With one of the worst attacks on the American homeland in our history on September 11th, 2001, it was clear that new and drastic changes to how we protect out nation were needed. The attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon showed two things clearly, “the inability to “connect the dots” caused by a lack of intelligence sharing among various governmental agencies” (Blum, 2010). With the realization that new efforts were needed to increase the sharing of intelligence among agencies in order to combat the new threat of terrorism on the homeland, Congress voted to create the Department of Homeland Security in 2002 by passing the Homeland Security Act of 2002. The Department of Homeland Security, which consists of 22 government agencies, …show more content…
I believe that by not just using federal agencies to counter foreign terrorist threats, as well as domestic threats, the use of local agencies to provide additional intelligence and to assist in counter-terror missions would only act as a effective force multiplier. The history of police intelligence has been numbered with instances where local and federal law agencies should have had more oversight Up until the 1970’s, “Agencies were found to have collected information and maintained files on suspected communists, civil rights leaders, and antiwar activists, and individuals and groups critical of the government, but not necessarily engaged in crime” (Cordner & Scarborough, 2010). Despite some of its past, police intelligence has been recognized as important to be able to share information to the proper federal authorities. Local police agencies are often able to offer more than to just be the eyes and ears of their community. “In this respect they are seen as very important collectors of information, of raw data, that can be fed into the intelligence process in order to help analysts and others connect the dots” (Cordner & Scarborough, 2010). One of the best ways for local police agencies to share their raw and pertinent information is to send it to their states fusion cell. This provides the best way for it to be shared with multiple other agencies.