FBI New Orleans Division

As the lead counterintelligence agency within the U.S. Intelligence Community, the FBI has the principal authority to conduct and coordinate counterintelligence investigations and operations within the U.S. Supported by other U.S. agencies, as needed, the FBI also conducts espionage investigations anywhere in the world when the subject of the investigation is a U.S. person and is not under the jurisdiction of the Department of Defense, Uniform Code of Military Justice.

The FBI's authority to conduct foreign counterintelligence (FCI) investigations is derived from executive order, acts of Congress, and the Attorney General's Guidelines.

Following World War II, the U.S. pursued a foreign policy of containment of communist regimes and prevention of nuclear war. Therefore, the FBI designed its FCI Program to identify and neutralize those conducting espionage activity for our nation's adversaries. As the program developed, the intelligence threat was defined in terms of the military. Those countries whose intelligence services represented the most significant intelligence threats were also potential military adversaries of the U.S. The FBI aggressively investigated persons selling secrets to those countries.

However, in recent years, the world has witnessed dramatic changes, particularly in Eastern Europe, as well as Russia, Georgia, the Ukraine, and the other countries that once formed the Soviet Union. As a result, the FBI found it could no longer identify its counterintelligence mission solely in terms of adversarial relationships.

In response to these changes, the FBI focuses on certain powers that pose a threat to U.S. national security and on certain issue threats. For example, recent legislation was passed concerning economic espionage. The 1996 Economic Espionage Act makes it a federal felony, which is punishable by 15 years imprisonment, for anyone to divert or steal a trade secret on behalf of a foreign power. (NOTE: The new statute also makes it a felony, with a 10-year prison term, for an individual to engage in commercial theft of trade secrets in cases not involving foreign power. These cases are investigated as part of our White Collar Crime Program.)

The New Orleans Field Office is actively involved in a program called ANSIR (Awareness of National Security Issues and Response). A senior FBI counterintelligence Agent provides unclassified national security threat and warning information to corporate executives. In addition to live presentations, the New Orleans Field Office disseminates to all major corporations around the state, a monthly facsimile regarding trends in corporate espionage techniques and information so that each entity can assess their vulnerability.

In August 1997, New Orleans was one of the first field offices to conduct a state-wide threat assessment. This assessment was sent to corporations, universities, military facilities, and key infrastructure components such as the water board and telephone company. As a result of this assessment, these entities are more aware of the counterintelligence threat and FBI jurisdiction. In addition, as a result of information received, the division opened new counterintelligence investigations.

Contact 504-816-3000 or by fax 504-816-3306 with questions or comments about this web site.
Last modified: June 6, 2005