FBI Chief Urges Global Effort to Halt Terrorism, Drug Traffic

In a speech before the Orange County World Affairs Council, FBI Director William S. Sessions called Monday for increased cooperation between the FBI and foreign police agencies in sharing intelligence information to combat international terrorism and drug trafficking.

“We simply cannot afford to continue an isolationist policy,” Sessions told an audience of about 500 at the Irvine Marriott hotel.

On a related theme, Sessions spoke of the threat to national security by the relatively easy acquisition of sensitive information and of technology by “techno-bandits.”

“Never have so many had so much access to technology that is critical to our national security,” Sessions said, referring to companies that deal in hardware and information that foreign companies are able to buy. “We must prevent them (foreign countries) from obtaining these keys” to technology.

Cites Sting Operation

Sessions said the U.S. Customs Department and the FBI created a bogus company this year and offered sensitive electrical material for sale. The material was passed illegally through successive businesses, ending up in Puerto Rico and leading to several arrests.

On the subject of international terrorism, Sessions stressed that the problem can be successfully combatted by increased cooperation among national police agencies.

This year, there have been 688 attacks of terrorism around the world, slightly off the pace of the previous year, Sessions said. In 1987, a year he described as the worst in history, there were 832 terrorist incidents.

“I’d say that foreign terrorists can be brought to justice with international cooperation,” Sessions said. But he cautioned that with increasingly sophisticated weapons, terrorists “have the potential for wholesale massacre.”

Sessions said FBI agents, who serve as “attaches” at 16 embassies covering 80 foreign countries, share information with foreign police agencies.

Born in Arkansas

Born in Fort Smith, Ark., on May 27, 1930, Sessions earned undergraduate and law degrees from Baylor University in Texas. He also served in the Air Force from 1951 to 1955.

During the Administration of President Richard M. Nixon, Sessions worked for two years in the Justice Department as head of a newly created government operations section beginning in 1969. From 1971 to 1974, he served as a U.S. attorney in Texas.

President Gerald R. Ford then appointed Sessions to the San Antonio federal court, where he became chief judge in 1980. In June, 1987, he was appointed FBI director by President Reagan.