FBI National Security Branch - Essay Example

According to the Federal Bureau of Intelligence, the NSB plays a critical role in protecting the United States against terrorist attacks, weapons of mass destruction, espionage, and foreign intelligence operations. The NSB mission ensures that the Bureau is in a position to perform its national security duties (FBI, 2006). The national security branch is made up of the counterterrorism division, counterintelligence division, and directorate of intelligence, terrorist screening centre, weapons of mass of destruction and a counter proliferation centre.

The counterterrorism division concentrates on international and local terrorism related issues (fbi.gov, 2012). This division utilises its investigative and intelligence capabilities to fight acts of terrorism. The counterterrorism division fights against terrorism by dismantling terrorist networks worldwide, and cutting off any form of support that terrorists gain from sympathizers. The FBI states that the counterintelligence division is responsible for preventing and investigating foreign intelligence activities in the United States.

The counterintelligence division investigates the past and emerging threats to determine the state of national security. The counterintelligence division employs intelligence and law enforcement procedures to carry out investigative operations such as spying activities (wordpress.com, 2010). The directorate of intelligence (DI) is in charge of the Bureaus intelligence functions. The directorate of intelligence supervises field intelligence operations, which include collections down to dissemination.

The DI ensures that intelligence is incorporated in all investigative programs. The DI continuously improves on its compilation, investigation, and dissemination capabilities to enable them provide intelligence that is important in protecting the nation (fbi.gov, 2012). The terrorist screening centre is another important division in the national security branch. The terrorist screening centre supports the bureau in the fight against terrorism. The terrorist screening centre is responsible for providing a comprehensive watch list of identified or suspected terrorists.

The terrorist screening database is accessible to government agencies such as departments of states, central intelligence agency, counterterrorism centre, department of defence, and the department of homeland security (FBI, 2006). According to the Bureau, the terrorist watch list is one of the most valuable counterterrorism tools for the United States government (fbi.gov, 2012). The national security branch has the weapons of mass destruction directorate, which is responsible for preventing and disrupting the possession of weapons of mass destruction capabilities and technologies.

The National security branch created the WMD directorate in July 2006. The directorate deals with incidents that involve nuclear, biological, radiological and chemical weapons. The directorate employs intelligence to carry out investigations, develop countermeasures and drive preparedness that will ensure threats are prevented from becoming a reality. The FBI explains that the WMD directorate has a vision to eliminate the use of WMD. The directorate identifies and responds to WMD threats. The directorate cooperates with other law enforcement agencies to identify, and disrupt WMD operations (FBI, 2006).

The Directorate supports the United States