The Untouchable
FBI Special Agent In Charge, Deb Pierce Talks to Senate District 41 About Terrorism, the Patriot Act and Minnesota Nice
At the last SD 41 Full Committee meeting dinner before the November 2nd election, another capacity crowd of Edina and West Bloomington residents found themselves captivated by the comments of FBI Special Agent in Charge (Mpls.), Deb Pierce. Pierce’s remarks, covering not only the history of the FBI but its new role in domestic counter-terrorism brought many interested attendees and, for the second time this year, protesters outside. Pierce handled the comical protesting in style: “I’ve never been protested before…it’s kind of cool.”
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Special Agent Pierce (right) chats with Marsha Chamberlain (left) and Linda Presthus before the dinner
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A 25-year veteran of the FBI who will soon be moving to Washington, D.C. to become a Deputy Assistant Director, Pierce spent the first part of the evening bringing her audience up to speed on the role of the FBI. “Most people don’t know what we do”, she half-lamented before detailing the four major areas of FBI involvement: violent crimes, drugs/organized crime, white collar crime and national intelligence. Much of Pierce’s speech focused on national intelligence.
Domestic terrorist infiltration, which was pre-9/11 the agency’s prime national intelligence focus has shifted to counter-intelligence against foreign terrorists and nations operating within the United States. 40% of the FBI’s agents are working in this area. However, not all counter-intelligence is against terrorism, Pierce explained, citing the increase in economic espionage. Recently, the Mayo Clinic had a case of economic espionage when a Japanese doctor working at the Clinic was caught stealing medical secrets for the Japanese government.
The Minneapolis FBI field office and the local FBI district (which incorporates Minnesota, and North and South Dakota) have received increased national attention for their efforts, although not always for law enforcement results alone. Minneapolis started the first joint terrorism task force back in 1999 working with such other agencies as the CIA, Department of Defense and numerous state, county and city officials. It was the creation of this task force that allowed for the capture of suspected 9/11 terrorist Zacharias Moussaoui and would subsquential give the Minneapolis office unwanted political attention by agent Colleen Rowley. Rowley, who still works in Minneapolis, was tentatively defended by Pierce who said of her colleague: “her biggest problem is speaking to the press.”
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Special Agent Pierce and Sen. Geoff Michel discuss Minnesota homeland security
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“Don’t believe what you read in the papers about our level of cooperation”, said Pierce. “I don’t know if it’s ‘Minnesota Nice’ but the level of cooperation here is incredible.” Pierce went on to credit the Patriot Act for helping streamline the communication process between agencies and most importantly, help with clearance issues between the FBI and CIA. “It takes a $50,000 investigation over 6 weeks to get someone a Top Secret clearance…it used to be much worse.”
Since the late 1990’s, a major focus of the FBI has been what was once called Infrastructure Protection, now more likely known as Homeland Security. With no Homeland Security department to hand such responsibilities off to, the FBI has continued to work on security risks for locations from hotels and apartments to areas of major financial concern and local landmarks. One of Pierce’s biggest concerns is the protection of information. “Information is power. Information is money.”
The evening was apolitical although Pierce defended the nation’s new color-coded threat system by pointing out that intelligence has seen terrorists back off or abort attacks because the increased security that comes with adjusting threat levels. But Pierce’s most telling political moment of the night was one of her last. When asked by 41A Representative Ron Erhardt what Senator Mark ‘Evacuating’ Dayton knows that average Minnesotans don’t, Pierce replied: “Nothing.”
At the conclusion, Special Agent in Charge Pierce was rewarded by a standing ovation by a very appreciative audience for all she said and all the FBI does for each and every American’s safety.
