Rohan Gunaratna
The response of the United States of America especially the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) into Sri Lanka’s Easter Sunday attack is a defining moment in the history of counter terrorism. Immediately after Sri Lanka’s Easter Sunday attack on April 21, 2019 that killed five US nationals, a FBI team located in Singapore flew into Colombo.
In addition to the Assistant Law Enforcement Attaché from Singapore, to preserve the evidence in the attack sites, the FBI’s Special Agent Bomb Technician helped immensely. They were supported by the FBI Fly Team, a group of highly trained counterterrorism investigators—including special agents and intelligence analysts—based at FBI Headquarters who stand ready to deploy anywhere in the world on a moment’s notice.
The Fly Teams strategic and tactical counterterrorism capabilities were enhanced by their partnership with other U.S. government agencies and foreign-partner nation entities in critical overseas locations to detect, penetrate, and disrupt terrorist networks.
When the Easter Sunday attack took place in Sri Lanka, I was visiting Fukushima, the site of a radiological disaster in Japan together with counter terrorism officials from the Prime Minister’s Office of Japan.
Having publicly highlighted the persistent threat posed by the Islamic State since November 2016, I received a phone call from the staff of the National Security Council in Sri Lanka to meet with the government including the President.
While in Sri Lanka, I visited the attack sites in Sri Lanka’s Western and Eastern Province that were immediately secured by the Sri Lanka police to preserve the evidence. I met with some of the finest Sri Lankan law enforcement officers and also the men and women of the FBI who brought in unprecedented expertise and experience.
The initial team of FBI officers who flew into Sri Lanka successfully engaged with the US Embassy in Colombo and the Sri Lankan government. This engagement enabled a larger team of FBI investigators from the U.S. to travel to Sri Lanka. Together with Sri Lanka’s Criminal Investigations Department and its Counter Terrorism Division, three FBI teams investigated the attack.
- Evidence Response Team (ERT)
- Critical Analysis and Response Team (CART)
- High-value detainee interrogators
THE WHOLE ITEM
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