FBI Director Briefs Congressional Oversight Committee On FBI’s Current Efforts

The FBI released the above photo and the below report.

FBI Director James Comey, pledging to “be the best possible stewards of the authorities and the funding you have provided for us,” testified today before the U.S. House of Representatives’ Judiciary Committee on current Bureau efforts in a wide variety of priority investigative programs and initiatives.

Among the highlights:

• Counterterrorism remains the FBI’s top priority, and the Bureau is working to address the evolving threat, including offshoots of al Qaeda, like ISIL, and the explosion of terrorist propaganda and training on the Internet.
• In the counterintelligence realm, the Bureau continues to investigate traditional espionage—spies posing as diplomats or ordinary citizens—but we also remain focused on the growing insider threat: trusted employees and contractors who use their legitimate access to steal secrets to benefit another company or country.
• In the cyber arena, an element of virtually every national security threat and crime problem the FBI faces is cyber-based or facilitated—cyber threats exist from those who want our state secrets, trade secrets, technology, and our ideas; those who maliciously steal or delete corporate data; and criminals on the so-called “dark web” who exchange information and tools that enable cyber crimes.
• And on the criminal side, the FBI continues to place a premium on investigations involving public corruption, violations of civil rights, health care fraud, violent crime, transnational organized crime, crimes against children, and crimes in Indian Country, among others.

In his prepared statement, Comey also discussed the FBI’s commitment to countering the threat of nuclear smuggling and other weapons of mass destruction, his continued focus on the Going Dark communications technology gap, ongoing efforts to integrate intelligence and operations, the need for more and better Uniform Crime Reporting data related to officer-involved shootings, and the many state-of-the-art services provided by the FBI Laboratory to our law enforcement, intelligence, military, and forensic science partners.