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, 9/11 Law Enforcement Privacy

l-"~i:t,~.\.." MEMORANDUM FOR THE RECORD

~:\:\\:::\~::'>\
t\ \\:,E~~t~InterviewcifJ ... ...

'\ \ \Oa!e;Jury29, 2003

,\ ' \ s\~~ai\e~~,~ssues: none

\\\ \ \ pr~~'~,re~'~t2",~~~ John Tamm, Jr.

\' \ \, Tea.nN\~be~:,6<:.,\
i,:\ '\ Loeati~:"~B~W~hi~~~()lI:,~ield Office, Washington, DC

\ \partieiPa~t~~~\~~,sio~,~~~~ Rundlet
.'

\ ~BI Repre~,n't\ti~\: S~.~'''~~~~,~'il\,

\,>\ '\.. IInternal Revenue Service (IRS), Criminal

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\ \ Speci~1..A'g,ent"<SA1'
\ Investigative Division.fs asslgnea.,to,,~he)omt Terrorism Task Force (JITF) of the
\W~shington Fiei'd Office ..(WFO) of'theFederal Bureau of Investigation (FBI). He has a
Bachelor of Science a~gr~ from the\!iii~e¥ty ~f Massachusetts at Dartmouth, MA.
~rio~ to joining the,)R&, on '04/12/20001 .... \]was an intern with the New Bedford,
~A Police Departm~.md \ !was assigned tQ, the narcotics squad at the Police
~pa~ment. \'\ \\., \,,\ \\"

:: \ 'I llttend~,d the U ....S: Treasury De~~~~'e~t' s basic criminal investigator

\. \ course at the Federal Law Enforcement Academy at..9IY~co. GA, for six months.
\ \ Thereafter he had speciaH,~\ ining at Glynco>QA] lRS field office is
'\ \ located in Baltimore, MD. ~ assigned to IRS"s, Group 5, located in Washington,
\ \ D. 0 .. This group is responsi e or prh,viding terrorism related investigative support. SA
\ c:Jwas detailed by the IRS to the JTt~ on 06/02/2002. H~ principally conducts
\ reactire investigations using the FBI' s R~id Start case maniig~ment system.

\ 'I ~tated that although a regul'arly commission cri'~i,nal investigator with a

\ civil service designation of 1811 (criminal investigator with law enforcement authority),
I ~as also been commissioned a special-deputy U.S. Marshal.] 'explained
that the IRS is "uncomfortable" with IRS special.agents who conduct criminal
investigations not covered by Title 26 of the U.S ....Code, which is the Internal Revenue
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~'~e!aJs~ec~i~~age~WilieJ~F,and
aid that the other a encies

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the local police officers are also commissioned as special deputy U.S. Marshals. Central
Intelligence Agency or Defense Intelligence Agency case officers are not assigned to the
JTTF. The JTTF is divided into two squads, Domestic Terrorism One and Five.

I I,stated that the JTTF responds to possible terrorist activity that may
occur. He most recently was assigned to respond to the investigation of a suspicious
package that was-left in front of the Benjamin Franklin Post Office at rz"
and
Pennsylvania A venue, N. wi lis expected to make an initial assessment of the
situation and coord\:nate investigation/with the MPD.

Other examples of cases that ~e handled by the JTTF would be the North
Carolina tobacco farmer who drove o~ the National Mall, and threatened to blow up his
tractor and a report frpm a SA ofth~t a Mid-Eastern male had attempted to buy
$40,000.00 of postal money orders. L-...Jalso worked at the crime scene of the

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Manassas; V A, and murder by John Mohammed during the Sniper case. As with any
case on the JITF, if the. investigation has a short term, it remains with the JTTF and if
long term, the case is assigned to a WfO counter-terrorism squad ..) ~as ..no_t...
' _ ....
participated in any electronic surveillance o~ arrests while assigned to the JTTF:: ... I__ ....
was not assigned to the JTfF on 09/11/200 J and is unable to comment on anychanges
that may have occurred si~ce the terr1rist aitacks. ,:// ./

I !also conti~ues to invJ1~!\~e IR; rses assigned to him..b~ his group .

manager in the Washington, D.C. effie tated that he is presently investigating
a tax .evasion case;\~ money 1aunder:2 case't a refund scheme case, in addition to
cases assigned to him on the \~TTF. explained/that most ,of the JTTF cases are
short term, with the more complicate , cases f eing assigned to another WFO terrorism
~ Th~ IRS provides an a~tomobP~ +n4 tac.ticaliquipm~n~ such .as firearms, to SA
L-JAt hIS IRS offic can ~~llZq' variousdatabases including the U.S.
Treasury-law enforcement data ,a~e known/as "TEeS," theNational Crime Information
compute~' ,eIC Lexus~~ex~~, \flnd!t~~ Financial ~r~¢~s Center database, known ~s
FINCIN. tated that his Jtlaq~gefs at I~S view his assignment to the JTTF 10
part, as a way to ' ~ve19P cas'e~d the F.BI h~~orandum of Understanding
. concerning the assignment ofL--.,....jq the:,jT~~;_-L-.Jis not restricted to financial
crime investigations and.rnay be as,~igg¢,d any counter-terrorism cas~a" as
access to the FBI's datab~~,,~he ...A~~qmht~ Ga~e Support (AGS)"sy s been
trained in the use of ACS by"a:~f~'I..,lpt~~~lon Res~~Fce·-spe~_~~nst.s; olds a
'-:<.,:~~-\W<~>/:
..-.:... ..'

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top-secret clearance. .i.>:

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9/11 Law Enforcement Privacy

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9/11 Law Enforcement Privacy

\".\~\,<.>.\ Much"ofthejnvestigative work for the JTTF involves being prepared to respond
.:\\,::::.\>.;::;.> .. to terrorist activity at .specialevents. Iritelligence analysts assigned to the JITF tra~k
\ \.\.....
::.\,\:-.\~heseoccasions and alert the J'TTf-members to up-coming events. Additional special
\ \.\. \....
\::..·\:-i'v.~ntsbriefings are provided by the National)TTF from FBIHQ. Normal leads are
\........
\. \..~':::::::
..·~.~ignedby the FBI squad supervisor. The supervisoris also responsible for reading all
\. \. \. \..\:::'~l.tt~.g6i.ng
correspondence and clearing the leads from tlie'ACS,,~ystem.

\ '\ \,"\:::,:~\:::::r-tprovides "in house" liaison for the FBI agents w~t~~~~iRS;r-1iS
\. \ '\. fiPl~~~d~tions in the information that he can provide from IRS source~
\. \, \.limf~.jncl\lde 'not being able to provide Social Security Account numbers, or income
\. \ \~ev~ISJ-... \, I~sists the other investigators in obtaining ex parte orders for income tax
'\ \., i~.fo~~.~i\n. \..... \.,\
\. \, \:::.\\~f6~
\ \at ~,e
r' "",'\,...
'~~s h~(.1..~he
basic counter-terrorism training that is provided by the FBI
fJe has alsoattended lectures by case officers from the United Kingdom's
\ '~I-~\and.,,~i~,~~ed ~'~,~asson,,~.ounter-terrorismat the Naval Academy in Annapolis, MD.

\ \\' '1. . ...... \ ...~~ted ~h~tIRS '6'n,~ be an to investigate t~rrorism related subjects after
\ th~ terronst attacks-on 09/1. 1200 does not specifically know the counter-
\ terrorismpolicy o'(t~ IRS.' id know that the FBI's policy and highest priority
\was\~e p~~ven&.?n"~f:'te~ti~, JTTF reports on ,terrorism threats :md issu~s are

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provided t~ IRS;'~nd_ 'i- Jhas never been denied access to any information at the
fFO.\ \.... \....... \\...
\ " ..., Iw~"rked Whf improvements could be made to the JTTF and the
investigafi ve m;lssion ....said that the office space is very cramped and he has to
share a desk with another investigator. He also stated that there are a limited number of
data lines in the "~:uad area and ~ frequently has to leave the squad area to use his IRS
laptop computer. f Iwould'l~keto see more long-term investigations assigned to
the ~TfF with a pro-active strategy.] . ~ecommends that an integrated data
retrieval system be developed, that would merge the databases of the principal Federal
inve~igative agencies. .

:1... __ ..... ~rovided no additional information at this time.

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