24 January 2004
Maps from Mapquest.com
Source of photo:
http://seamless.usgs.gov. The photo
is 3-meter resolution; no high-resolution photo was available on the Seamless
site.
This site is the FBI Engineering Research Facility (ERF), adjoining the
FBI Training Academy,
both located on the US Marine training base at Quantico, VA. The ERF Annex
is reported to be located nearby Stafford, VA (A. writes: "A recent federal
RFP called for a T1 line between Fort Meade and the ERF Annex in Stafford,
VA.")
ERF is where the FBI conducts advanced research and forensics investigations
(in cooperation with the FBI main laboratory in Washington, DC), in particular
on cyber threats and interception of electronic communications with programs
such as Carnivore.
http://www.aipla.org/Content/ContentGroups/Legislative_Action/107th_Congress/House_Of_Representatives1/hr107_42.pdf
(Thanks to A.)
The new structure focuses FBI resources on Tier 1 missions by creating three
new decision units: ‘‘National Security’’,
‘‘Counterterrorism’’, and ‘‘Cyber-Investigations
and Infrastructure Protection’’. These activities will define the
FBI in the 21st century. In particular, the proposed
‘‘Cyber-Investigations and Infrastructure Protection’’
decision unit, with base funding of $101,429,000, consolidates the funding
of a number of mutually-supportive initiatives that had been scattered across
existing decision units, such as the National Infrastructure Protection Center,
including the Special Applications and Technology Unit, computer intrusion
squads, Computer Analysis Response Teams, Internet fraud squads, the Internet
Fraud Complaint and Intellectual Property Rights Centers, ‘‘Innocent
Images’’, and the new Cyber Technology Section of the Engineering
Research Facility.
Engineering Research Facility.—Well-heeled criminals, foreign agents,
and terrorists have been quick to exploit technological innovations, complicating
Bureau investigations. The Engineering Research Facility [ERF] develops and
fields cutting edge technology in support of case agents. The rapid pace
of progress has necessitated an equally rapid expansion of ERF programs simply
to keep current with industry advances. The resultant cramped conditions
at the facility have forced employees into leased space and is slowing critical
projects due to a lack of room for new equipment. For several years, the
FBI has been pursuing funds for the construction of an ERF annex. The annex
would: (1) allow the FBI to consolidate far-flung cybercrime assets at the
ERF, (2) accommodate planned growth, and (3) improve security by allowing
programs of differing sensitivities to be physically separated. Therefore,
the Committee recommendation provides $32,541,000 for planning, site preparation,
design, and construction of the ERF annex. The FBI may use prior year recoveries
or unobligated balances to pay for short-term leased space in order to alleviate
overcrowding at the ERF until the new annex opens. In addition, the
recommendation includes $10,283,000 to refurbish the existing ERF facility.
Among many Google citations:
http://www.tiaonline.org/media/press_releases/2000/00-68.cfm
The FBI's Carnivore Program
Carnivore is a packet "sniffer" software program that the FBI's Engineering
Research Facility (ERF) in Quantico, Va. developed to covertly search for
e-mails and other computer messages from criminal suspects. The program (which
could run on a laptop, but is usually installed in a rack-mounted computer)
sits in an ISP's facilities, monitoring all packets going through a particular
router or pipe. The program essentially is an extremely fast search program
that looks for particular snippets of information, such as name@company.com.
It was developed by the FBI's ERF last year and is reported to have been
used in about 50 cases.
The FBI's program is extremely sophisticated. A team of software engineers
in Quantico constantly modifies the program in order to make it faster and
allow it to recognize new protocols and programs. The Internet, of course,
is a very flexible medium - many kinds of computer communications can be
sent over it. Thus in order to make sense out of the billions of 1s and 0s
passing by it, Carnivore has to be familiar with the most common applications
used for Internet communications (e.g., MS Outlook E-mail and Lotus Notes
E-mail) and their updates.
http://www.fbodaily.com/archive/2003/09-September/01-Sep-2003/FBO-00417090.htm
58 -- Digital Audio Encoding/Decoding Devices
Notice Date: 8/30/2003
Contracting Office: Department of Justice, Federal Bureau of Investigation,
Engineering Contracts Unit/PPMS, FBI Engineering Research Facility Building
27958A, Room A-263, Quantico, VA, 22135
Point of Contact: Duane McClary, Contracting Officer, Phone 703-632-6104,
Fax 703-632-6103
E-Mail Address:
dmcclary@fbiacademy.edu
|
