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[Unclassified]

MEMORANDUM FOR THE RECORD

.·······:.·.~l::~/11 Law Enforcement Privacy

1
Event .... .... twFO··J~TF - ~~~~k)lr;\:::.:"\
::: 0;U~~e2::2~~:rview/~;;/~~' 1\'\'\\
Special Access Issues: None
Prepared by: Peter Rundlet
Team Number: 6

Location:' FBI, Washing~?ri' Fiel~/)f9:<e.: :" ,

Participants - Commi~~i6n: Pe~,~r~~dlet ~d John Tarnm \'" \'.... ..
Participants - Non-CommissiorrSean O'Neill, FBI AS$lstarttGenemICounsel

, ~'ec~~/~ Customs Agent on ,JJly 28>",,199~.Prior to joining Customs,

I....

•
--!::;~~
..
a~·
d-:-:-b-ee~n-a':'"M'":'a~int~p:~te
Supervisor with Eastern Airlines .for 14\years, unti I 1991, and

he was in "private indust~,?:·:.~6m 1991/until 1994. D:::}egan ~:sa G,~stori,.~. Special Agent - an
"1,811" investigative age.~~/~.;f:in
the M/ami Field OffiFe of Custom ..~. fu\,,1999Uransferred to
the Sterling, Virginia (pyn.es) Field ?ffice. He worked out of that\fffi ce,,-.
for "three or four"
months until he was assigned to a D~A Task Force iq Annandale, VA, where he worked for
"about a year and a}i~{~/~
At that point, in late 200o,Qvas transferred-to the Reagan Airport en
Task Force, wher~:h~ (~cused on n:~cotics; he continued to serve thei~ untii'\,October, 2002. At ~
that point.r:=:}etu~ed to the St~rling, VA Field Office and he stayed ther~\mtil he was ~
assigned to the ~.6's 2003."'Os
Joint Te1'orism Task Force (JTfF) on January {,~" currently.

a GS-13 emp19Y~,e. / ...

....._ ..t·~!'~s
not sure" ~,hY he was selected for assignment to the rr...
!F, but he was
"willing" to a9.cept the assi~ent. He continues to have a supervisor at C~stoms (now the
Bureau of Immigration and Customs Enforcement, or "BICE"). Mr. Phil R~ed is his Customs
Group SUP~~isor -ca- in contact with Mr. Reed "several times per ~"eek" by telephone
andD~avels to Sterling, VA every couple weeks to meet with Mr. Reed."1 lontinues to
. "carry a coupJe of ongoing drug cases" for Customs, in a supporting role, because of his intimate

• knowledge of certain case facts.

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'\':"'' ",'' '\' ' ':::,<~\:';';,:,»:<::I ""<", ~TTF supervi'~oiT~fPauLA ..,,9arten. The JTTF was recently divided into two
."\,""',~,>,:,:,~:':~q~~,qs~':DT~,~,,:~n'd"Dr~5
[DT = Domestic Te;~~{sm];c::Jvas "not sure" why the JTTF was
\",........
....,
'. \",'d~.Jld;~4;'c:::JJ:ld~cate'd"that.,~hey are supposed to move to another floor to have more room. At
\'"'\....
", "\....I)r6s~ri:tt:;:Jus~~"~:~~G~-pr~'~lded)~~top and he can access the BICE mainframe using the
',', \"an'hJo'gJi~'e,'t~t, heshar~s"wlth.,other JTTF"m~mbers. He can access anything on BlCE's system
" "~om"t,h'~"'VI~O~'ih~t,hecan ~~c'e~~"at.Sterling, '~'A""'His databases include "TEXT" [?], Internet

, , a~'~,~ss>~~~(~e~'iS~~~~i,~.AlthOU~h'h~::(fid'P?t have a~'~~'s'sl lndicated that some Customs

\'""ageri,~,s
al~~"have ac'te~~"t~:'~hoicePoint 'and,,~utQTrak.
, "'.,\He"just :re.,~ently~,~
gotaccess to the FBrs,,~'uto,~~ted Case Support (ACS) system so that
, h~ can uploadhis own reports.ialthough he has given-no formal training. His colleagues are
"\helping him fig~'r~ o~t"tre s;~te,~:"b~t..'~nothing in dePt~~''''Dn~icated that he does not have
\~cc~~s to text info~atioitpn th~'A,CS"s~st~m - that he may view onlyoase numbers. He said
~:~at~~ has t6.."go thr~'U.gh~\~gent t~"'g~t'~t~~~ to the text. [John Tamm ~~d'S~an O'Neill
·iri,~eIj~'S,ted
th~~ ~'6'~,shave.access 'to,,~u~'h,,~,~'x-t,,~ut
that ACS is difficult and ~h'ac:::}as not
been given enough training ..to understand the,,~y~te~'>1 . Iraised his eyebrow and rolled
his eyes ~ith apparent skepticism atthese stat~~~nt~':Dsuggested that O'Neill provide the
• additionaltraining after the int~~iew.j'''Dndi'c~~ed that ACS was very limited - that it
"gives you "9n1ywhat you ask f~'r'.,~' \"'"
'D~ndicated that he has "ll? FBI cases assigned''t9 him, but rather Rapid Start leads are
assigned to him, The leads are typec....on Rapid Start Fonns"a:n,d are generally "265 cases" (which
is the Domestid'",Terrorism classificatiori). His reports are don~\~ Electronic Communications
(Efls), using computer macros. Generally! Js required to follow-up on any type oflead that
comes in, many of which are anonymous, "like from neighbors of people making off-color or
disloyal remarks. ':"'\Many are "needle in the haystack types of leads" - some involve "nutty
neighbors" or thosewho see a1iens or "aircraft sightings." The goal is to track.down every lead
and then "close them\"out." In fact, every lead that he has tracked has been clos~d'9ut - none
have been referred on "r~r further investigation. In addition to following up on lea~~:CJ
provides some support t'~ ongoing cases - such as doing trave1 histories and trying to figure out
who certain subjects have" been associated with. He learns about the JTTF's investigative
priorities by attending a weekly meeting run by Paul Garten.

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As a Customs agent"Dhas access to hard copies of Customs Declarations and to 1-94

records online (if there had been some unusual activity which would then create the need to put

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:, "'>',~",~'<:,;«:thein'Oni)ne}.---!Je
indicated that Seizure Reports include information on Customs Declarations,

.<~Pt~~~th~~data, '"
: " " , ""'-'-,J':, ':,:, Jst~ted"ihat_t~er~-ar-e'se.yeral IT (International Terrorism) cases. He gets a lot of
\t~'q.uests'f~r,~sSi.s'tange fro~"otb~r group's'sinc~ he is with BleE. He is the first Field Office
C~stoms Agenia~~lgnedt~the JriF:Din~i~aiedtl.1at there are "several" INS agents at the
WFO'.~"~ne onthe JrTF'~c("ore or two" others assigned t~"other, squads. As a Customs agent,
he has'6:Pl'YJimited"aGc'~ss',t~"lN,~"d'at-&?
although due to the merger ~~-DHS;"tJ1eyare beginning to
increase Bi~'.~c,?ess. ;he'r~*T.['?):d~t~bas~"jncorporates INS queries. Acco~~i'~'~(t~ 'the
Treasury D~p.~'~~ent's Info~ati~'n,~;sterr includes information from all of the Treasury legacy
subcomponents.j'Dli.A, Custo~s;,,~S)"ar:t,d ~6'it"is ~,oT~"inclusive. He also has access to the
Automated Cargo.System (throUgh"T~XT)~-Dn.~ic~t'ed-t~at if the information is originally
, from a Custom's case, then he can share-anything wi;h'th~ JTTF:'I Indicated that the INS
\,and Customs have be~n tr~'ding agents in ~tder to do cross-training and to integrate themselves
\into DHS. ", -.-., " ",

\ With respect to eq~jpmerit),the FBI provi~'~'Owith a pri~teT,a shared phone line and
: '. '. "

a Camera. BICE provides hispager-phone, car, gun (Glock 9mm), and gas.vHe has had no
• shhulder weapon training. Th~"f~'TF'~r~Vides a jacket that can unzip into a ve~t""c:Jindicated
... '.. ", . .

that"there were concerns about adequate space and that the shared use of computer lines was a
problem that needed to be addresse(LD~,as "recently" approved to have an e-mail account
at the, FBI, although he is about to return to c~'st,oms, as a new agent is preparing to take over for
him. ~e said it was "unclear" why he was being'.ieassigned back to Sterling.
'Deceived basic training at Glencoe upon-joining Customs and has received
additional training throughout his career. Such training"i~c1udes Fraud School (2 weeks),
Smuggling (1 week), money laundering classes, "J etway" 'School training for 3 days, Special
Operations Training (including phone numbers and Title III)'>Dindicated that there was a
module= a block - on counterterrorism during refresher training at Glencoe. Otherwise he has
had no specific CT training.
The only electronic surveillance experience he had was with one case on the JTTF (the
tractor man). On that case, he interviewed the person who provided the stickers affixed to the

•
tractor. He estimated that he conducts face-to-face interviews about every other day. He said
that he pursues most leads by himself

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:Dhas had no significant contact with the CIA, DIA, and NSA reps, although they
have :!:'originated" some leads. He indicated that Customs has a good communications system
and that he gets "briefs" every other day. He said that he gets certain Intell reports from
Customs and the FBL~as never run a name check through the CIA or NSA, but "thinks"
he/could get his Supervisor to get one done.
, On 9/11/?:C,r:::Jwas crossing the 14th Street bridge when the Pentagon was hit. He was
}alking to anot?~:t<Customs agent at the time. He was on his way to work at Reagan Airport. He
.went to the t,9rr.ninal and they were shutting everything down; he worked through that night
,.if going thro?~h' and searching planes on the tarmacs. He said that they found "some suspicious
things t~,~~:'weturned over - some box cutters and stuff."
/JJpon noting his Washington, DC Metropolitan Police Department (MPD) badge that said
"S~,9'C'~,?,DxPlained that he and "most" members of the JTTF have access badges to the DC
rv;y:6lperations center. He also has airport accesses and that other members of the JTTF will

.i...
:~t~,9:'getthem soon.

" ,

9/11 Law Enforcement Privacy

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COMMISSION SENSITIVE