nCircle Sync Blog

The first of 5 Thursday nights spent in Menlo Park attending the FBI Citizens' Academy went off well. Our first night topics included a general introduction to the FBI, counterintelligence and computer forensics.

The sessions are held at the regional computer forensics laboratory in Menlo Park and the attendees in my session are a broad cross section from the community. From computer geeks (like myself) to school principals, attorneys, professors, entrepreneurs and movie makers, the class seems to represent a little of everything from the 15 counties in the San Francisco division.

After a good overview and history of the FBI, we were introduced to the counterintelligence strategic plan. With respect to counterintelligence, the goal of the program is to identity and disrupt threats while also trying to change the behavior at targeted organizations to minimize exploitation. In order to meet goals of identification, disruption and behavior change, the FBI has six counter intelligence strategic objectives.

1. Prevent or neutralize WMD technology or equipment
2. Prevent penetration of US intelligence community
3. Prevent penetration of US government entities and contractors
4. Prevent penetration of critical national assets
5. Conduct counterintelligence operations focusing on countries that constitute the most significant threat to U.S. strategic objectives
6. Collect, produce, and disseminate domestic foreign intelligence and counterintelligence.

The final topic for the evening was a presentation by the director of the regional computer forensics lab. The RCFL in Menlo Park services all law enforcement agencies within the area, just not the FBI. The facility houses 9 fulltime analysts whose job it is to extract evidence from computers in accordance with legal warrants. Any local enforcement agency can drop off computer equipment for analysis. And while it's the FBI that foots the bill for the lab, it's both the FBI and local agencies that support and use the facility. According to the director, there are 14 labs and some 400 computer forensic examiners nationwide.