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FBI: Cybercrime is now a 'top 10 priority'
Wed May 29, 6:12 PM ET
Margaret Kane, Staff Writer, News.com

The director of the FBI (news - web sites) announced Wednesday that a major 
reorganization of the agency would include a new focus on cybercrime and 
technology.

Protecting the United States against "cyber-based attacks and high-technology 
crimes" is one of the FBI's top 10 priorities, Director Robert Mueller said at 
a news conference detailing a major reorganization of the agency.

Preventing high-tech crime "is a protection of our infrastructure," he said. 
Cyberterrorism and cybercrime can happen anywhere, and "you need the 
overarching responsibility in an agency such as the FBI."

The cybercrime focus is part of a major reorganization that will also add new 
agents and put more resources toward preventing terrorism.

The FBI recently announced a new "Cyber Division" to coordinate the agency's 
technology-related efforts. The division is being charged with supervising 
investigations of federal violations where the Internet, computer systems and 
networks "are exploited as the principal instruments or targets of criminal 
activity," the FBI has said.

Larry Mefford, who had served as associate special agent in charge of the San 
Francisco Field Office, was named assistant director of the Cyber Division.

The reorganization comes as news that a glitch in the FBI's e-mail wiretap 
system could have hindered investigations into terrorist threats.

Mueller also said Wednesday that upgrading technology to support the FBI was a 
top priority.

"Upgrading our technology means not just getting our computers on board and our 
hard drives, but everybody from the top to the bottom getting facile with the 
technology," he said. The FBI has been "years behind where it should be."




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