criminal, cyber, response and services branch
Meeting Multiple Challenges, Defeating Multiple Threats The Criminal, Cyber, Response and Services Branch
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By J.R. Wilson
he post-September 11 restructuring of the FBI included the creation of the Law Enforcement Services Branch (LESB), a massive new entity combining much of the Bureau’s traditional criminal investigative operations with expanded new efforts targeting the rapidly growing field of cyber crimes. But both the LESB and its immediate successor were short-lived, as subsequent reorganizations further realigned and refocused the nation’s premier investigative agency. “At the time, there were just two branches; now there are five, all headed by Executive Assistant Directors [EADs], who basically are No. 4 in the hierarchy,” explained EAD Steve Tidwell. “We began as the Law Enforcement Services
“Everything I had learned about being an FBI executive went out the window on 9/11.” Steve Tidwell, FBI Executive Assistant Director, Criminal, Cyber, Response and Services Branch Branch, including the lab and training. As more branches were added, the lab moved to Science and Technology and training to Human Resources and what was left behind was called the Criminal Investigations Branch.
“But the Senate did not believe that name accurately reflected what we did, which included the Criminal Investigative Division [CID] and the Cyber Division, so we became the Criminal, Cyber, Response and Services Branch [CCRSB]. ‘Response’ is for the Critical Issues Response Group [CIRG] and ‘Services’ is the OIO [Office of International Operations], which includes all the legal attachés [LEGATS], and the OLEC [Office of Law Enforcement Cooperation].” Under the initial change, any FBI operation that had a near, immediate, and large intersection with local, state, or tribal law enforcement was resident in the Law Enforcement Services Branch. With the institution of five branches, investigative operational systems within the FBI were split between CCRSB and the National Security Branch. “The latest iteration has three parts: criminal and cyber are operational investigative entities; CIRG is a shared services entity; and all of the investigative operational divisions and other FBI entities are involved in supporting the counterterrorism mission,” noted Tidwell, who now heads the CCRSB. “OIO in some ways has all the responsibilities of an operational investigative division, but because the LEGATs operate from the offices of the ambassador or chief of mission in the embassies where they are based, they have broad responsibilities, from investigative to operating under State [Department] policies, procedures, and protocols, and the directions of the ambassador, who has
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