The U.S. Justice Department released the below information:
PHILADELPHIA – U.S. Attorney William M. McSwain (seen in the
below photo) was honored to speak today at the Delaware Valley Intelligence
Center Regional Roundtable in Philadelphia, PA. The Delaware Valley
Intelligence Center (DVIC) was established to create cross-jurisdictional partnerships
between agencies and serves as the informational fusion center for the Delaware
Valley region. U.S. Attorney McSwain’s remarks are below.
Thank you all for gathering here today. I would especially
like to thank Inspector Walter Smith, Executive Director of the Delaware Valley
Intelligence Center, Philadelphia Police Department, and Stacy Irving, Senior
Advisor, Homeland Security Planning & Strategic Partnerships, Delaware
Valley Intelligence Center, Philadelphia Police Department, for inviting me to
speak. It was not too long ago that many of us were gathered in this same place
for the 2018 Anti-Terrorism Advisory Council Conference, which was an in-depth
and highly educational program that helped all of us to further our collective
mission of keeping our country safe.
Safeguarding our national security is critically important
to the U.S. Attorney’s Office, just as it is for everyone here today. It is
also, without question, the number one priority of the U.S. Department of Justice.
The Department of Homeland Security has prioritized state and major urban area
fusion centers such as this one, because they know that intelligence collection
and information sharing are critical in this fight. That is why the Delaware
Valley Intelligence Center is so important. This cross-jurisdictional
partnership between local, state, and federal agencies, as well as private
sector participants, ensures that the Delaware Valley region has a
community-focused public safety strategy. Everyone benefits from a continuous
flow of intelligence and information to assist public safety field operations.
Our region has already seen firsthand how these
relationships can help. For example, on May 12, 2015, an Amtrak Northeast
Regional Train derailed after departing Philadelphia on its way to New York,
which was the worst train disaster that our area has experienced in decades.
Moments after the crash, emergency calls went out across the area, and scores
of first responders from federal, state, and local law enforcement authorities
responded. There is no doubt that authorities knew who to call that day because
of relationships built through groups like this one.
We can only succeed with the collaboration and partnership
of each of you. And those partnerships cannot be built in a day. We all need to
work together when times are good so that we know what to do and who to call
when they are not. To this end, one of my first initiatives after I became U.S.
Attorney in April was to visit the nine counties that make up the Eastern
District of Pennsylvania and meet with their district attorneys and local law
enforcement leaders. It is a priority of my Office to continue to foster these
relationships and always keep our lines of communication open. These personal
connections are crucial to successful prosecutions everywhere across this
region.
Additionally, I want law enforcement to know how much my
Office appreciates them. The first public speech that I gave after becoming
U.S. Attorney was to the Philadelphia Police Department leadership and to
recruits at the Police Academy. As I said to them, no prosecutor has ever
prosecuted any case without the help of an outstanding law enforcement partner,
whether that is at the federal, state, or local level. There are no greater
heroes than those in law enforcement who have dedicated their lives to keeping
our communities safe – to the point that they’re willing to risk their own
lives to do it. And there is no better way to support law enforcement than to
make sure that they have the assistance needed to protect our community from
terrorism.
I am aware of some of the difficulties in prosecuting
national security cases. There are many law enforcement partners to consult and
so many levels of review in the Department of Justice that it often may feel
difficult to see a prosecution through to its natural conclusion. I want to
share with you that the Department of Justice is working to eliminate some of
those hurdles. DOJ has put new procedures in place to streamline the review
process to make sure that if a national security prosecution is the correct
approach, DOJ will have the most efficient process in place to pursue these
significant cases.
My Office has had great success in the past few years in our
efforts to prosecute national security cases and hold people accountable for
terrorism, violations of the Armed Export Control Act, and cybercrime. For
example, Keonna Thomas, a Philadelphia woman who was charged and pled guilty to
one count of attempting to provide material support to a terrorist
organization, was sentenced to eight years in federal prison. Thomas plotted to
travel to Syria to join the Islamic State and told another individual that
taking part in a martyrdom operation “would be amazing.” This case, prosecuted
by First Assistant U.S. Attorney Jennifer Williams and a colleague from the
Counterterrorism Section in the Justice Department’s National Security
Division, was investigated by the FBI’s Joint Terrorism Task Force and the
Philadelphia Police Department.
And many terrorism cases involve agency partnerships not
only at home, but also abroad. Ali Charaf Damache, also known as
“Theblackflag,” was indicted in the Eastern District of Pennsylvania in 2011
and extradited from Spain last year for his involvement in conspiring to
provide material support and resources to terrorists. He is currently awaiting
trial. Two of his co-conspirators, Colleen LaRose (also known as “Jihad Jane”)
and Jamie Paulin Ramirez (also known as “Jihad Jamie”), have previously pled guilty
and are serving ten years and eight years in prison, respectively. Again, First
Assistant U.S. Attorney Williams prosecuted these cases in conjunction with the
Counterterrorism Section of the Justice Department’s National Security
Division, the Office of International Affairs in the Justice Department’s
Criminal Division, the FBI’s Joint Terrorism Task Force in Philadelphia, the
FBI Field Divisions in New York, Baltimore, Washington D.C., and authorities in
Ireland and Spain. Sometimes it takes many hands and many minds across the
globe to get the job done right.
Our National Security section in the U.S. Attorney’s Office
does not only focus only on traditional terrorism cases. For example, we uphold
the Arms Export Control Act, which prohibits the export of high tech military
technology that is critical to the national security and foreign policy
interests of the United States. We must keep important technology out of the
hands of potential adversaries. In United States v. Baltutski, we charged a group
of individuals who conspired to purchase and unlawfully export night vision
devices to Belarus. Baltutski arranged for hundreds of thousands of dollars to
be secretly wired, via offshore shell companies, to purchase these items, pay
for shipping, and pay his network of buyers. For his efforts, Baltutski
received a sentence of 15 years’ incarceration, which is one of the longest
sentences under the Armed Export Control Act in U.S. history. This case was
prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Robert Livermore and colleagues from
DOJ’s Organized Crime and Gang Section, and the National Security Division, and
was investigated by the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, Homeland
Security Investigations and the FBI. That case took extensive and dedicated investigative
work to result in such a significant sentence.
We also continue to defend ourselves from cybercrime
attacks. More and more criminals are exploiting the convenience and anonymity
of the Internet to commit crimes and cause serious interruptions and
destruction across the United States and around the world. It is my belief that
cybercrime will only become more sophisticated, as technology advances and
criminals seek to invade and destroy our financial markets, electrical power
grids, emergency response systems, and nuclear plants, often from the comfort
of their own homes. In the last few years, the U.S. Attorney’s Office has
successfully prosecuted numerous cybercrimes, including individuals who hacked
into everything from a gas company’s computers, to systems that read utility
meters remotely, to Comcast’s server. We are dedicated to continuing our
efforts in this field.
And this really just scratches the surface. As you all know,
so many of our cases and investigations are not currently public. And many
matters do not end in prosecution, but instead produce new investigative leads
and sources of information that can be equally (if not more) valuable than a
case in the court system.
As we have been sadly reminded by recent events, not all
terrorism is international. Far too often in this country, we as a nation have
grieved the brutal murders of innocent people as a result of mass shootings and
domestic terrorism. Americans should be safe from such terror, no matter who or
where they are. Studying in school or going to work, worshiping at church or
cheering for friends at a marathon, relaxing at a movie theater or enjoying an
evening at a night club – all of these activities should be safe-havens for
every American. But as we know, places like these have turned into horrific
crime scenes over the past few years where innocent lives have been lost. One
more mass shooting is one too many.
The U.S. Attorney’s Office takes seriously every threat of
gun violence in our community and will do everything in our power to prevent
tragedy from occurring. As but one example, we recently charged An-Tso Sun by
federal complaint with possessing ammunition while being in the United States
on a nonimmigrant visa, which is a felony under federal law. According to the
complaint, on or about March 26, 2018, Sun told a fellow student, “Hey, don’t
come to school on May 1st . . . I’m going to come here armed and shoot up the
school.” Then he added: “Just kidding.” But this was no laughing matter, as the
complaint alleges that multiple items were recovered from Sun’s bedroom,
including stockpiles of ammunition, and various firearm accessories and shooting
equipment. This case is on-going.
I am proud to say that this was another example of numerous
investigative and operational bodies working together. From the student who
first reported the alleged threat, to the Upper Darby Police Department and the
Delaware County District Attorney’s Office, to the Department of Homeland
Security, Homeland Security Investigations and my Office, we worked together to
successfully prevent a potential school tragedy.
But we cannot do it alone. I recently addressed the media
about the An-Tso Sun case and I urged all parents and citizens to take notice
of what is going on around them. We need to remind people that law enforcement
is not the first line of defense. That duty belongs to our citizens. They are
the ones who will see the first clues that something is amiss in their everyday
lives. They are the ones who might get a bad feeling about something at their
schools, in their offices, during their social activities, and who will need to
pick up the phone. As a group, we need to continue to encourage people to make
that call. There are too many stories of parents, of teachers, of neighbors,
who belatedly say they “always knew something was wrong” about someone in their
lives, but they didn’t sound the alarm and instead chose to stick their heads
in the sand. We need them to make the call.
When they do make the call, they will call one of us. And
because of the partnerships built through cooperative intelligence centers like
DVIC, we will be ready.
Thank you for your partnership with my Office, thank you for
all that you do for our community, and God Bless you.
Note: You can read my Counterterrorism magazine piece on the
Delaware Valley Intelligence Center via the below link:
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