Law Enforcemtent-Intelligence Partnership

The developing relationship between law enforcement and the Intelligence Community has taken a major step forward with the launching of an initiative which will bring together experts from both disciplines to examine the parallels between criminality and terrorism-more specifically, the signatures that both discriminate among and between groups and those which transcend culture, language, ethnicity, and geography. The goal is to inform and influence the tradecraft of analysis by leveraging the knowledge and experience historically resident, yet in many cases under-utilized within the domain of law enforcement. The tactics, techniques, and procedures endemic to law enforcement professionals across the world ranging from community policing through criminal investigation to the application of a cold-case methodology to discern the motive, intent, and capabilities of potential terrorists will enhance analytical and operational expertise as well as inform predictive analysis as terrorists frequently replicate the practices of criminals in the acquisition and concealment of weapons, the raising and transference of financing and the recruitment of adherents to the cause. While end results are in fact different by design, criminals seek profit as an end game while terrorists seek profit as a means to a different end; there are opportunities to interrupt and thus defeat that potential kill-chain.

Arguably, intelligence professionals have developed well-honed approaches to dealing with a foreign adversary on foreign soil. Organizationally, they have the technological and human capital to deploy outside of the continental United States, however have been legally restricted from collection and activity on domestic soil. That approach has been successful for the past half of a century when adversaries were at least known if not understood. In the past half of a decade, the rules irrevocably changed, requiring not only a review of capabilities but also a rethinking of priorities to defeat an amorphous adversary with tentacles that extend to if not germinate from domestic soil. Those best positioned to observe and to identify abnormalities in behavior and assimilation patterns are the Nation’s law enforcement professionals.

Until only recently, and in most cases only sparingly, has state and local law enforcement had access to or influence in the Intelligence Community. The opportunity to obtain security clearances has been hindered by an inefficient and arduous process, compounded by a lack of existing infrastructure at the local level to support the receipt and handling of classified information. The National Intelligence Strategy has for the first time publicly and affirmatively stated the compelling need to partner with law enforcement and the private sector to build a stronger multi-disciplinary community to defeat current and emergent threats to the National Security of the United States. The stated intent to leverage expertise wherever it resides is a change that is both historical and profound. The newly confirmed Director of National Intelligence (DNI) has clearly signaled that change in his acceptance speech as he discussed his intention to not only authorize but compel the recruitment and hiring of first generation native speakers from across cultures which in the past was considered taboo. The application of cultural and contextual intelligence to the standing disciplines will significantly enhance our capabilities.

One of the inaugural efforts to develop this partnership will occur in the upcoming months as experts examine the tenets of law enforcement and identify patterns of activity supported by the underground economies which have been leveraged by the criminal genre to escape detection and facilitate illegal activity. Entitled Summer Hard Problem (SHARP), law enforcement personnel will partner with the Intelligence Community and academia to study the clear nexus between criminality and terrorism.

Designed as a think-tank atmosphere with a critical difference, this will not be merely a comprehensive study that is soon lost in the omnipresent avalanche of data at the national level, but one which will influence training, recruitment and decision-making from the perspective of the practitioner engaged in daily sound policing activity to policy makers at the national level. It provides an opportunity which transcends the ongoing debates related to information sharing and ensures the collective knowledge and experience resident within law enforcement is no longer obscured, or hidden in plain sight.

Dr. Kathleen L. Kiernan, a 29-year veteran of federal law enforcement, served as the Assistant Director for the Office of Strategic Intelligence and Information for the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF). She is currently CEO of The Kiernan Group and adjunct professor at Sam Houston State University.