Erik Thompson EXECUTIVE SUMMARY Terrorists use the internet to disseminate propaganda, solicit new members, communicate, gather intelligence, seek money, and inspire and plan attacks. In 2015, the San Bernardino, California, terrorist attack brought the use of social media intelligence (SOCMINT) by the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) and U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) to…
Posts Tagged with Homeland Security Intelligence
Stopping the Next Attack: How to Gain Intelligence from Suspects Detained Overseas
James Fitzgerald EXECUTIVE SUMMARY In broad terms, the United States faces two choices that often compete with each other when a terrorist is captured overseas: bring the person back to the United States immediately to face trial—with all of the procedural and legal protections that go along with such a trial—or hold the person in…
Integrating the Fire Service into the Domestic Intelligence Enterprise: A Systems Thinking Approach
Kyle Falkner EXECUTIVE SUMMARY The fire service in the United States largely remains an outsider to the U.S. domestic intelligence enterprise. Despite strong support for fire service integration into the domestic intelligence enterprise and numerous attempts to understand the problem, progress has been sporadic at best. Over the past two decades, the recurring theme within…
Book Review: Spying: Assessing US Domestic Intelligence Since 9/11 By Darren E. Tromblay
By Erik Dahl Suggested Citation Dahl, Erik. (2019) Review of Spying: Assessing US Domestic Intelligence Since 9/11 by Darren E. Tromblay. Homeland Security Affairs 15, Article 4. https://www.hsaj.org/articles/15391 . This book is a welcome addition to the rather small literature on domestic and homeland intelligence in the United States. It will interest more than just…
U.S. Security Clearances: Reducing the Security Clearance Backlog While Preserving Information Security
Benjamin Berger EXECUTIVE SUMMARY To protect sensitive information, certain positions in the federal government require candidates to obtain and maintain a security clearance. Security clearances help ensure that an individual is trustworthy and capable of handling sensitive information, which has the potential of harming the United States if divulged. From 2014 to 2018, the backlog…
Fusing the Four Corners: Integrating Intelligence-Led Policing Within New Mexico’s Rural and Tribal Communities
Robert Vasquez EXECUTIVE SUMMARY Collecting and sharing information is the heart of effective intelligence-led policing. One mechanism for managing law enforcement intelligence is intelligence fusion centers, which help partners share threat information between the federal, state, tribal, and local levels. The House Committee on Homeland Security, for example, has called for greater use of fusion…
Navigating Troubled Waters: How Leaders Can More Effectively Prepare Intelligence Enterprises for the Risks of Intelligence Efforts in Transparent Societies
Jeffrey Dambly EXECUTIVE SUMMARY Intelligence stakeholders increasingly expect intelligence officials to be more transparent in the twenty-first century.[1] Stakeholder support is important because intelligence organizations operate most effectively when they have the support of their respective stakeholders, including legislative bodies who give intelligence organizations their authorities, the courts who often review intelligence activities, the media…
A Prescription for Information Sharing Between Law Enforcement and The Medical Community to Improve Threat Assessments
Amy Thibault EXECUTIVE SUMMARY The nature of violent attacks, including terrorist attacks, in the United States has evolved. Such small-scale incidents as edged-weapon attacks, small-arms attacks, and vehicles used as weapons have become more prevalent. These types of events require minimal resources and planning by the perpetrators, and they do not require a large network;…
Crowd-Based Techniques to Improve Intelligence Analysis
Sridhar Srinivasan EXECUTIVE SUMMARY The essential nature of the homeland security enterprise involves making consequential and complex policy decisions under uncertainty. The inputs policy makers use in making these decisions are facts, analyses, and predictions (which can fit a definition of intelligence), all of which are subject to significant uncertainty. Reduction in the uncertainty associated…
Indications and Warning Methodology for Strategic Intelligence
Susann Kimmelman EXECUTIVE SUMMARY Today’s U.S. intelligence community lacks the human-centric intelligence needed to develop a forward-looking intelligence estimate. A better understanding of homeland security challenges can come from modern indicators that inform intelligence community practitioners about emerging actors and changing situations. These new indicators must include factors about the human condition, and necessitate an…