Crisis spurs FBI to enlist intelligence resources to create a master database of missing Native Americans
Crisis spurs FBI to enlist intelligence resources to create a master database of missing Native Americans
FBI: Missing Native Americans ‘a national security concern’
A government database created at the behest of intelligence officials would be the equivalent of a national “missing person’s file,” investigators say.
That’s the gist of an internal FBI document obtained by the Center for Public Integrity and first reported in The Washington Post in early February.
The leaked documents, which are among thousands of files the FBI has made public since January, offer the first glimpse into how the bureau is using and monitoring an initiative launched in 2016 by then-Director James Comey to compile “a list of individuals that have been flagged for possible federal inclusion in ‘the list’ of missing persons.”
The list would be part of the FBI’s ongoing effort to comb through millions of government files for records about missing people. The list would also be used to determine whether those individuals are still alive, whether they’ve been killed, and if anyone has been convicted of a crime.
But according to top FBI brass, the purpose of the missing person file is to aid national security by creating a “master reference” file, one that would allow intelligence analysts to sift through vast numbers of missing persons files to determine whether there are any signs someone may have been involved in national security or criminal activity.
“If someone is, in fact, who we think they are, for whatever reason, then they should be included in the master list,” acting FBI director Andrew McCabe told FBI investigators in a meeting in January. “We want to identify that as much as we can.”
But it’s no secret this list, compiled by the FBI, would collect only names and information about people missing from any police department nationwide. The FBI says “it will not include any personal information identifying a crime victim.”
The Post’s examination of the documents, which date back to February and March, shows the FBI’s plans to create that database are just now being formally presented to the FBI director, and other FBI officials overseeing the effort are aware of that database’s existence.
The FBI’s decision to include the names and information collected from the missing persons database in the master list is just the latest controversy surrounding the effort, and it’s been a