Watchdog Finds Shortcomings With FBI's WMD-Tracking Unit

The FBI unit tasked with tracking threats from weapons of mass destruction suffers from several operational problems, the Justice Department's top watchdog said in a report Monday, one week after federal authorities charged three people with WMD-related offenses.

Inspector General Glenn Fine, in an audit, reported that many inside the FBI's Weapons of Mass Destruction Coordinator Program were not able to identify "the top specific WMD threats and vulnerabilities that faced their particular field division."

The audit said the FBI also had not established adequate training programs to educate its analysts on the subject or established "specific qualifications" that the WMD coordinators should have.

The assessment comes after Najibullah Zazi, an Afghan immigrant living in Denver, was arrested and accused of plotting what authorities said could have been the most serious terrorist attack on the United States since Sept. 11, 2001. Zazi, 24, is suspected of hatching a plot against New York City subways and trains.

In unrelated cases, a teenager from Jordan was arrested for allegedly attempting an attack on a Dallas skyscraper, and a 29-year-old man was arrested after allegedly trying to detonate a device he thought was a bomb by a federal courthouse in Springfield, Ill.

In both cases, FBI agents had infiltrated the plots ahead of time.

Vahid Majidi, assistant director of the Weapons of Mass Destruction program, issued a statement Monday in response to the inspector general report saying the unit is "unrelenting" in its effort to protect Americans from WMD threats.

"While the inspector general's report acknowledges a number of actions the FBI had taken prior to the audit, the Bureau will continue to work with the OIG to identify any additional areas that could be strengthened or improved," he said, adding that, "Agents and analysts working side-by-side with law enforcement at every level have disrupted WMD-related threats, resulting in a significant number of arrests, indictments, and convictions."

But the inspector general's audit noted continuing problems with coordination between the FBI's WMD unit and other divisions.

The audit found the coordinators were not directly involved in the WMD threat assessments used by field offices.

"As a result, the audit concluded that the FBI's WMD threat assessments may not be complete," a DOJ statement said.

It said FBI field offices have not been able to identify the most significant WMD threats in their regions in large part because the WMD coordinators have had limited interaction with the field intelligence groups.