The Challenge and Divisiveness of Information Sharing in Today?s Environment

By Dennis Lormel

Information sharing is critical to terrorism prevention. This fact has created a serious dilemma for many police departments. It has also caused fractious relationships between federal and local authorities. Since its inception, the Department of Homeland Security has been responsible for coordinating the dissemination of terrorist information to state and local authorities. In a perfect world, information would be passed along in a timely and coherent manner. Unfortunately we live in anything but a perfect world. As a result, major police departments have increasingly taken it upon themselves to acquire their own intelligence information and not rely on waiting for the federal government to furnish terrorist related intelligence information. This is a dangerous trend. In the long term, it is a recipe for disaster and must be addressed at the highest levels of government.

As a relatively new agency, the Department of Homeland Security is a work in progress and lacks the functionality to consistently provide the information and guidance it was established to provide in a timely manner. The maturation process of Homeland Security will take time. Police departments have the daunting responsibility to protect their citizenry. Hence the dilemma. How best do police departments address the threat of terrorism?

The New York Police Department (NYPD) established the model of assigning detectives to foreign countries to collect terrorist intelligence information. Other major police departments, including the Los Angeles Police Department (LAPD) have followed suit. In the short term, this might be good for New York, Los Angeles and the other cities with officers detailed overseas. In the long term, this will be a detriment to national security. The solution is not for local police departments to unilaterally assign police officers to foreign countries. The solution is to work with Homeland Security and other federal agencies, particularly the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), to enhance and maximize information sharing channels.

Long standing international protocols with police, intelligence and government agencies have been strained by the influx of police officers from disparate United States jurisdictions. Our counterparts overseas do not recognize these officers as NYPD or LAPD officers but as representatives of the U.S. government. In truth, these officers are not collecting intelligence information for the U.S. government but for the unilateral use of their individual departments. When multiple officers with differing U.S. interests request the same information, it creates confusion and conflict. As noted above, our international counterparts do not distinguish between different departments and should only deal with one point of contact not multiple points of contact. Traditionally, the FBI has served as the principal liaison agency for international police cooperation. The FBI maintains Legal Attache Offices in over 50 countries, specifically for this purpose. Police officers from local U.S. venues should not be assigned to international liaison duties. Case or project specific matters are a different subject and do not apply in this context. If officers are assigned to foreign countries with respect to a specific case or to assess a particular issue, such as subway safety, it is an altogether different and acceptable circumstance.

A collateral danger to representatives from various departments or agencies being assigned similar liaison duties is this creates a competition to acquire information as opposed to sharing information. In my experience, I have witnessed first hand this sort of divisiveness. It is not only counterproductive but tarnishes the credibility of the entire U.S. law enforcement community and strains relationships.

There is no question that information must flow from the federal government to local law enforcement on a more timely and acceptable basis. It is incumbent that local police departments receive actionable intelligence information in a timely manner. Officials at all levels of federal, state and local government should ensure they work together to establish a long term cohesive international liaison function and consequently an information sharing network that enables law enforcement to maximize the protection of the American people.

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