After the 9/11 Attacks
After the 9/11 attacks, the American administration realized that sharing intelligence and law enforcement data among various government agencies would have been the only way to stop the assaults. The American government appears to have resolved the problems that prevented the exchange of intelligence and law enforcement data at this time. The use of Section 203 of the USA PATRIOT ACT was the main strategy that improved the exchange of intelligence and information (Boon et al, 2012). The federal government was permitted to discuss things before a grand jury that involved intelligence, including foreign intelligence, under § 203(a). Additionally, in cases involving counterintelligence and foreign intelligence, the provision allowed permitted the sharing of grand jury information. Likewise, subsection 203 (b) also permitted law enforcement and investigative officers as well as government attorney to share information retrieved from wire, electronic interceptions. Additionally, subsection 2013 (d) also allowed disclosure of foreign intelligence and counterintelligence information retrieved as a section of federal criminal investigation notwithstanding to any provision law, federal law (Boon et al, 2012). However, enhancing sharing of information between different government states has been cautioned and should be done only under particular conditions to ensure that the information does not land in the wrong hands.
The Texas shooting by two gunman is an example of an occurrence in which information sharing played a major role in enhancing solving the case. The suspects of the shooting were described as Jihad suspects after authorities retrieved initial investigations conducted on them. According to the New York Times, the two men met their death after they were killed by a patrol officer who noticed them start their attack on civilians during an event. Eventually, the FIBI and local police provided various background information that aided the investigations to fathom the major motive of the attacks as well as show under whose orders the men were working on (Salinas et al, 2012). Mr. Simpson, ne of the shooters was shown to have lied to the FBI regarding his trip to Somalia in which intelligence showed that he aimed to visit Somalia to take part in the violent Jihad. Additionally, the FBI and police also opened a case on the shooter after he started posting photos regarding ISIS. Due to such behavior the FBI and local police shared information about the suspect and always looked out for hints of any attacks on the American people.
In order to prevent terrorism and crime, there are various recommendations that should be adapted by governments. To start with, they government should put in place procedures and mechanism that enhance sharing of intelligence information that relevant to terrorism threats. Such procedures should be developed through considering national security government concerns and a right a fair trial of an accused. The second recommendations is that intelligence agencies need to be informed on the manner in which intelligence information is gathered and the materials obtained ;since they could impact a criminal prosecution or investigation (Conser et al, 2013). To enhance instances of proper use of the intelligence information, states should develop procedures and mechanism through which intelligence agencies could be made aware of procedures and standard rules of the evidence that could be used in relevant country. The third recommendation is that law enforcement agencies and personnel have to evaluate reliability and authenticity of the information and make determinations on how it could be used under a heir respective legal system to support investigations or as prosecution evidence.
References
Boon, K., Huq, A. Z., & Lovelace, D. C. (2012). The changing nature of war. New York: Oxford University Press.
Conser, J. A., Paynich, R., & Gingerich, T. (2013). Law enforcement in the United States. Burlington, Mass: Jones & Bartlett Learning.
Salinas, . F. A., Samuel, K. L. H., & White, N. D. (2012). Counter-terrorism: International law and practice. Oxford [etc.: Oxford University Press.
