On the front lines of terrorism: An interview with Thomas Locke (Part Three)

Locke

After 32 years battling terrorists with the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), retired agent Thomas Locke knows more than most about the past, present and future threats the United States confronts in the global war.

Now serving as the managing director if BGR Government Affairs – a bipartisan lobbying firm – Locke sat down to talk exclusively with GSN: Government Security News about the evolution of terrorism in the 20th century and how America can defeat the threat in the 21st.

In part three of our interview series, Locke discusses the current threat of terrorism and how the FBI, as an organization, is working to confront it, the role of the Department of Homeland Security, the most pressing American foreign policy objectives, what the future of terrorism will look like and how he believes we can eventually win the war on terror (read part one here and part two here).

“The FBI has undergone some very difficult times,” Locke told GSN. “Prior to my retirement, the average career of an FBI agent was 14 years. Now it’s five and a half. The brain drain is very severe. But I have to give the FBI credit; they are very resilient.”

A constant rotation of staff is just one problem the FBI faces when it comes to finding the right kind of man or woman for the job.

“It’s hard to hire FBI agents. We are getting a lot of people who changed careers. Really smart kids -- doctors, lawyers, teachers -- but they don’t have street smarts,” Locke adds. “After Vietnam, we got a lot of veterans who knew how to get out there and handle themselves on the streets. And that’s important, because 95 percent of what we do is talking to people. We need to know how to talk to them, whether it’s the CEO, the drug dealer or the terrorist.”

And it is not just the field office agents who are coming and going; so too is Director Robert Mueller and his yet-to-be-determined successor.

“The biggest thing that is happening for the FBI right now is getting a new director. Mueller’s 10 years are up,” he said.

Locke strongly believes that a new director of the FBI must be, “a law enforcement type with the experience that those type of individuals will bring.

“It could be Bill Bratton,” Locke added, referring to the former chief of police for Los Angeles and New York City. “But the smart money is on [New York City Police Commissioner] Ray Kelly.”

Staff is not the only difficulty the FBI faces. Since 9/11, the Bureau has had its jurisdiction slowly and steadily encroached upon by the Department of Homeland Security (DHS). When asked about how well he thought DHS was handling its job -- especially in light of the recent attempted terror attack in Times Square -- Locke told GSN, “Taking all those people and standing up a new agency is a Herculean task. I can’t even imagine getting my arms around it, it is too big for any one person to oversee.

“When Janet Napolitano got selected for the job of DHS Secretary, I thought thank God it isn’t me,” Locke added.

Being a long-time government servant, Locke has an insider’s insight into the working of the relatively young agency and its third appointed secretary.

“What I hear is Napolitano is easy to get along with, she listens to her advisors and she lets them do their job. But when you’re put in the national spotlight, like the president, every word is hung on. She hasn’t had national exposure and she doesn’t always know the right thing to say at the right time. Her misspeaks are receiving all the play. It’s hard with the 24-hour news cycle.

“She must be held responsible for every world that comes out of her mouth,” Locke said. “But it is a fast-paced, fast-moving, monumental task, and she deserves some credit for simply taking the position.”

Locke says he was not surprised when the arrest of the Times Square bomber, Faisal Shahzad, was announced so soon after the incident occurred.

“The network of sources and information-gathering tools that they have is incredible. I knew that by tomorrow we would have somebody, and sure enough it happened.

“But he did leave his keys in the car and I’m sure that made it a bit easier for law enforcement,” Locke added.

Locke doesn’t believe that the two recent attempted terrorist attacks -- both Shahzad and the “Christmas Day bomber” Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab -- are the fault of the current administration.

“The two attacks are not President [Barack] Obama’s fault. The fundamentalists are going to do something and at some point, heaven help us, they may be successful. We have stopped countless conspiracies,” Locke said.

“It’s just a question of time before it happens,” he added. “The only thing we have going for us is a very alert law enforcement community and every day they are getting better. And the American people are really starting to get engaged in ‘if you see something, say something.’ Hopefully the attack, when it happens, won’t be overwhelming.”

Like most experts in the security field today, Locke is most fearful of those who have yet to pop up on law enforcement’s radar.

“I worry about the lone gunman who walks into the school, or shopping mall or a sports events. It doesn’t have to be a plane,” he said.

“I think it has gotten to the point where we have foiled so many attempts that the terrorists will do whatever they can now to have a successful attack.” Locke tells GSN. “They will do whatever they can get away with. I think we’ll see more firearms because they’re easy to obtain, but there has also been a lot of theft of dynamite over the years, so we might have an incident like what we saw in Spain.