Department of Justice

Terrorism Task Forces Department of Justice

The September 11, 2001, terrorist attacks prompted the Department of Justice (Department) to redefine its mission, objectives, and priorities to focus its top priority on counterterrorism. As a result, the Attorney General elevated counterterrorism to the Department?s first strategic goal and shifted the Department?s resources to eliminating terrorist networks, preventing terrorist operations, and prosecuting perpetrators of terrorist acts. The Department also directed the formation or expansion of terrorism task forces and councils (with members from many federal, state, and local agencies and private industry) that coordinate and integrate intelligence and law enforcement functions to achieve the Department?s counterterrorism goal. In this review, the Office of the Inspector General (OIG) assessed the role and operations of these terrorism task forces and councils. We examined whether the task forces and councils were achieving their purposes; whether gaps, duplication, and overlap existed in counterterrorism coverage; and how the performance of the task forces and councils is measured. We collected information through interviews of senior Department officials, task force and council managers and members, and state and local law enforcement officials; a survey of task force managers and members; document reviews; and direct observation of task force and council activities.