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Law Enforcement Agencies Share Intelligence to Fight Terrorism February 2004
Is there a connection between cigarette smuggling and terrorism? Between money laundering and terrorism? Could other local criminal activities indicate terrorist activity? MITRE is helping law enforcement agencies across the Commonwealth of Massachusetts answer such questions to see if there are connections between terrorism and low-level crimes. "We're trying to figure out if there's a nexus to terrorism," says MITRE's Chip Seymour, who is working with the Massachusetts Anti-Terrorism Advisory Council (ATAC) and spearheading its Intelligence Analysis Working Group. The Massachusetts ATAC was started after September 11, 2001, to complement the Joint Terrorism Task Force already in place in the FBI's Boston office. Then called the Anti-Terrorism Task Force, the ATAC's mission is to develop an effective federal, state and local partnership across disciplines and agencies to detect and prevent terrorism, as well as to respond to any terrorist acts. The United States Attorney's Office, and particularly its Anti-Terrorism Unit, plays a critical role in this effort. The Intel Group "Information sharing is a priority of the ATAC," says Assistant U.S. Attorney Michael Ricciuti, Coordinator of the ATAC and chief of the Anti-Terrorism Unit in the U.S. Attorney's Office in Boston. "The newly-created Intelligence Analysis Working Group (IAWG) is one of the keys to this effort." The IAWG, or Intel Group as it's informally known, is a diverse collection of federal, state, and local intelligence analysts and law enforcement officers who share criminal intelligence information among ATAC partners. For example, you may find the Bristol County sheriff talking with the Boston police, the U.S. Marshal's office, and the FBI's Boston office. Seymour, who is acting chairman of the Intel Group, has a combination of experience that's perfect for the job. He's a lead information systems engineer in MITRE's Center for Integrated Intelligence Systems (CIIS) and has worked part time for local law enforcement on and off since 1973, most recently as a patrol officer for a central Massachusetts community. Seymour is currently an intelligence analyst for Project Eastwing, which integrates a variety of intelligence activities for the Electronic Systems Center at Hanscom Air Force Base, Bedford, MA. Seymour and the Intel Group look for trends by combining data from a wide variety of sources. A partial list of these includes newspapers, law enforcement agencies, military criminal investigative services, the U.S. General Accounting Office, and the Massachusetts Department of Revenue. The Intel Group then prepares a monthly intelligence report, called the Tear Line, which is designed to better prepare local Massachusetts law enforcement officers in detecting and preventing terrorism. The Intel Group also provides leads to the FBI's Joint Terrorism Task Force and its member agencies. Seymour notes that "the long-term objective is to get the bad guys off the street. The short-term objective is to off-load some of the intelligence analysis the Anti Terrorism Unit is too busy to do." "Chip has been very successful in expanding the capabilities of the Intel Group," says Ricciuti. "Our first intelligence analyst was an Air Force Reserve officer who was called up for the Iraqi conflict in March 2003. We were left without a very important intelligence component, so MITRE stepped up and offered us Chip Seymour." "The analysts exchange information, think through issues, and look for potential leads," says Ricciuti. They ask a lot of seemingly odd questions to explore all the possibilities. "Now we have more than 50 members representing over 40 organizations, many of whom come to weekly meetings. This is a unique model and has become the cornerstone of our antiterrorism intelligence work in Boston. I don't think it's being done anywhere in the country, with the exception maybe of New York City." "Sharing information in a group like the ATAC allows you to move forward on investigations at a much faster rate," says Col. David Gavigan of the Bristol County Sheriff's office. "The Tear Line is the first page summary of a detailed document that helps front-line law enforcement officers focus on suspicious activities and threats," says Ricciuti. "It gives law enforcement personnel information on potential threats such as shoulder-fired missiles or deadly chemicals." "The Tear Line," says Col. Gavigan, "is the best thing to come out to the field in many years. It's useful down to the local level where we really need it. It makes me more alert and aware of what I should be looking for in my county." Seymour adds, "The Tear Line not only informs local law enforcement of what to look for, it tells them who to call when they find it." In chairing the Intel Group's meetings, Seymour facilitates the exchange of information. "I'll research law enforcement networks and cull out information from other law enforcement agencies nationwide that relates to terrorism in general, or specifically to Massachusetts," says Seymour. For example, the Intel Group found that 23 people in Cincinnati were arrested for money laundering and may possibly be connected with financing terrorism overseas. "We contacted authorities in Cincinnati and asked if the suspects know anybody in Massachusetts. Did they ever live in Boston? Did any of them hold low-level jobs in this area?" Cornerstone of Antiterrorism Work In providing information to the Intel Group, Seymour draws freely on the expertise of specialists throughout MITRE. For example, he tapped the expertise of Tom McEntee, who has been working on chemical and biological warfare issues for the past 12 years. He provided Seymour with information about the effects of hydrogen cyanide, a deadly poison. Seymour also takes advantage of the tools developed by CIIS such as MiTAP (MITRE Text and Audio Processing) software. This tool was originally developed to deliver news and news analysis to users studying outbreaks of infectious diseases on a global scale. MiTAP makes it easier for analysts to read, digest, and comprehend news using visual cues such as color or font style and other natural language processing techniques. Seymour adopted MiTAP for researching criminal activity because it has the ability to link seemingly unrelated activities. For example, if Seymour sees the name of a suspect on the Web who was arrested for sneaking around local nuclear power plants, he'll put the name into MiTap to see what pops up. "I may find that this guy almost drowned in a boating accident in which another passenger, a foreign national, died. I'll look at the incidents more closely to see if there's a possible connection." Ricciuti says he believes the Intel Group is going to be a model for other states to emulate. "One thing I like about it," says Ricciuti, "is that it was developed by intelligence people, not a bunch of lawyers. The people who know their business (intelligence) are running it. They're going to help us lawyers do our job better." —by David Van Cleave Related Information Articles and News |
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