National Security Division Launches New Office of Intelligence
WASHINGTON, April 30 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- Patrick Rowan, Acting
Assistant Attorney General for National Security, today announced the
formal launch of the Office of Intelligence within the Justice Department's
National Security Division (NSD). The reorganization creates three new
sections within the Office of Intelligence dedicated to the NSD's three
primary intelligence related functions -- operations, oversight and
litigation.
The Department of Justice has played a critical role in the nation's
effort to prevent acts of terrorism and to thwart hostile foreign
intelligence activities. Since the 9/11 terrorist attacks, the Department's
Office of Intelligence Policy and Review (OIPR) has grown dramatically
because of the steady increase in the number of applications it has handled
under the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA) in an effort to
ensure that Intelligence Community agencies have the authority necessary to
conduct intelligence operations.
The creation of NSD in September 2006 brought OIPR under the umbrella
of NSD and presented an opportunity to review the office's structure and
expanding mission. Based on this review, the NSD decided to modify the
structure of the office, given that its intelligence staff has grown from
fewer than 20 lawyers in 2000 to almost 100 today, and that its
intelligence operations have increased with the rise in FISA caseload.
Moreover, the office has assumed an expanded role in conducting
intelligence oversight and in coordinating FISA-related litigation.
To meet the needs of multi-faceted intelligence mission, the NSD
developed a new structure called the Office of Intelligence, which is the
successor to OIPR and consists of three specific sections aligned with the
division's core functions: operations, oversight and litigation. Each
section is supervised by a chief who reports directly to Matt Olsen, the
Deputy Assistant Attorney General for the Office of Intelligence. A
description of each new section is below:
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