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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.