A day that began as any normal day before it. People going about their business living their day-to-day lives. That sense of normalcy disappeared in an instant. Lacking that “old normal” from September 10, 2001 represents the biggest change in the last decade.
The events that occurred on September 11 are the primary reason so many of us – the law enforcement and intelligence communities in particular – work so hard to enhance our security capabilities in preventing another attack.
As CEO of i2, I am always humbled by the commitment and dedication of our police officers, intelligence analysts and the men and women serving in uniform around the world. Their sacrifices to make the world more secure never go unnoticed. I’m often asked if we’re safer today than we were on September 11. As a nation, we have come a long way in fixing some of the problems the 9/11 Commission highlighted in its report. For example: READ MORE 
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.
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Far removed from the glamour and adrenaline of the game-day atmosphere that will descend upon Cowboys Stadium for Super Bowl XLV this Sunday, a just as intense but completely surreptitious battle is being waged, not on the gridiron, but among the analysts at the North Central Texas and Dallas Fusion Centers. These analysts are charged with helping support the security infrastructure around the biggest spectacle in American sports. Victory for them is to go unnoticed. Their foe, however, comes not in the form of a potent pass rush or disguised defensive scheme, but is itself invisible – a potential threat lurking amid the more than 150,000 people that have started to migrate to North Texas for the big game. 
As the former CIO of the Los Angeles Police Department, I’ve had the privilege of being part of the security infrastructure for many large gatherings – the Academy Awards and the NBA Finals at Staples Center to name a few. The planning and coordination among many law enforcement agencies is critical to the success of securing any event of this scope. READ MORE
The tragic and senseless shootings in Tucson, Ariz., this past weekend hit home for me and the company. Several of my i2 colleagues and I have called Tucson home for many years and we have been proud to be part of this special close-knit community.
The Tucson Police Department was our first COPLINK customer and the University of Arizona participated in the research and development of several key initiatives that helped advance COPLINK’s capabilities. As a result, we have a close relationship with both the citizens and the law enforcement community.
Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords represents our district in Tucson and many employees who are former law enforcement professionals themselves, and have worked with Judge John Roll and his staff through the years. I’ve had the privilege to meet them both.
I am grateful for the collaboration between the Tucson Police Department, the Pima County Sheriff’s Office, the FBI, the ATF, and other local and federal agencies involved in the investigation. I am confident their work will lead to an eventual prosecution. We stand with our fellow citizens during this difficult time and are there to assist in any manner.
On behalf of i2, I extend my condolences to the families of those who lost loved ones in this horrific incident. We wish Congresswoman Giffords and all those injured a full and quick recovery.
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.
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Sharing information across jurisdictions is essential for law enforcement to keep pace with criminals and terrorists who are not limited by geographic boundaries. More so than anyone else, local cops see this played out on their streets every day. For example, there may be a burglary that takes place in one town and the perpetrators sell the stolen goods to a pawn shop in another.
i2 Booth at IACP 2010
While some policy and process hurdles remain to make information sharing a larger reality nationwide, the technology exists today to make it happen. 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
Today, i2 announced at the UASI Conference in New Orleans a new partnership with Digital Sandbox that promises a compelling and unique value proposition for organizations tasked with protecting critical infrastructure. The partnership is linked with the launch of Digital Sandbox’s new version of its Risk Analysis Center (RAC). Together, the solution empowers analysts with the tools to assess, manage, monitor and analyze threats to critical infrastructure. READ MORE
i2 announced today at its EMEA User Conference in Brussels a partnership with leading risk intelligence specialist, World-Check. As a result, i2 customers can benefit from the ability to access highly structured information and create actionable intelligence faster.
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