Steve Neavling

Hoping to transform how it operates, the FBI is trying to build a massive cloud infrastructure to store massive amounts of information for easy sharing among bureaus, the Federal Times reports.

The FBI’s Criminal Justice Information Services Division wants to create a cloud environment for statistics, fingerprints and criminal background checks at the Clarskburg, WV, facility.

The cloud must have an astonishing amount of memory – 2.3 petabytes.

“At this point in time, the [FBI] is simply exploring new technologies and potential emerging capabilities with this RFI,” FBI spokesman Stephen Fischer said.

Experts say the storage cloud would save the FBI money and be readily available.

OTHER STORIES OF INTEREST

• FBI Traces ‘White Powder’ in Hoax Letters to Texas Man
• Civil Rights Groups: Investigate Use of Pepper Spray in Jails
• Protest Delays FBI’s $500M Deal with Motorola
• Family of Mexican Teen Sues Border Patrol in 2014 Death
• Man Accused of Selling Stolen Guns, Drugs in Mississippi

Judge Enrique Camarena, Jr.

While six extradited Colombians have been arraigned and await trial in the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia on charges related to the murder of DEA Special Agent James “Terry” Watson in Bogota last summer, the DEA Survivor Benefit Fund dedicated a memorial this summer to Special Agent Watson in his home town of Rayville, LA.

Farther west, past investment by the SBF Higher Education Fund bore particularly poignant fruit when Enrique Camarena, Jr. was appointed to a judgeship on the San Diego Superior Court in July 15th. Judge Camarena was 11 years old when his father DEA Special Agent Enrique “Kiki” Camarena was murdered by Mexican drug cartel members in February 1985.

Like Special Agent Terry Watson, Enrique “Kiki” Camarena lived a full life of bravery and service. He was born in Mexicali, Mexico, but his family moved to the United States in Calexico, California. He became a naturalized U. S. citizen and served in the Marines, as a firefighter and police investigator before joining DEA.

His son at an early age made a commitment to follow in his father’s footsteps. With the support of the DEA Survivors Benefit Fund he went to law school and became a Deputy District Attorney for San Diego County. He has also been active in the work of the Camarena Foundation and in contributing to the efforts to support other children who have lost a father or mother who were killed in the line of duty.

No doubt Judge Camarena’s father was in his and his family’s memories as he received his robe to the Superior Court bench.

Timothy McVeigh/fbi photo

A Salt Lake Security attorney is suing the FBI to release what he says is a video that shows a second person was involved in the Oklahoma City bombing, the USA Today reports.

But the FBI has maintained it lost the surveillance video from the 1995 blast that killed 168 people.

Jesse Trentadue says his brother, who died in a federal holding cell after being transferred to Oklahoma several months after the bombing, bore a striking resemblance to a second bombing suspect.

“I did not start out to solve the Oklahoma City bombing, I started out for justice for my brother’s murder,” Jesse Trentadue said. “But along the way, every path I took, every lead I got, took me to the bombing.”

Despite records that indicate the FBI has surveillance video, the bureau said it can’t find them, and it would take more than 18 months to conduct a thorough search.

Steve Neavling

Special Agent Chris Combs has been busy since taking over the FBI’s San Antonio office in April.

Combs, who opened the San Antonio office for a media tour on Monday, covers a large area of South Texas and also works out of offices in Austin, Waco and along the border, KSAT 12 reports.

With a immigration crisis brewing at the border, the FBI has been investigating a scheme in which people masquerading as U.S. officials are asking for thousands of dollars from families to reunite with their children.

“It was a fraud, the United States government does not ask for money to bring these children back to their family members,” Combs said. “It’s hard to believe that somebody would take advantage of children and their families that have been separated to make a couple hundred bucks, so we take that very seriously and we have a nationwide investigation going now.”

Combs said his office is working closely with Border Patrol.

“We work very closely with them, as they’re in charge of protecting the border,” Combs said. “As they gather people who have come across illegally, there’s a good information flow there. If there are people they are concerned about, they contact the FBI and we work with them.”

Before coming to San Antonio, Combs was the lead agent to respond to shootings across the country.

Media coverage of Newton, Connecticut shooting

The FBI has taken the unusual step of urging the media to stop identifying mass shooters, KSAT.com reports.

The campaign, called “Don’t Name Them,” comes after researchers at Texas State University found that fame and past mass casualties often motivated shooters.

“When the media covers it, it unfortunately puts ideas in people’s heads,” said Chris Combs, special agent in charge of the San Antonio FBI field office.

Dr. Pete Blair, a researcher with TSU, said reporters are often focused on identifying the shooters and sharing their personal information.

“We understand that the events have to be covered, but it shouldn’t be a glamor piece making this person the center point of the story,” Blair said. “We’d much rather see stories about the heroes and the victims and those sorts of things.”

Blair said people should call out news organizations on social media for naming shooters.

Steve Neavling

Security comes at a cost.

Since the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks, passengers have complained about long wait times and intrusive searches.

Now the TSA is offering $15,000 for the best ideas for improving those frustrating screening lines, the Los Angeles Times reports.

The challenge, said TSA spokesman Ross Feinstein, “is about leveraging innovation and out-of-the-box thinking to find solutions to TSA’s most challenging issues.”

The person with the best idea will receive at least $5,000, while others with good ideas will get at least $2,500.

By Allan Lengel

Harold H. Shaw has been named special agent in charge of the Intelligence Division at the New York Field Office.

Since April 2013, he has served as a section chief and deputy director for law enforcement at the CIA’s Counterterrorism Center (CTC) as a liaison between the FBI and the CIA, the FBI said in a press release.

Shaw joined the FBI in 1999 and was first assigned to the New York Field Office where he worked as a member of the Joint Terrorism Task Force (JTTF) and investigated international and domestic terrorism cases, including the USS Cole bombing.

In 2003, he was promoted to FBI Headquarters as a supervisory special agent detailed to the CTC. In this role, he served as one of the first liaison officers between the FBI and CIA,the FBI press release said.

He later served as the deputy director for law enforcement for the CTC-International Terrorism Department.

In 2005, Shaw was promoted to field supervisor in the New York Field Office and oversaw a JTTF squad responsible for international terrorism tied to the Middle East.

In November 2011, Shaw was promoted to assistant special agent in charge of the FBI New York Field Office’s Counterterrorism Division.