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