-Special Agent Botting is assigned to the FBI's Los Angeles Division.
-Mr. Lanceley, a retired FBI special agent, formerly worked in the
Crisis Management Unit.
-Special Agent Noesner is assigned to the Crisis Management Unit of
the FBI's Critical Incident Response Group.
In the early 1980s, the country witnessed a rise in the number of long-term hostage and barricade incidents. For example, members of the Aryan Nation created a barricade situation on Whidbey Island, Washington, in December 1984. Earlier, a small, right-wing survivalist group known as the Covenant, the Sword and the Arm of the Lord was involved in a similar incident in Arkansas. FBI hostage negotiators successfully resolved these situations and others like them, but the incidents challenged the crisis negotiation capacity of the FBI and pointed to the need for a special response mechanism.
As a result, the Crisis Management Unit (CMU)1 at the FBI Academy developed a new approach. In 1985, the CMU formed the Critical Incident Negotiation Team (CINT), a small, highly trained and mobile group of experienced FBI crisis negotiators. This team became the nucleus of an organized response to complex and potentially lengthy hostage and barricade incidents nationwide.
The FBI typically negotiates approximately 45 bank robbery and hijacking hostage incidents annually. The wealth of knowledge developed from these experiences, coupled with lessons learned from other law enforcement agencies, prepare CINT members to handle high-risk incidents. In addition to handling situations arising under FBI jurisdiction, the CINT provides around-the-clock consultation to State and local law enforcement agencies.
Team members familiarize themselves with diplomatic procedures, receive numerous inoculations for protection against disease, study cultural variables, review overseas jurisdiction, and generally prepare for rapid deployment abroad. CINT members also attend a 2-week negotiation course offered by the Metropolitan Police Department in London, England, for supplementary training.
In addition to general training, CINT also has focused on preparing for specific threats. Immediately prior to the Gulf War in 1991, a special session was held at the FBI Academy to prepare CINT negotiators to deal with the potential threats posed by international terrorists. The team reviewed past terrorist incidents in the Middle East and examined the impact that culture, history, politics, and religion had on violence in the region.
Today, training for CINT members continues on a regular basis to address pertinent and current challenges and to maintain the team's state-of-the-art readiness. Refresher training focuses on such areas as nuclear, chemical, and biological extortion; cult ideology; international terrorism; abnormal psychology; and crisis/suicide intervention.
Since 1985, CINT members have negotiated domestic incidents such as the Cuban prisoner uprisings in Oakdale, Louisiana; Atlanta, Georgia; and Talladega, Alabama, as well as standoffs with religious zealots in Marion, Utah; Ruby Creek, Idaho; and Waco, Texas. Other situations where the team provided assistance include the Lucasville, Ohio, prison riot and a week-long barricaded siege in Missoula, Montana.
CINT negotiators also respond to situations in other countries at the request of a U.S. Ambassador, usually to assist in negotiating the release of Americans held hostage or kidnaped by terrorists or other criminal groups. In these international incidents, the CMU dispatches selected negotiators either to the country where the hostages are being held or to an adjacent country more receptive to the presence of Americans. CINT members deployed overseas generally respond in teams of two.
Since 1985, CINT negotiators have assisted in the release of American hostages held in Ecuador, Chile, El Salvador, Bolivia, Colombia, Panama, Costa Rica, Guatemala, Zaire, Cambodia, and the Philippines. These delicate international incidents require team members to work closely with U.S. Embassy personnel, the families and employers of the victims, and the law enforcement agencies of the host countries. As a result of the team's successful record, requests for as-sistance continue to increase. To date, team members have been deployed overseas 22 times.
The Missoula County Sheriff's Department and Missoula Police Department set up a perimeter and opened negotiations with the subject in an attempt to resolve the standoff peacefully. However, the subject's mental state and his insistence on speaking only in Russian complicated the negotiations. Commanders at the scene called the CMU, which set up telephonic support from CINT negotiators for the sheriff's and police department's negotiators in Missoula. The FBI also dispatched Russian-speaking agents to the scene to provide language support. While these agents contributed valuable liguaistic assistance, they were not trained crisis negotiators.
Missoula County authorities subsequently requested the assistance of a Russian-speaking negotiator. CMU identified two CINT members, one a native Russian speaker and the other, an experienced Soviet counterintelligence investigator, and immediately dispatched them from Washington, DC, to Missoula.
To resolve the situation, the Russian-speaking CINT member directed and coached the subject's wife as she spoke with her husband. By closely following the uaidance provided by the negotiators, she ultimately convinced her husband to surrender. The direct involvement of CINT members and the professional effort of the Missoula law enforcement com-munity peacefully resolved the week-long standoff without further incident.
--During business hours, call the Crisis Management Unit (703) 640-1130
--After hours, on weekends, and during holidays, call the g frrrr Academy Switchboard (703) 640-6131
Requests for deployment of CINT members should be made through the local FBI field office, which will coordinate with FBI Headquarters and the Crisis Management Unit.