62 lines
2.7 KiB
Plaintext
62 lines
2.7 KiB
Plaintext
January 1990
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DIRECTOR'S MESSAGE--FACING THE FUTURE
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By
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William S. Sessions
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Director
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I am delighted to have an opportunity to introduce this
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"futures" issue of the FBI Law Enforcement Bulletin. What better
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way for the Bulletin and the FBI to start the decade of the 1990s
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than with an issue focused on the years ahead. There is every
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reason to believe that these coming years will be turbulent, yet
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exciting and challenging, for the law enforcement profession.
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No one can fail to recognize the force of change in our
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society; within the past 50 years, the world has been nearly
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transformed by changes in technology, demographics, politics, and
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economics. Many of these factors, obviously, have major
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implications for law enforcement.
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Law enforcement can only rise above reacting to change by
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resolutely adopting a long-term perspective. This, to me, is the
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meaning of this month's Law Enforcement Bulletin cover. The
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pictures of Neptune provided by Voyager, the little robot that
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could, constitute one of the great scientific and organizational
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achievements of recent years. Voyager was launched in 1977; it
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took 12 years to reach Neptune: and it is expected to function
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well into the 21st century, providing information about the
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universe outside our solar system.
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Like those scientists who looked ahead to space exploration
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decades ago, we in law enforcement today must also think ahead
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and prepare for the future. We need leaders with vision to
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successfully guide our organizations. We need leaders who will
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forge ties among themselves and their agencies. We need leaders
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who will keep a pulse of current events in order to predict
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future developments.
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We in the FBI are excited about the challenges and the
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opportunities that the future will bring, and we are committed
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to meeting them by effective strategic planning today. Current
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programs and projects like DNA research, NCIC 2000, artificial
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intelligence are examples of what can be reached by careful
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planning. However, much remains to be done to prepare us for the
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future.
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I particularly want to extend our sincere appreciation to
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Alvin and Heidi Toffler, renowned futurists, for the provocative
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article they have written for this issue. I believe their
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insights will help us to better anticipate and to organize our
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thinking about the future.
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