National Auto Fraud and Theft Prevention System Goes Live

The U.S. Department of Justice today announced the availability of an online computer system to help protect states and consumers from automobile fraud and to provide law enforcement with new tools to investigate fraud, theft, and other crimes involving vehicles. The National Motor Vehicle Title Information System, or NMVTIS, will be available for consumers on January 30, 2009 and will be accessible through third party, fee-for-service websites. The Office of Justice Programs’ (OJP) Bureau of Justice Assistance (BJA) administers NMVTIS in coordination with the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI).

The system allows state motor vehicle administrators to verify and exchange titling and brand data and provides law enforcement officials, consumers, and others with critical information regarding vehicle histories. Consumers now have access to the vehicle’s brand history, odometer data, and basic vehicle information and can be redirected to the current state of record to access the full title record if available. Law enforcement can track the vehicle’s status from state to state by accessing the system directly.

According to the National Insurance Crime Bureau, car theft is a profitable business generating nearly $8 billion a year. Along with implementing this system, the Department has outlined the various responsibilities and reporting requirements for states, auto recyclers, junk yards and salvage yards, and insurance carriers. The Department has designed the system consistent with federal law that requires that the system be paid for through user fees and not dependent on federal funding.

Since 1997, the Department of Justice has committed over $15 million to assist states and other stakeholders in the implementation of NMVTIS. Currently, NMVTIS has the participation, or partial participation, of 36 states. Ultimately, with full participation from all 50 states and the District of Columbia, NMVTIS will prevent stolen motor vehicles, including clones, from entering into interstate commerce; protect states and consumers from fraud; reduce the use of stolen vehicles for illicit purposes including fundraising for criminal enterprises; and provide consumer protection from unsafe vehicles. In research conducted by the Logistics Management Institute, the system is estimated to save taxpayers between $4 and $11 billion each year. For further information on NMVTIS, visit www.nmvtis.gov.

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Opinion: Keeping America Safe: The View from the FBI

Re “Focus on Immigration Crimes Is Said to Shortchange Other Cases” (front page, Jan. 12): The FBI remains highly committed to the investigation of public corruption and organized crime.

First, uncovering and investigating public corruption by public officials at all levels remains the top criminal priority for the FBI. Today, more FBI agents are assigned to public corruption than ever before, an increase of 38 percent since 2003. Over the past three years, the FBI helped prosecute nearly 2,500 corrupt local, state, and federal officials—a substantial increase over the previous three years and the highest number of prosecutions for such a period ever.

Second, after 9/11, with the FBI’s shift of some resources to fight terrorism, the larger white-collar crime program was restructured. Fewer cases were opened involving “low-hanging fruit” investigations and comparatively small amounts of money. State and local authorities have the jurisdiction to investigate these crimes. FBI resources have targeted corporate and securities fraud, which poses the greatest threat to the nation’s economic security.

Finally, today there are three times as many organized-crime task forces across the country and around the world than at the time of 9/11. Given the counterterrorism and counterintelligence demands, there are fewer FBI agents dedicated to organized crime. But the impact has not diminished: More arrests were made last year than in any year since 2001.

Necessarily, following the terrorist attacks of 9/11, the FBI shifted resources to strengthen national security. But there has been no reduction in its commitment to keep America safe—whether from traditional crimes, terrorism, or foreign intelligence collection.

John J. Miller
FBI Assistant Director
for Public Affairs

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Anthrax Investigation - Closing a Chapter

The victims and family members of the 2001 anthrax mailings have waited patiently for nearly seven years to find out who was responsible for the worst case of bioterrorism in U.S. history. This morning during a special briefing at FBI Headquarters, Director Robert Mueller provided answers. The briefing took place several hours before the public release of documents relating to the investigation.

While updating victims and their families on the case—in which five people were killed and 17 were sickened—Mueller said that “the pain and suffering the attacks caused the victims and their families was in the minds of all the investigators” as they tirelessly worked to solve the case. That pain and suffering, he added, “has never, ever been lost to us.”

This afternoon during a press conference, Department of Justice and FBI officials highlighted some of the information contained in thejust-released Amerithrax documents, explaining why charges were about to be brought against anthrax researcher Dr. Bruce Ivins, who took his own life before those charges could be filed.

U.S. Attorney Jeff Taylor, District of Columbia, said that normally evidence against a suspect who has not been charged is not publicly released, in part because of the presumption of innocence. “But,” added Taylor, “because of the extraordinary public interest in this investigation...we are compelled to take the extraordinary step of providing the victims, their families, Congress, and the American public with an overview of some recent developments as well as some of our conclusions.”

Because of Ivins’ death, the government will not be able to present its case in court. But according to Assistant Director in Charge Joseph Persichini, FBI Washington Field Office, “Bruce Ivins was responsible for the death, sickness, and fear brought to our country by the 2001 anthrax mailings.”

The Amerithrax investigation is one of the largest and most complex investigations ever conducted by law enforcement. The Amerithrax Task Force, comprised of 17 special agents and 10 U.S. postal inspectors, has conducted more than 9,100 interviews, executed more than 70 searches, and followed leads across six continents. Along the way, a brand new science was developed that ultimately led to the big break in the case.

That science—creating a DNA equivalent of a fingerprint—allowed investigators to pinpoint the origins of the anthrax. The FBI Laboratory, in conjunction with the best experts in the scientific community, developed four highly sensitive and specific tests to detect the unique qualities of the anthrax used in the 2001 attacks. This took several years to accomplish, but in early 2005 the groundbreaking research successfully identified where the anthrax used in the mailings had come from.

Another key piece of evidence was provided when investigators were able to identify a limited geographic area where the anthrax envelopes were purchased based on a forensic investigation that revealed printing defects in certain batches of envelopes.

In 2006, speaking about the investigation, Persichini said investigators were frustrated that no arrests had been made, but that “no one in the FBI has, for a moment, stopped thinking about the innocent victims of these attacks...The FBI's commitment to solving this case is undiminished."

Today, Persichini was able to tell the American public that a chapter on one of the most heinous crimes committed against the citizens of the United States has been closed.
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