THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 19, 2002
WWW.USDOJ.GOV

FACT SHEET
OVERVIEW OF INFORMATION SHARING INITIATIVES
IN THE WAR ON TERRORISM

Information Is the Best Friend of Prevention. . .

Initiatives and Groups Created to Share Investigation and Prevention Information:

• An Expanded Alert System. The FBI expanded the terrorist threat warning system that now reaches all levels of the law enforcement and intelligence communities. Around 18,000 state and local law enforcement offices receive warning and threat information through this system, as well as 60 federal agencies and their subcomponents.
  • Since September 11th, the FBI Has Issued Over 60 Warnings of Potential Terrorist Threats or Vulnerabilities, as Well as 3 Major Public Notification Alerts Raising Awareness of an Increased Risk of Attack.

  • Assisted with the Creation of a New 5-Level Homeland Security Alert System. Since the announcement of this new system on March 12, 2002, the country was on an "elevated" (yellow) alert, indicating a significant risk of terrorist attack. On September 10, 2002, the Attorney General and Homeland Security Director announced that the nation had moved to a "high" alert for terrorist activity (orange).

• Established 56 Joint Terrorism Task Forces to Enhance Field Capacity to Detect and Disrupt Terrorism. To enhance the FBI's ability to promote coordinated terrorism investigations among FBI field offices and with their counterparts in federal, state and local law enforcement agencies, 56 Joint Terrorism Task Forces were created across the nation, one in each FBI field office.

• Created 93 Anti-Terrorism Task Forces. To integrate and further coordinate anti-terrorism activities in the field, the Justice Department created 93 Anti-Terrorism Task Forces (ATTF's) -- one in each U.S. Attorney's district -- to integrate the communications and activities of local, state and federal law enforcement. The ATTFs include a 24/7 contact system to ensure that key members of the ATTFs and other agencies can quickly communicate and respond to any future terrorist acts.

• Created the Foreign Terrorist Tracking Task Force. The Foreign Terrorist Tracking Task Force was established to better ensure that federal agencies, including the FBI, INS, Customs Service and others, coordinate their efforts to bar from the United States all aliens who meet any of the following criteria: aliens who are representatives, members or supporters of terrorist organizations; aliens who are suspected of engaging in terrorist activity; or aliens who provide material support to terrorist activity.

• Instituted the National Security Coordination Council of the Department of Justice. The Attorney General created the National Security Coordination Council with the principal mission of ensuring a more seamless coordination of all functions of the department relating to national security, particularly our efforts to combat terrorism. Headed by the Deputy Attorney General, the Director of the FBI and other department officials are included in membership.

• Provided Training to Law Enforcement Officers in the Field. The Justice Department and the FBI provided national training for approximately 25,000 state and local law enforcement officers on the detection, prevention, and response to terrorist acts.

• Unprecedented International Investigative Cooperation. Recognizing that the United States cannot eliminate international terrorism working alone, the Justice Department and other federal agencies worked collaboratively with our partners overseas to gather and share information about terrorist networks overseas and their activities in an unprecedented fashion.
  • Convictions Reached in Daniel Pearl Murder. On July 15, 2002, in Hyderabad, Pakistan, four defendants, including Ahmed Omar Saeed Sheikh, were convicted for the murder of journalist Daniel Pearl. In addition, the defendants were found guilty of kidnaping, conspiracy to kidnap and tampering with evidence. Sheik was sentenced to death and the remaining perpetrators were sentenced to life in prison.

  • More than 50 Mutual Legal Assistance Treaty and Evidence Requests. In addition to innumerable informal exchanges between the FBI and their counterparts overseas, the Department has made more than 50 mutual legal assistance treaty requests and other formal requests for evidence to 18 countries, and, in turn has received and is acting upon more than 20 such requests from 8 foreign countries.

• Working Together on a Comprehensive Review of Border Management. Since September 11th, the Justice Department used consolidated law enforcement assets of FBI, INS and U.S. Attorneys to prevent and disrupt possible terrorism networks. The INS and Customs have worked together to increase cooperation in border enforcement.

New Legal Authority to Share Information:

• The USA PATRIOT Act Increased the Ability of Law Enforcement to Share Information, for Example:
  • Establishes Secure Information-Sharing Systems to Enhance the Ability of Agencies to Investigate or Prosecute Multi-Jurisdiction Terrorist Activities. (USA PATRIOT Act, Title VII)

  • Allows Law-Enforcement Personnel to Share Grand-Jury and Wiretap Information Regarding Foreign Intelligence with Various Other Federal Officers Without First Obtaining a Court Order: including law-enforcement, intelligence, protective, immigration, national-defense, and national-security personnel. Previous law sharply limited the ability of law-enforcement personnel to share investigative information, and hampered terrorism investigations. Section 203 establishes a general rule that, notwithstanding any other provision of law, federal law-enforcement personnel may share foreign-intelligence information with intelligence, protective, immigration, national-defense, and national-security personnel. (USA PATRIOT Act, Title II, Section 203: Authority to Share Criminal Investigative Information)

  • Facilitating the Sharing of Information from Criminal Investigations. Section 905 requires the Attorney General to disclose to the CIA Director foreign intelligence acquired by a law enforcement agency during a criminal investigation. It also requires the Attorney General to develop guidelines for information sharing. The Department, other law enforcement agencies, and intelligence community agencies are finalizing procedures to institutionalize the sharing of information and coordination of activities authorized by this provision. (USA PATRIOT Act, Title IX, Section 905: Disclosure to Director of Central Intelligence of Foreign Intelligence-Related Information with Respect to Criminal Investigations)

The Attorney General Issued Six Directives to Increase Information-Sharing:

• September 21, 2001, Attorney General Directive to Make Available Information on Credible Threats to Federal, State or Local Officials: Directed the heads of every Department component to make available at the earliest possible moment information that was deemed to expose a credible threat to the life or safety of any individual or which might otherwise enhance public safety, to the appropriate federal, state, and local officials in order to increase the possibility that any threatened action could be disrupted.

• November 8, 2001, Attorney General Directive Articulating Goals and Initiatives to Further Disrupt Terrorist Plans: Issued to the heads of every Department component, the directive articulated a number of Department goals and management initiatives to share information and further advance the mission of the Department to: disrupt, weaken, and eliminate terrorist networks; prevent or thwart terrorist attacks; and bring to justice the perpetrators of terrorist acts.

• November 8, 2001, Attorney General Directive to Review Component Information and Make It Available Consistent with the New Law Enforcement Tools in the USA PATRIOT Act: Directed the head of each component to review any information under the component's control and to make determinations on sharing such information, in accordance with the new information sharing authorities under the USA PATRIOT Act, with appropriate law enforcement and national security personnel; to assess the intelligence capabilities of the component and make improvements where necessary; and directing every component to coordinate its efforts with other Department components and outside agencies at the federal, state, and local level to improve the Department's responses to potential leads and information that could lead to the early detection of possible terrorist activity.

• November 13, 2001, Attorney General Directive to Designate an Official to Share Information Regarding Terrorist Investigations with State and Local Law Enforcement Officials: Directed each U.S. Attorney to designate a Chief Information Officer (CIO) in order to centralize the process by which information relevant to the investigation and prosecution of terrorists can be shared with state and local officials. In addition, directed each CIO of the district to solicit suggestions from state and local officials on the best way to disseminate information in the district and to establish communications protocols for information sharing.

• November 13, 2001, Attorney General Directive to Makes Counterterrorism Training Available to Local Law Enforcement Participants in the Anti-Terrorism Task Forces: Issued to the Assistant Attorney General for the Office of Justice Programs, the Directors of the Office of Community Oriented Policing Services and the Office of Intergovernmental Affairs, and all United States Attorneys. This directive required training similar to that of the Anti-Terrorism Coordinators be made available to local law enforcement participants in the ATTFs either at the National Advocacy Training Center in Columbia, South Carolina, or through remote training at the 94 United States Attorneys' offices.

• April 11, 2002, Attorney General Directive to Institutionalize Information Sharing Efforts Through Shared Databases: Issued to the Deputy Attorney General, the Assistant Attorneys General for the Criminal Division and the Office of Legal Policy, the Commissioner of INS, the Administrator of the DEA, and the Directors of the FBI, the Executive Office of United States Attorneys, the Marshals Service, and the Foreign Terrorist Tracking Task Force. The directives included expanding terrorist information in law enforcement databases, coordinating foreign terrorist information with the Department of Defense and foreign law enforcement agencies, improving information coordination with state and local partners through the development of a secure but unclassified web-based system, and the standardizing of the procedures for the sharing of foreign intelligence and counterintelligence information obtained as part of a criminal investigation with relevant federal officials.

These Six Information-Sharing Directives Have Produced Results:

• The FBI Provides Information on a Daily Basis to Terrorism Task Forces Nationwide as well as to the CIA and Defense Department. Through the establishment of Joint Terrorism Task Forces (JTTFs), and its Regional Terrorism Task Forces (RTTFs), the FBI is providing information on a daily basis both to other federal agencies and to their state and local counterparts. In addition, the FBI is providing daily briefings to both the CIA and the Department of Defense to update and share reports on their ongoing investigations.

• The FBI's New Office of Intelligence Reports to the Head of the Counterintelligence and Counterterrorism Groups. The FBI has created a new Office of Intelligence that reports directly to the Executive Assistant Director for Counterterrorism and Counterintelligence.

• A New Program to Train FBI Analysts. The Department has created a new training program, the College of Analytical Studies. FBI analysts will undergo a four-week residential training program and recruitment of individuals for analyst positions. In addition, the FBI has actively increased its recruitment of individuals to fill these analyst positions.

• INS and the State Department Have Deployed a Consolidated Database with Shared Information. Working with the State Department, INS deployed a Consolidated Consular Database that includes visa information and photographs for aliens seeking entry into the U.S. The database will aid inspection agents in determining if an alien is engaged in fraudulent conduct or is otherwise making a valid and legal application for admission.

• Cross-Agency Units Are Working with the INS on Border Enforcement and Maritime Enforcement. The INS has expanded Integrated Border Enforcement Teams and Integrated Maritime Enforcement Teams, cross-agency, multi-national units designed to share intelligence and technology as well as coordinate enforcement of American borders.

• Airlines and the INS Are Working Together in Passenger Analysis. The INS has expanded its Passenger Analysis Units at key airports and seaports. Utilizing data provided by airlines through the Advance Passenger Information System, the INS is able to scrutinize information on U.S.-bound passengers prior to their arrival.

• Federal, State and Local Law Enforcement Agencies Are Using New Technology to Exchange Information Coordinated by the National Drug Intelligence Center. The National Drug Intelligence Center is employing technologies, such as its Document and Computer Exploitation Program, which allows federal, state, and local agencies, using a software application called a Real-time Analytical Intelligence Database (RAID), to quickly exchange information and compare commonalities among cases.

• The DEA's Office of International Intelligence Has Developed an Intelligence Response Team to Assist in Global Debriefings, as well as Intelligence Collection and Analysis.

• A New Watch Desk Has Been Created at DEA's Intelligence Center to Exchange Information with the FBI. The DEA established a Special Watch Desk at its intelligence center whereby informational queries are now passed directly from FBI headquarters to the Watch Desk with responses provided in approximately one hour.

The Justice Department and FBI Have Increased Coordination With The CIA, for Example:

• Joint Threat Matrix

• Morning Briefing by CIA for FBI Director

• Exchange of Briefing Material

• Joint Briefing of President

• New Office of Intelligence Headed by CIA Officer

• CIA Analysts and Analysis Being Detailed to the FBI

• FBI Employees Detailed to Joint Counter-terrorism Center

• Joint Work on Document Exploitation and Email Exploitation

• Joint Field Office Visits and Reports

• Enhanced Coordination Overseas

• Increase in CIA on Joint Terrorism Task Forces

• CIA on National Joint Terrorism Task Force