When crime and terrorism occur they rarely respect jurisdictional boundaries. To combat these criminals, law enforcement organizations have to be prepared to share information from the bottom-up and top-down. The rise of fusion centers and information sharing initiatives across the nation have paved the way over the years to bridge intelligence gaps and put the right information in the right hands, at their point of need.
At the same time, there are still many challenges to face before information sharing becomes de riguer across local, state, national and international boundaries. To better understand and communicate these issues, i2 hosted an information sharing panel at its Americas User Conference earlier this month.
Panelists included Kathleen O’Toole, the Chief Inspector of the Garda Síochána Inspectorate in Ireland, who was previously the Boston, Mass., Police Commissioner. During her time in Boston, she was critical to the founding of the Boston Regional Intelligence Center (BRIC), one of the nation’s first fusion centers. Deputy Chief Troy Smith of the Grand Junction Police Department in Colorado also offered up his expertise gleaned from his department’s organization in getting Colorado to be one of the states that has successfully established information sharing state-wide. Tim Riley, a current i2 SVP and former CIO for the Los Angeles Police Department, played a large role in establishing information sharing agreements between the LAPD, the Los Angeles Sheriff’s Department and Orange County. Chriss Knisley, the i2 Assistant Vice President for the COPLINK product line was also in attendance to discuss the technological standpoint of information sharing. i2’s Director of Corporate Communications Mitch Derman moderated the session.
READ MORE 
i2 CEO Bob Griffin
With the nation’s debt ceiling looming, it has become clear that members of Congress on both sides of the aisle will not agree to new borrowing unless government spending cuts are included in that authorization. But when it comes to reducing outlays, the programs that make up the lion’s share of spending, and which are also the most contentious – nondiscretionary spending like entitlements and health care – are often put off for another day. If we’re going to have a meaningful, long-term impact on the fiscal well-being of our economy, this can’t continue. Fortunately, we have an option available that can make an immediate difference on one of the biggest budget busters, without eliminating any programs or forcing tough choices – tackling health care fraud by leveraging existing technologies. READ MORE
On December 20, The Washington Post published an in-depth article by two-time Pulitzer Prize winning investigative reporter, Dana Priest, and political commentator and author, William M. Arkin, entitled: Monitoring America. Focusing on the growth and expansion of local and domestic intelligence capabilities since the 9/11 attacks, Priest and Arkin talk about the potential mis-use of information – however, they fail to mention the positive impacts the growth in information sharing between local and federal law enforcement has had in increasing efficiencies in thwarting terrorist and criminal activities – all in a way that has civil liberties protections built into the process.
READ MORE
General Keith Alexander, the new Cyber Command Chief, recently stated that his current mandate is to protect against cyber threats to the Department of Defense. However, current law does not dictate how to protect critical infrastructure managed and/or used by the private sector. In testimony on Capitol Hill last week, Gen. Alexander essentially supported the notion that this planning cannot be done in a vacuum, but with the full input and support from private industry.
“We cannot do it without industry support, and industry can’t do it without our support,” he said. “But by the time a company reaches out to DHS after an attack, the damage is already done.”
READ MORE
There is not a single person on earth that wasn’t impacted in some way by the terrorist attacks that took place in the Eastern United States on the morning of September 11, 2001. The images were not only unbelievable, but as the details were released about the attacks and information began to be released about the number of people injured and killed, we knew that the world had changed in many ways that most of us on September 10th couldn’t have imagined. READ MORE
Fusion centers must rely on multi-directional information sharing between federal, and state and local law enforcement agencies. In a new white paper, i2 explores the challenges fusion centers face in achieving this multidirectional flow, some recommended solutions and reviews a few examples of success. READ MORE
Computer hackers are no longer viewed as outsiders living in their parents’ basements — occasionally dangerous, but usually more of an annoyance to government cyber security professionals. In fact, the governments of the U.S. and the United Kingdom are actively recruiting them as their newest weapon to answer their malicious counterparts who are members of organized crime rings and hostile nation-state cyber armies. The U.S announced this year its first-ever “Cyber Challenge,” a nationwide contest which mirrors a similar competition China has been running for five years. Organizers say the Cyber Challenge is designed to identify young people with exceptional computer skills and inspire them to join the shorthanded ranks of specialists needed to protect government, military and industrial cyber infrastructure. READ MORE
Latest Comments