FBI Agents Can Lack Skills to Investigate Computer Intrusions, Report Says
A government review of the FBI agents who investigate national security-related computer intrusions found about a third of them lack the required technical skills to do their jobs.
Of 36 agents interviewed, 13 were deficient in at least some of the necessary capabilities, according to a U.S. Justice Department inspector general’s report released today. Five of the agents told the inspector general’s office that they viewed themselves as unqualified to conduct investigations of computer hacking involving national security.
“One agent told us that he was assigned his first counterterrorism intrusion case but he did not know how to investigate a national security intrusion case,” according to the report.
National security intrusions are the Federal Bureau of Investigation’s top cyber priority, the report said. Even so, the report found that the forensic and analytical capability of FBI field offices was “inadequate to support national security intrusion investigations.”
An FBI official told the inspector general that not every field office has the expertise to sufficiently investigate every national security intrusion, according to the report. The FBI’s cyber division plans to create a “base capability” in every field office, the report said.
Field Offices
The interviews with agents were conducted in 10 of the FBI’s 56 field offices, according to the report.
Jenny Shearer, a spokeswoman for the FBI’s cyber division, said the picture of staff and training issues presented in the report “is a snapshot taken from a few field offices.”
The resources the agency can devote to cyber attacks is limited by congressional appropriations and the agency consistently spends more money in the area than is in its budget, Shearer said.
“We’re working hard on it,” she said.
Half of the agents interviewed had prior work experience in an information technology-related field, according to the report.
The FBI should develop an “intrusion specialty” for agents on a cyber career path, according to the report. Doing so would “better enable the FBI to hire and train qualified personnel,” it said.
To contact the reporters on this story: Justin Blum in Washington at jblum4@bloomberg.net; Michael Riley in Washington at michaelriley@bloomberg.net
To contact the editor responsible for this story: Mark Silva at msilva34@bloomberg.net; To contact the editor responsible for this story: Michael Hytha at mhytha@bloomberg.net
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