FC: FBI, DEA classified databases now open to local cops, Ashcroft says

[Declan McCullagh <declan () well com>]

I've placed Ashcroft's actual memo on this topic, dated today, here:
http://www.politechbot.com/docs/ashcroft.info.sharing.041102.pdf

See also:

"Ashcroft's speech on opening NSA, CIA databases to police"
http://www.politechbot.com/p-02792.html

-Declan

---

DEPARTMENT OF JUSTICE
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
AG
April 11, 2002
(202) 514-2007
WWW.USDOJ.GOV
TDD (202) 514-1888

ATTORNEY GENERAL ORDERS NEW STEPS TO SHARE INFORMATION
RELATING TO TERRORISM WITH FEDERAL AGENCIES
AS WELL AS STATE AND LOCAL GOVERNMENT

WASHINGTON, DC - Attorney General John Ashcroft today directed Justice 
Department components, including the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), 
the Immigration and Naturalization Service (INS), the Drug Enforcement 
Administration (DEA), the Department's Criminal Section, the Marshals 
Service (USMS), as well as the Foreign Terrorist Tracking Task Force 
(FTTTF), to take additional steps to increase coordination and sharing of 
information relating to terrorism.  Today's initiatives, developed 
following the terrorist attack of September 11th, are designed to further 
increase the effectiveness of the federal government, working together with 
state and local governments, to coordinate the use of information that 
could help prevent future acts of terrorism.
"Information is the best friend of prevention," said Attorney General John 
Ashcroft.  "The September 11 attacks demonstrate that the war on terrorism 
must be fought and won at all levels of government.  To meet this 
continuing threat, law enforcement officials at all levels -- federal, 
state, and local -- must work together, coordinating information and 
leveraging resources in the joint effort to prevent and disrupt terrorist 
activity."The prevention of terrorist activity is the overriding priority 
of the Department of Justice.  Last fall, the Attorney General directed 
Department components to review their policies and procedures to ensure 
information sharing, information analysis, and coordination of activities 
with other federal agencies and our state and local partners in the joint 
effort to prevent acts threatening public safety and national 
security.  Following the recommendations and progress reported to the 
Attorney General by Deputy Attorney General Larry Thompson, the Attorney 
General today commended the components for their substantial progress, and 
directed them to take several additional steps in analyzing information, 
sharing intelligence, and coordinating activities in the multi-front effort 
to combat terrorism.  These steps include the following:

1.Expand Terrorist Information in Law Enforcement Databases.  The Federal 
Government maintains a number of databases that provide real-time 
information to government officials in foreign diplomatic outposts, at 
border points of entry, and to officials engaged in interior domestic law 
enforcement.  Expansion of information in such databases relating to known 
and suspected terrorists will greatly enhance the ability of federal, 
state, and local officials to prevent terrorists from obtaining visas to 
enter the United States, to deny them entry into our borders, to detect and 
apprehend those already in the country, and to gather intelligence on the 
plans and activities of terrorist conspiracies.  Accordingly, the Attorney 
General directed all investigative components within the Department of 
Justice to establish procedures to provide, on a regular basis and in 
electronic format, the names, photographs (if available), and other 
identifying data of all known or suspected terrorists for inclusion in the 
databases maintained by the State Department, the FBI, and the U.S. Customs 
Service.  These procedures may allow for case-by-case exceptions where 
disclosure would compromise national security or criminal investigations.

2.Coordinate Foreign Terrorist Information.  The international response to 
the September 11th attacks has been defined by multilateral cooperation and 
resolve to restore security and liberty to freedom-loving people of the 
world.  The success of the response has depended in large part on improved 
sharing among governments of information relating to terrorists, their 
associates, and their activities. Continued vigilance requires procedures 
to institutionalize such information coordination.  Accordingly, the 
Attorney General directed the FBI, through its Legal Attaches, to establish 
procedures to obtain on a regular basis the fingerprints, other identifying 
information, and available biographical data of all known or suspected 
foreign terrorists who have been identified and processed by foreign law 
enforcement agencies.  The FBI shall also coordinate with the Department of 
Defense to obtain, to the extent permitted by law, on a regular basis the 
fingerprints, other identifying information, and available biographical 
data of known or suspected foreign terrorists who have been processed by 
the U.S. Military.  Such information shall be placed into appropriate law 
enforcement databases to assist in detecting and locating foreign terrorists.

3.Establish Secure System for Information Coordination with State and Local 
Partners.  Effective information coordination requires sophisticated 
mechanisms for expanded database searches using methods other than a name 
search.  Federal agencies, unlike state and local governments, have the 
benefit of classified systems that enable keyword searches of relevant 
documents, secure e-mail, and other important collaborative information 
sharing tools.  Last fall, the Attorney General  directed all U.S. 
Attorneys to develop protocols for coordinating information to, from, and 
among our state and local partners in law enforcement, and encouraged the 
use, where practicable, of technologies already available and currently in 
use by the Department to facilitate information-sharing.  Today, the 
Attorney General directed the Deputy Attorney General to coordinate among 
the applicable components the development of a secure but unclassified 
web-based system to enable local, state, and federal users to post, 
retrieve, and read information, restrict access to certain products, send 
secure e-mail, and receive automatic e-mail notifications when new items 
are posted.  This integrated system should also allow for future 
capabilities, such as imagery and photographs, instant messaging and 
improved access to federal databases.

4.Analyze Foreign Terrorist Data.  On October 30, 2001, the President 
directed that the Department establish the Foreign Terrorist Tracking Task 
Force (FTTTF) to help keep foreign terrorists and their supporters out of 
the United States by providing critical and timely information to border 
control and interior enforcement agencies and officials.  To do so requires 
electronic access to large sets of data, including the most sensitive 
material from law enforcement and intelligence sources.  The Attorney 
General directed the FTTTF to identify the agency information systems and 
data sets needed to fulfill its mission, and subject to any legal 
restrictions on the sharing of such information, asked each agency to 
provide to the FTTTF unfiltered, timely and electronic access to the 
information systems and data sets deemed relevant by the Director of the FTTTF.

5.Standardize Procedures for Sharing of Sensitive Information.  Sections 
203 and 905 of the Uniting and Strengthening America by Providing 
Appropriate Tools Required to Intercept and Obstruct Terrorism (USA 
PATRIOT) Act of 2001, Pub. L. 107-56, authorized and required sharing of 
foreign intelligence and counterintelligence information in new ways, 
subject to limitations otherwise provided by law and exceptions delineated 
in regulations to be issued by the Department.  Accordingly, the Attorney 
General directed the Assistant Attorney General for the Legal Policy, in 
consultation with the Justice Department's Criminal Division, the FBI, and 
other relevant components, to draft for consideration and promulgation, 
procedures, guidelines, and regulations to implement sections 203 and 905 
of the USA PATRIOT Act in a manner that makes consistent and effective the 
standards for sharing of information, including sensitive or legally 
restricted information, with other Federal agencies.  Those standards 
should be directed toward, consistent with law, the dissemination of all 
relevant information to Federal officials who need such information in 
order to prevent and disrupt terrorist activity and other activities 
affecting our national security.  At the same time, the procedures, 
guidelines, and regulations should seek to ensure that shared information 
is not misused for unauthorized purposes, disclosed to unauthorized 
personnel, or otherwise handled in a manner that jeopardizes the rights of 
U.S. persons, and that its use does not unnecessarily affect criminal 
investigations and prosecutions.  The standards adopted will govern the 
coordination of information directed by this memorandum, and well as other 
voluntary or mandated sharing of criminal investigative information.
###
02-211




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