Michael Marino EXECUTIVE SUMMARY Knowledge is a limited currency that requires cultivation for the advancement of any organization.[1] However, homeland security as an enterprise is slow to learn, no matter the kind of learning: lessons-learned documents and after-action reports are inadequate for the homeland security enterprise to efficiently learn from high-threat events, especially in a…
Posts Tagged with Homeland Security Intelligence
The Key to Lawful Access: An Analysis of the Alternatives Offered in the Encryption Debate
William Mack EXECUTIVE SUMMARY This thesis examines the encryption debate in which law enforcement and the U.S. Intelligence Community (IC) face a lawful access challenge, smartphones and messaging applications inaccessible because of encryption, even when court-issued search warrants and wiretap orders have been approved by a judge.[1] Computer scientists, cryptographers, technology companies, and privacy advocates…
U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services’ Effort to Identify Terrorism Threats: Is Social Media Intelligence (SOCMINT) the Next Tool?
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…
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;…