DON'T BOTHER THE FBI WITH KIDNAPPING TIPS

Well, we're in the Bangkok airport waiting to board our twice delayed flight to Siem Riep, Cambodia. We're going to visit for two days to see Angkor Wat, supposedly rivaling Tikal and other ancient Mayan sites in Guatemala. But only if we could get there..

We will be back in Bangkok on the 27th, but then we're immediately headed to Hong Kong upon arrival. We've moved our departure up a day because, frankly, we'd rather have more time there at this point. The trip has had its moments (mostly rainy), but we're ready to move on.

An update to the FBI story, they're not doing anything but suggesting I contact the local authorities (in Chiang Mai.. a few hundred miles away after the fact, etc. etc.) Not to mention the FBI website regarding missing children explicitly states they work WITH local authorities through the local U.S. consulate with a direct link to the tip page I posted my information on.

Anyway, here's the message they emailed back to me. How helpful for those children. I suppose if the adults had strapped bombs to the children and put them in a UPS overnight express box to the Washington D.C. they'd THEN be interested. How unfortunate for those kids.

TEXT...

Dear Mr. Reid,

Thank you for your submission to the FBI via FBI.gov. After a careful
evaluation of your information, it is our determination that your
complaint should be reported to the local law enforcement authorities.

For your information, the Internet Tip Line (ITL) was created on
9/11/01, in response to the terrorist attacks upon America. We quickly
established a mechanism for the public to submit information to the FBI
via the Internet, and we received our first tip at 10:31 AM that first
day. Director Mueller has since made the ITL a permanent part of FBI
operations, and we have thus far received over 600,000 tips from around
the globe, from which thousands of leads have been sent to FBI Field and
Legal Attache offices for action.

Initially, almost 100% of the tips received were related to the
terrorist attacks; however, now approximately 45% of all tips received
are related to almost every other FBI criminal program, e.g., drug
trafficking, organized crime, money laundering, pyramid schemes, child
pornography, fugitives, bank robbery.

Our operation is completely automated and paperless. Submitted tips are
received immediately, reviewed within minutes and prioritized by trained
Professional Support personnel, and action leads are set by Agents
within the hour, as appropriate.

I encourage you to share this information with your family, friends, and
co-workers, and encourage them to not hesitate to submit information
they may deem of interest to the FBI. Again, thank you for taking the
time to forward this report to us.

IMPORTANT - NOTE THE FOLLOWING:

The FBI does not maintain an email address to submit information or
attachments to directly; therefore, please do not reply directly to this
message via your email client. The FBI maintains an automated system
that is designed to track all information received to ensure that all
tips are addressed in a timely and efficient manner. Therefore, please
visit the FBI.GOV Web site again should you have occasion to submit
additional information. We WILL NOT review "reply" email.


Sincerely,
David N. Rushing/ap
Supervisory Special Agent
FBI Headquarters
Washington, D.C.

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