State & Local Intel in the GWOT

[davidbfpo]

On a quick glimpse some unusual items here and will take time to read - probably when in a warmer climate than rain-swept England. Will report back then.

davidbfpo

[Jedburgh]

DHS-OIG, Dec 08: DHS' Role in State and Local Fusion Centers is Evolving

.....At the request of Representative Bennie G. Thompson, Chairman of the House Committee on Homeland Security, we assessed whether the Department of Homeland Security is providing adequate oversight and guidance for fusion centers, and what problems and challenges are being encountered as fusion centers develop. Specifically, we determined:

(1) the extent to which the department’s Office of Intelligence and Analysis has been working to coordinate and develop its relationship and role with fusion centers; (2) whether fusion center funding and activities are aligned to further the department’s mission; (3) the merits of detailing Office of Intelligence and Analysis staff to fusion centers; and (4) whether the Office of Intelligence and Analysis is successful in backfilling positions used to staff fusion centers.

Office of Intelligence and Analysis coordination efforts with fusion centers are improving and evolving, and its intelligence officers assigned to fusion centers have added value. However, challenges remain with internal Department of Homeland Security coordination, aligning fusion center activities and funding with the department’s mission, and deploying personnel to state and local fusion centers in a timely manner......

[Juan Rico]

www.washingtonpost.com

New York City's Police Department is among the largest and most recognizable police forces on earth. Thanks to the global reach of syndicated television programs, audiences in cities as diverse as Paris, Tel Aviv, Amman, Abu Dhabi, Singapore and Santo Domingo share a cursory familiarity with the comings and goings at One Police Plaza in Manhattan. But what viewers in those exotic locales don't realize is that the NYPD has now come to them for real, posting officers in potential hot spots around the world.

The role of these agents, part of an elite and controversial counter-intelligence unit within the NYPD, is the subject of Christopher Dickey's illuminating Securing the City. Dickey is an old hand on the terrorist beat, having spent decades covering the Middle East and Europe for Newsweek and The Washington Post, and he's eminently well positioned to examine New York City's effort to start its own mini CIA.

[davidbfpo]

Catching up, this is a review of the Dickey book in The Economist: http://www.economist.com/books/displ...=hptextfeature

Some points there to ponder, is the NYPD model one others can follow?

davidbfpo

[Jedburgh]

NIJ, Oct 09: Learning From 9/11: Organizational Change in the New York City and Arlington County, VA Police Departments

On Sept. 11, 2001, local first responders in two jurisdictions — New York City and Arlington County, VA — were forced to deal with attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon that were unprecedented in scope and loss of life. Following 9/11, the National Institute of Justice awarded a grant to the Police Executive Research Forum (PERF) to conduct case studies of the two law enforcement agencies most directly involved to learn what they could teach about best practices for responding to future incidents....

[bourbon]

The Terror Translators, by Alan Feuer. The New York Times, September 17, 2010.

Formally known as the Analytic Unit of the department’s Intelligence Division, the team was created in 2002 as part of the city’s response to the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks. It stands as a unique experiment in breaking traditional law-enforcement boundaries, comprising two dozen civilian experts — lawyers, academics, corporate consultants, investment bankers, alumni of the World Bank and the Council on Foreign Relations and even a former employee of the Foreign Ministry of Azerbaijan.

The team serves as the Police Department’s terrorism reference arm: available on demand to explain Islamic law or Pakistani politics to detectives in the field.

Good article.

[slapout9]

The Terror Translators, by Alan Feuer. The New York Times, September 17, 2010.

Good article.

Ditto: it is a good article

[bourbon]

Ditto: it is a good article

Slap,

The NYPD Intel Division gets glowing press, which naturally makes me suspicious; but through the various accounts it adds up to something pretty impressive. Their linguistic capability is strong; they have guy’s overseas working at desks in foreign police departments while FBI Legat’s are stuck in embassies, good relationships with the national intelligence community, and they can draw talent. The facts line up.

The line about finding civilian analysts with a “low jerk quotient” who can work with detectives is a good one. The idea of blending street guys with academic types is a good one, but you can tell from the outset that success would hinge on interpersonal dynamics.

I don’t know if other cities in the US can recreate the scope of NYPD Intel, or even if they need to. But it sure is something to see come together.

[slapout9]

Slap,

The NYPD Intel Division gets glowing press, which naturally makes me suspicious; but through the various accounts it adds up to something pretty impressive. Their linguistic capability is strong; they have guy’s overseas working at desks in foreign police departments while FBI Legat’s are stuck in embassies, good relationships with the national intelligence community, and they can draw talent. The facts line up.

The line about finding civilian analysts with a “low jerk quotient” who can work with detectives is a good one. The idea of blending street guys with academic types is a good one, but you can tell from the outset that success would hinge on interpersonal dynamics.

I don’t know if other cities in the US can recreate the scope of NYPD Intel, or even if they need to. But it sure is something to see come together.

Yep, you want to know who predicted the current financial crisis long before anybody else.....the FBI!!! In 2004 they reported that one of the most massive mortgage frauds in history was underway. That is why I say we don't have an Economic problem we have a Criminal problem and until that is dealt with nothing will change,there is no economic policy that can fix what is essentially a Criminal problem. But don't hold your breath because to many senior politicos new exactly what was happening, so no effective prosecutions were allowed to proceed. If Cops ran the country we would all be better off

[Ken White]

but when I hear tales of the political scuffles that go on in both my Sons' fairly big departments...

Spot on with that mortgage prob and the political malfeasance (both Parties) that sat on it.

[mikemac64]

but when I hear tales of the political scuffles that go on in both my Sons' fairly big departments...

Spot on with that mortgage prob and the political malfeasance (both Parties) that sat on it.

I have grown to have little use for the major political parties. Many good ideas never see the light of day because one party won't let the other get credit. It is a shame really that so many of our politicians, at all levels, see themselves first as Donkeys or Elephants, and Americans second.

There appears to be a renewed push for local Police, under the auspices of Intelligence Led Policing, to develop Intelligence capabilities. In my city, three gas station which were owned by persons of middle eastern descent, closed within days of the last NY city car bomb attempt. Coincidence? Maybe, maybe not.

There may not be overt terror planning in your average municipality, but there may be supporters (philosophical and material) and sympathizers in many municipalities across the US! This is where local criminal intelligence operations with will come in handy.

FYI I am attending the FLETC Intel Analyst Training Program in January.

[davidbfpo]

Moderators Note

This thread considers one strand of the US response to terrorism, intelligence and it's handling and of late another thread has taken a wider view, including intelligence 'Terrorism in the USA:threat & response (merged thread)' :http://council.smallwarsjournal.com/...?t=8828&page=9

[AdamG]

The Department of Homeland Security has spent hundreds of millions of dollars on a network of 77 so-called “fusion” intelligence centers that have collected personal information on some U.S. citizens — including detailing the “reading habits” of American Muslims — while producing “shoddy” reports and making no contribution to thwarting any terrorist plots, a new Senate report states.

http://openchannel.nbcnews.com/_news...port-says?lite