The
FBI works around the globe to combat the most dangerous
criminal and security threats facing
our country—from international and domestic terrorists
to spies on U.S. soil…from cyber villains to
corrupt government officials…from mobsters to
violent street thugs…from child predators to
serial killers.
We currently have jurisdiction over violations in
more than 200 categories of federal law. They generally
fall under our three national security priorities and
our five criminal priorities as follows:
National Security Priorities:
1. Protect the United States from terrorist attack
It’s our overriding priority—to
head off terrorist attacks by identifying and disrupting
the
plots of international and domestic terrorist operatives
and cells, by cutting off terrorist financing and undercutting
other forms of support provided by terrorist sympathizers,
by sharing information and intelligence with partners
worldwide, and by providing strategic and operational
threat analysis to decision makers and the wider intelligence
community.
Our work locally is led by our Milwaukee Joint Terrorism
Task Force (JTTF). The work of the JTTF was strengthened
in the days following the 9/11 attacks. The task force—made
up of representatives of local, state, and federal
agencies—runs down any and all terrorism leads,
develops and investigates cases, provides support for
special events, and proactively identifies threats
that may impact the area and the nation.
The work of the task forces is bolstered by the Milwaukee
Field Intelligence Group, which centralizes and spearheads
the analysis and sharing of terrorism-related intelligence
(and intelligence on all major threats) both inside
and outside the Bureau.
For more information on the
FBI’s national efforts
to prevent terrorist attacks, see our Counterterrorism
webpage.
And see our Press
Room for current cases and our
Milwaukee
History page for past investigations.
2. Protect the United States against foreign intelligence
operations and espionage
Today, more foreign spies—not just traditional
adversaries but also allies, hackers, and terrorists—are
trying to steal more of our secrets from more places
than ever before. What do they want? Our country's
juiciest classified information, of course—from
military plans to national security vulnerabilities
to our own intelligence activities. But increasingly,
they also want our country's trade secrets—innovations
that give us a leg up in the global marketplace—and
seemingly harmless technologies that could be used
to develop or improve weapons of mass destruction.
In Milwaukee, we have a dedicated
foreign counterintelligence squad that—in line with the FBI’s National
Strategy for Counterintelligence—works to keep
weapons of mass destruction and other embargoed technologies
from falling into wrong hands, to protect secrets of
the U.S. government (including the intelligence community)
and critical national assets, and to help strengthen
the national threat picture by proactively gathering
information and intelligence. Our work includes “knowing
our domain” (the key targets in our territory),
developing strategic partnerships with area institutions,
and disrupting the efforts of insiders and key nations.
For more information on the
FBI’s national program,
see our Counterintelligence
webpage.
And see our Press
Room for current cases and our
Milwaukee
History page for past investigations.
3. Protect the United States against cyber-based attacks
and high-technology crimes
The FBI leads the national effort to investigate high-tech
crimes, including cyber-based terrorism, hostile intelligence
operations carried out over the Internet, and more
traditional cyber crime and fraud. Our work includes
identifying and stopping: the individuals and enterprises
behind the most serious computer intrusions and the
spread of malicious code; online sexual predators who
use the Internet to meet and exploit children and groups
that use it to produce, possess, or share child pornography;
operations that target U.S. intellectual property;
and the most significant perpetrators of Internet fraud.
In Milwaukee, we have a squad dedicated to cyber
crimes and attacks, and we participate in a variety
of multi-agency partnerships. See our Partnerships
webpage for details.
For more information on the
FBI’s national efforts,
see our Cyber
Investigations webpage.
And see our Press
Room for current cases and our
Milwaukee
History page for past investigations.
Criminal Priorities
4. Combat public corruption at all levels
Corruption in government threatens
our country’s
democracy and national security, impacting everything
from how well our borders are secured and our neighborhoods
protected…to verdicts handed down in courts…to
the quality of our roads and schools. And it takes
a significant toll on our pocketbooks, too, wasting
billions of tax dollars every year.
Our investigations in Milwaukee focus on violations
of federal law—such as bribery, contract and
procurement fraud, antitrust, environmental crimes,
and election fraud—by public officials in local,
state, and federal government, as well as violations
of the Foreign
Corrupt Practices Act.
For more information on the
FBI’s national efforts,
see our Public
Corruption webpage.
And see our Press
Room for current cases and our
Milwaukee
History page for past investigations.
5. Protect civil rights
The FBI is the lead agency for
investigating violations of federal civil rights
laws…and we take that
responsibility seriously. Specifically, we aggressively
investigate and work to prevent hate crime, color of
law abuses, human trafficking, and freedom of access
to clinic entrances violations—the four top priorities
of our civil rights program. We focus on all of these
issues in Milwaukee.
For more information on our overall efforts, see our
Civil
Rights webpage.
And see our Press
Room for current cases and our
Milwaukee
History page for past investigations.
6. Combat transnational/national criminal organizations
and enterprises
Criminal organizations—from mob families to
street gangs to drug trafficking outfits—sow
violence and crime in our communities and create underground
economies that undercut free enterprise.
Most of our work in this priority throughout the Milwaukee
Division focuses on violent gangs and drugs through
a variety
of law enforcement partnerships. See our Partnerships
webpage for details.
Learn more about our national work to combat organized
crime and violent
street gangs.
And see our Press
Room for current cases and our
Milwaukee
History page for past investigations.
7. Combat major white-collar crime
Fraud—the art of deliberate deception for unlawful
gain—is as old as history; the term "white-collar
crime" was reportedly coined in 1939 and has since
become synonymous with the full range of frauds committed
by business and government professionals. Today's con
artists are more savvy and sophisticated than ever,
engineering everything from slick online scams to complex
stock and health care frauds.
We have two squads dedicated to fighting white-collar
crime in the Milwaukee region. The first focuses on
fraud in general; the second targets health care fraud.
For more information, see our White-Collar
Crime webpage. And
see our Press
Room for current cases and our Milwaukee
History page for past investigations.
8. Combat significant violent crime
Even with our post-9/11 national security responsibilities,
we continue to play a key role in combating violent
crime in big cities and local communities across the
United States. Beyond our work targeting violent gangs
and other criminal enterprises, we focus on such issues
as crimes against children, crime on Indian reservations,
the search for wanted fugitives, serial killings, kidnapping,
murder for hire, bank robberies, and special crimes
like the carriage of weapons on aircraft and crime
on the high seas.
In Milwaukee, we work closely with a host of law
enforcement partners to address the full range of violent
crimes. See our Partnerships
webpage for details.
For more details on our overall national efforts,
see our Major
Thefts and Violent Crime webpage.
And see our Press
Room for current cases and our
Milwaukee
History page for past investigations.
