November 14, 2003

The JTTF Enhancement Act of 2003 (HR 3439) seeks to ammend federal law to permit CIA agents to be "detailed" to any "local law enforcement agency." It would also permit any state employee and/or any cop to be detailed to the CIA, with additional pay, upon the orders of the governor or the head of the PD -- er, subject to the approval of the CIA director, that is.

HR 3439 was introduced on Nov. 4 and was immediately referred to the House committees on intelligence and the judiciary. The bill is sponsored by Rep. Carolyn Maloney (D-NY) and at this writing it is co-sponsored only by Rep. Martin Frost (D-TX). Maloney represents key portions of NY City and currently serves on various committees related to finance and government reform. Frost represents a district in Dallas-Forth Worth, and is the ranking Dem on the House Rules Committee. He served previously on the House Select Committee on Homeland Security. He is also cozy with major defense contractors like Northrop Grumman and Lockheed Martin.

Under the guise of counter-terrorism, Maloney's bill would empower the director of the FBI to create and maintain joint terrorism task forces (JTTFs) in any "regions and localities of the United States as the Director considers appropriate." The FBI director would also be empowered to include "such other law enforcement agents as the Director considers appropriate, selected by the Director from among those Federal, State, and local law enforcement agents ."

But Section 4 of the legislation would make a dramatic revision to the Central Intelligence Agency Act of 1949, allowing CIA agents to operate directly within any state or local law enforcement agencies. It would also permit the CIA to essentially "deputize" local or state cops as CIA agents answerable directly to the CIA.

The relevant portion of that section of HR 3439 reads as follows:

SEC. 4. DETAIL PROGRAM FOR STATE AND LOCAL LAW ENFORCEMENT PERSONNEL TO THE CENTRAL INTELLIGENCE AGENCY.

The Central Intelligence Agency Act of 1949 (50 U.S.C. 403a et seq.) is amended by adding at the end the following new section:

DETAIL OF EMPLOYEES WITH STATE AND LOCAL LAW ENFORCEMENT AGENCIES

SEC. 23. (a) DETAIL- Notwithstanding any other provision of law--

(1) upon request of the head of State or local law enforcement agency, the Director of Central Intelligence may detail any employee within the Central Intelligence Agency to that State or local law enforcement agency on a nonreimbursable basis; and

(2) subject to the approval of the Director of Central Intelligence, the head of a State or local law enforcement agency may detail any employee of that State or local law enforcement agency to the Central Intelligence Agency on a reimbursable basis.

[Read the source...]

Related Links:

• Full text of the JTTF Enhancement Act of 2003 (HR 3439) (via Thomas)
• A Spook in Every FBI Office: CIA Expands Domestic Ops (Subliminal News, 2/10/03)