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…
Posts Tagged with Homeland Security Intelligence
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…
Shades of Gray: Releasing the Cognitive Binds that Blind Us
Patrick Hensley EXECUTIVE SUMMARY The intelligence cycle has remained unchanged since its inception following the end of World War II (WWII). The threats faced by the United States Intelligence Community today are very different from the threats of the past. Unlike those in the intelligence environment during the Cold War, the threats of today often…
Comparative Analysis of Fusion Center Interaction to Fire & EMS Agencies
Scott Goldstein EXECUTIVE SUMMARY Across the United States nearly two million fire and EMS personnel provide emergency services to the just over 322 million residents.[1] Their role in our communities has expanded to include response to chemical, biological, and radiological attacks/threats, as well as attacks inspired by radical Islamic jihadism. This expansion of duties is…
The Crime-Terrorism Nexus, and the Threat to U.S. Homeland Security
Mike Schofield EXECUTIVE SUMMARY Since 2001, violent sub-national groups with disparate ideologies and motivations have been working together to further their objectives. They are collaborating, sharing each other’s tactics, and learning from one another’s successes and failures. To comprehend fully the complex nature of the nexus or convergence of transnational criminal organizations (TCOs) and…