The Counterterrorism Division (CTD) is a division of the

National Security Branch The National Security Branch (NSB) is a service within the Federal Bureau of Investigation. The NSB is responsible for protecting the United States from weapons of mass destruction, acts of terrorism, and foreign intelligence operations and e ...

of the

Federal Bureau of Investigation The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) is the domestic intelligence and security service of the United States and its principal federal law enforcement agency. Operating under the jurisdiction of the United States Department of Justice ...

. CTD investigates

terrorist Terrorism, in its broadest sense, is the use of criminal violence to provoke a state of terror or fear, mostly with the intention to achieve political or religious aims. The term is used in this regard primarily to refer to intentional violen ...

threats inside the United States, provides information on terrorists outside the country, and tracks known terrorists worldwide. In the wake of the

September 11 attacks The September 11 attacks, commonly known as 9/11, were four coordinated suicide terrorist attacks carried out by al-Qaeda against the United States on Tuesday, September 11, 2001. That morning, nineteen terrorists hijacked four commer ...

in 2001, CTD's funding and manpower have significantly increased. The Division employs counterterrorism field operations organized into squads, the number of which varies according to the amount and diversity of activity in the local field office's jurisdiction. Larger field offices, such as

Los Angeles Los Angeles ( ; es, Los Ángeles, link=no , ), often referred to by its initials L.A., is the largest city in the state of California and the second most populous city in the United States after New York City, as well as one of the world ...

, maintain counterterrorism squads for each major terrorist group, as well as for domestic terrorism and terrorist financing, while smaller field offices combined such responsibilities across two to three squads.

Leadership

The Counterterrorism Division is headed by an assistant director, who reports to the executive assistant director of the

FBI National Security Branch The National Security Branch (NSB) is a service within the Federal Bureau of Investigation. The NSB is responsible for protecting the United States from weapons of mass destruction, acts of terrorism, and foreign intelligence operations and e ...

Organization

The Counterterrorism Division has several branches: * Intelligence Branch * Operations Branch I * Operations Branch II * Operations Branch III * Analytical Branch * Operational Support Branch Operations Branch I is composed of two sections: International Terrorism Operations Section I (ITOS-I) and International Terrorism Operations Section II (ITOS-II). The ITOS-I covers

al Qaeda Al-Qaeda (; , ) is an Islamic extremism, Islamic extremist organization composed of Salafist jihadists. Its members are mostly composed of Arab, Arabs, but also include other peoples. Al-Qaeda has mounted attacks on civilian and military ta ...

terrorist activity on a regional basis in the United States and abroad. ITOS-II focuses on four non-al Qaeda groups:

Palestinian Palestinians ( ar, الفلسطينيون, ; he, פָלַסְטִינִים, ) or Palestinian people ( ar, الشعب الفلسطيني, label=none, ), also referred to as Palestinian Arabs ( ar, الفلسطينيين العرب, label=non ...

rejectionist groups,

Iran Iran, officially the Islamic Republic of Iran, and also called Persia, is a country located in Western Asia. It is bordered by Iraq and Turkey to the west, by Azerbaijan and Armenia to the northwest, by the Caspian Sea and Turkmeni ...

and

Hezbollah Hezbollah (; ar, حزب الله ', , also transliterated Hizbullah or Hizballah, among others) is a Lebanese Shia Islamist political party and militant group, led by its Secretary-General Hassan Nasrallah since 1992. Hezbollah's parami ...

Iraq Iraq,; ku, عێراق, translit=Êraq officially the Republic of Iraq, '; ku, کۆماری عێراق, translit=Komarî Êraq is a country in Western Asia. It is bordered by Turkey to Iraq–Turkey border, the north, Iran to Iran–Iraq ...

Syria Syria ( ar, سُورِيَا or سُورِيَة, translit=Sūriyā), officially the Syrian Arab Republic ( ar, الجمهورية العربية السورية, al-Jumhūrīyah al-ʻArabīyah as-Sūrīyah), is a Western Asian country loc ...

Libya Libya (; ar, ليبيا, Lībiyā), officially the State of Libya ( ar, دولة ليبيا, Dawlat Lībiyā), is a country in the Maghreb region in North Africa. It is bordered by the Mediterranean Sea to the north, Egypt to the east, Suda ...

, and other global terrorist groups. ITOS II has a

Central Intelligence Agency The Central Intelligence Agency (CIA ), known informally as the Agency and historically as the Company, is a civilian foreign intelligence service of the federal government of the United States, officially tasked with gathering, processing, ...

officer serving as Deputy Section Chief, and an FBI agent is detailed to the CIA's

Counterterrorism Center The U.S. Central Intelligence Agency's Mission Center for Counterterrorism (often referred to as the Counterterrorism Mission Center or CTMC, formerly the Counterterrorism Center, or simply CTC) was established in 1986, and is a division of the CI ...

as that unit's Deputy Director. Operations Branch II includes three more disparate sections: the

Weapons of Mass Destruction A weapon of mass destruction (WMD) is a chemical, biological, radiological, nuclear, or any other weapon that can kill and bring significant harm to numerous individuals or cause great damage to artificial structures (e.g., buildings), natu ...

and

Domestic Terrorism Domestic terrorism or homegrown terrorism is a form of terrorism in which victims "within a country are targeted by a perpetrator with the same citizenship" as the victims.Gary M. Jackson, ''Predicting Malicious Behavior: Tools and Techniques ...

Section (WMD/DT), Communications Exploitation Section (CXS), and Terrorist Financing Operations Section (TFOS). ** The WMD/DT Section, despite its presence within the domestically focused Operations Branch II, is international in scope and function. ** The TFOS is an operational and coordinating entity. It directs

terrorism financing Terrorism financing is the provision of funds or providing financial support to individual terrorists or non-state actors. Most countries have implemented measures to counter terrorism financing (CTF) often as part of their money laundering la ...

investigations and works jointly with partners to block and freeze assets. However, its primary role is to coordinate and support the financial components of terrorism investigations conducted by ITOS I and II. The TFOS mission is to identify, investigate, prosecute, disrupt, and incrementally dismantle all terrorist-related financial and fund-raising activities. The section is composed of four units: *** Radical Fundamentalist Financial Investigative Unit *** Domestic WMD and Global Financial Investigations Unit *** Global Extremist Financial Investigations Unit *** Financial Intelligence Analysis Unit. The Analytical Branch includes two sections: the Counterterrorism Analysis Section (which supports Operations I and II) and the Terrorism Reports and Requirements Section (TRRS). The Branch also includes a Strategic Assessment and Analysis Unit, Production and Publications Unit. The Operational Support Branch manages the CTD's administrative and resource functions, FBI detailees to other agencies, and the Foreign Terrorist Tracking Task Force. The various local Joint Terrorism Task Forces falls under the domain of this branch.

References

External links

Federal Bureau of Investigation Website

National Security Branch Website
*
FBI Terrorism Website
{{FBI Federal Bureau of Investigation Counterterrorist organizations

Leadership

Organization

See also

References

External links