civil rights leader that failed to “present a shred of evidence.” He also reflected on the psychological toll FBI surveillance took on Dr. King. 

“I do not think any organization can aspire to have an unbiased loyalty to process and truth if it’s not willing to turn the spotlight around and look at itself,” he said. “So that’s something we work hard to do.” 

The FBI’s mission requires its personnel to simultaneously preserve Americans’ constitutional rights and safeguard their communities, Wray said. And neither requirement may be ignored in the name of the other. 

New special agents and intelligence analysts now complete a curriculum that incorporates “those difficult historical lessons and how they relate to our core values: respect, compassion, fairness, integrity, accountability, leadership, diversity, and rigorous obedience to the Constitution” to ensure they understand the importance of balancing these professional obligations, Wray said.  

“Looking back on that dark chapter in our history reminds us what can happen when we become untethered from the rule of law, and from oversight and accountability for our actions,” he added. “And I’m proud to be part of an organization that does not hide from its history, but learns from it, instead.” 

Source: US FBI

A hand-drawn map of Okinawa dates back to the 19th century.

Source: US FBI

Hardwick and Markovsky urged parents to have those difficult conversations with kids ahead of time so they are comfortable enough to reach out if they need help. The sheriff’s office and FBI have resources for to help. “Don’t hesitate to contact us,” Markovsky said. 

During the recent outreach event, officials highlighted investigations that the FBI and partners worked in the area, and they showed how predators and violent extremists are exploiting new and emerging technologies. In sextortion cases, for example, predators are using sophisticated software to manipulate images teens freely share to then threaten and extort them.

“When parents understand both the devices and schemes in-depth, they can better explain the risks to their kids and help them take steps to safeguard personal information and secure their online profiles,” said FBI Community Outreach Coordinator Josh Chancey.

Sara Peters found the support of law enforcement to be empowering. “I know we’ll have to get her a phone at some point,” she said, “but now I feel like I know what to do, and maybe I can stay one step ahead with their help.”

ASAC Markovsky said when the time comes to get your child a phone, first have an open and honest talk about the people they could meet online and what those people might do.

“It will probably be a difficult, uncomfortable conversation,” he said. “But it’s necessary because no matter their age, the unfortunate reality is that they will likely be targeted.”

Source: US FBI

FBI Director Christopher Wray (center) poses for a photo with cadets from the U.S. Military Academy at West Point during a visit to the school on March 4, 2024. U.S. Army photo by Christopher Hennen/USMA Public Affairs Office.

FBI Director Christopher Wray addresses cadets at the U.S. Military Academy at West Point during a Commandant’s Hour lecture on March 4, 2024. U.S. Army photo by Christopher Hennen/USMA Public Affairs Office.

FBI Director Christopher Wray (left) speaks with U.S. Military Academy Superintendent Army Lt. Gen. Steve Gilland following his Commandant’s Hour lecture at West Point on March 4, 2024. U.S. Army photo by Christopher Hennen/USMA Public Affairs Office.