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counterparts were using the same terminology and methods of evidence collection. As our Saud! partners toid us, “We were taught together, now we can work together.’ The Private Sector The FBI increasingly looks ta partnerships with the private sector to enlist support for its law enforcement and intelligence missions. Among those partnerships are the following: Community Outreach if the FBI is successfully to predict and prevent terrorist attacks, it is imperative that we build and maintain close ties to key minority communities. The Muslim, traqi, and Arab-American communities have contributed a great deal to our successes to date, and we are grateful for their assistance and for their ongoing commitment to preventing acts of terrorism. Beginning in tate 2001, Director Mueller has met bi-annually with a group of leaders from the Arab American, Muslim American, and Sikh American communities to discuss issues. including counterterrorism efforts, terrorism-related money transactions, "no-fly” lists, training on cultural awareness, and recruiting. in addition, each FBI field office was tasked with establishing cantacts with Arab-American, Muslim, and Sikh community organizations and leaders in their territories, Since September 11, 2001, high-ievel field managers have attended over 1,880 town hail, cormmunity, or association meetings; participated in over 900 meetings with Muslim, Sikh, or Jewish groups; and attended over 300 meetings with civil rights leaders to address their concerns. Field managers also sponsored over 130 sessions of training by representatives of Middle Eastern groups in order to improve our agents’ cultural awareness and sensitivity. These efforts to reach out to Muslim and Arab American communities assist our counterterrorism efforts by improving the level of cooperation and the number of tips received from these communities. Qutreach efforts also support long-term recruttment goals and the overall public understanding of terrorism. InfraGard InfraGard 1s a partnership between the FBI and the private sector designed to foster the exchange of information between law enforcement and the owners and operators of our nation's critical infrastructure. Using a secure web site, InfraGard members receive sensitive, but unclassified, information such as Alerts, Advisories and Information Bulletins from the FBI and DHS. in turn, members provide information relevant to FBI investigations. InfraGard currently has 10,000 members and 79 chapters throughout the 56 field divisions. These members primarily represent small and medium-sized businesses in ail of the critical infrastructure sectors. Over the past year InfraGard mernbership increased by 44 percent. infraGard chapters meet regularly to discuss cyber crime, terronsm, and criminal threats to critical infrastructures, and often include representatives from state, municipal and federal government, academia, and law enforcement agencies. At a time when the failure to report cyber crimes remains a major obstacie to stopping these crimes, InfraGard helps us build trust and encourages reporting. The program allows us to alert companies to threats so they can better protect themselves, and ultimately helps us identify and counter those groups and indwiduals who threaten our ctitical infrastructurés. EMISC DOC. #5 49 900000388