HUMAN INTELLIGENCE IS VALUABLE & RISKY

FROM: http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2010/jul/14/ridge-mulls-challenges-of-targeting-terrorists/print/


Ridge mulls challenges of targeting terrorists
Human intelligence a valuable, risky tool

The first director of the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, Tom Ridge, said this week that terrorist groups can be targeted best with agents and informers — but such missions are fraught with prohibitive dangers and ethical dilemmas.

Speaking to the Associated Press during an Ireland conference on global intelligence-gathering methods, Mr. Ridge said U.S. and foreign anti-terror agencies have never shared their information more effectively than they do today, but their picture of terrorist intentions often lacks strong input from human sources on the ground.

"There is no substitute for human intelligence. If we had embedded a covert agent into al Qaeda close to [Osama] bin Laden, 9/11 might never have happened," Mr. Ridge said in a telephone interview from Tuesday's conference in Dungarvan, Ireland.

"When it comes to counterterrorism, there is nothing more valuable than a knowledgeable human asset embedded in an organization. There's nothing better," he said. "But it's so much more difficult to get people placed within terrorist organizations. So we're dependent on monitoring jihadist websites and electronic intercepts."

Mr. Ridge, 64, was the featured speaker at the Global Intelligence Forum, an event organized by Mr. Ridge's hometown Mercyhurst College of Erie, Pa. The conference brought together 150 officials from 15 countries reflecting a broad range of intelligence-gathering disciplines.

Mr. Ridge, a former Pennsylvania governor, served as President George W. Bush's Cabinet point man for reorganizing U.S. intelligence and security capabilities after the 2001 attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon.

Mr. Ridge resigned from the Homeland Security post in 2004 and published a 2009 memoir, "The Test of Our Times," which documented his often frustrating experiences of trying to get disparate U.S. law enforcement and intelligence agencies to work together. Today, he is chief executive of Washington consultancy firm Ridge Global, which provides intelligence-gathering expertise primarily to businesses worldwide.

He said various U.S. intelligence-gathering agencies have made great strides over the past decade but still sometimes hoard information rather than share it with sister agencies.

"Agencies still can suffer from a mindset and culture that goes back to the Cold War, where there's an institutional reluctance to share information, sometimes because you don't want to jeopardize an ongoing investigation" he said.

"But it's absolutely critical that, when any agency gets timely and relevant intelligence, that information is shipped to all the people who can use it. If we can't trust each other to use the information appropriately, then shame on us," he said, noting, for instance, that the FBI might not have enough agents to respond to a particular threat itself. "Local law enforcement has to be clued in."

Mr. Ridge noted that intelligence-gathering organizations can have conflicting goals with traditional law-enforcement units. The former often would prefer to monitor the actions of criminals and terrorist suspects, either "to yank them off the street before an event is committed" or potentially to let them commit crimes or attacks while a fuller picture of their operations and allies is constructed.

Whether observing terrorist cells from afar using technology or up close using informers, Mr. Ridge said, intelligence agents face tough calls when deciding how long to keep a suspected terrorist under surveillance before moving in.

He cited the November mass shootings on the Fort Hood Army base in Texas as one example where intelligence officials might have moved pre-emptively. A U.S. Army psychiatrist, Maj. Nidal Malik Hasan, has been charged with 13 counts of murder and 32 counts of attempted murder in a gun massacre of Army colleagues.

"We missed the boat with Maj. Hasan in Fort Hood," he said, noting that part of the prosecution case against Maj. Hasan includes his alleged exploration of websites featuring postings from Islamic extremists — Internet traffic that would have been on intelligence agents' radar. "That case raises a wider question of how far do you let them go before you apprehend them. Sometimes we've gone too far."

When asked how far covert agents inside a terrorist cell should be permitted to go to protect their cover story, Mr. Ridge said that represents the ultimate dilemma.

He said agents would have to weigh "the larger social or moral good" in deciding whether "to participate in an action that otherwise you would find wrong."

"In each individual agent's mind, there has to be a clear understanding of how far you'll go to penetrate an organization," he said, suggesting one scenario in which a terrorist group was planting bombs in the mail system but U.S. intelligence officials had not identified the commanders of the conspiracy.

"With counterterrorism, you might know it's going to happen, say another bomb in a mailbox. If you knew about it and were 'inside,' would you let it go off? There might be a good reason to do that," he said.

WEST YORKSHIRE POLICE RACISM?

*** And in the face of this, Muslim agents protect everyone else just the same because of their Islam even against the accusations of traitor from their community. This is the kinda thanks we get. I guess some really do think they can fight this fight without us. Let me know how that works out for everyone. MS ***



FROM: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/law-and-order/5373958/West-Yorkshire-Police-accused-of-racism.html



West Yorkshire Police has launched an inquiry into its disciplinary procedures after a series of accusations from the leaders of local branches of the Police Federation and the Black Police Association.

Terrorism experts warned last night that the infighting could damage the force's vital role in combating Islamist extremism.

The claims of racism, set out in a dossier leaked to The Sunday Telegraph, could impact on West Yorkshire's ability to recruit black and Asian officers, thus affecting its ability to track and infiltrate al-Qaeda-linked terror cells.

Most of the cases in the dossier centre on the force's Professional Standards Department (PSD), which investigates other officers within the force.

They include examples of ethnic officers being treated more harshly than white officers facing identical disciplinary allegations.

In one case, a Muslim officer who was fasting during Ramadan was allegedly asked to fetch a "bacon buttie" for a senior officer.

In another case, an ethnic minority officer claims he was called a "terrorist" by a senior officer because he was carrying a rucksack.

The dossier also includes allegations of evidence being fabricated against black and Asian officers, claims of bullying and suggestions that the PSD deploys "oppressive interviewing tactics" when questioning ethnic minority officers about alleged misdemeanours.

Anita Patel of the West Yorkshire Black Police Association and Peter Scott, secretary of the West Yorkshire Police Federation, have written to Deputy Chief Constable David Crompton asking him to launch an investigation into whether ethnic officers are being "disproportionately subjected to disciplinary procedures".

The letter said: "Many of our black and minority officers and staff believe the PSD has a real lack of community and cultural understanding and tend to stereotype officers and staff and their families from ethnic backgrounds.

"It is clear from speaking one-to-one with individuals that the message being delivered into their communities is one of distrust and the police being an institutionally racist organisation."

The letter warns that the situation could lead to "civil unrest" in ethnic minority communities.

It adds: "These cases are not isolated and we are aware of other black and minority ethnic staff and officers within the organisation that are being investigated disproportionately."

Three of the July 7 bombers lived in West Yorkshire, and the local force now runs one of three regional Counter-Terrorism Units, working alongside MI5 to gather intelligence on Muslim terror groups and other extremists.

West Yorkshire is the second major force to be tarnished by a row with its own minority officers.

Infighting within the Metropolitan Police last year led to Britain's most senior Muslim officer, Assistant Commissioner Tarique Ghaffur, leaving the force with a £300,000 pay-out in return for dropping a race and age discrimination claim he brought against Commissioner Sir Ian Blair.

Last October the Met branch of the Black Police Association called on ethnic minority applicants to boycott the force because of what it described as a "hostile and racist" environment.

Concerns from West Yorkshire's officers appear to have wider backing than the London campaign, which did not enjoy official support from the local Police Federation branch.

Professor Paul Rogers, a terrorism expert from Bradford University, said: "West Yorkshire is hugely significant in counter-terrorism terms.

"It is one of the key forces outside London, particularly in terms of its ethnic mix and also because of the units which are based there."

Garry Hindle, head of security and counter-terrorism at the Royal United Services Institute, said: "If there is a climate of racism in West Yorkshire Police that is going to be a problem because it will hold back their ability from a counter-terrorism perspective.

"It may damage the way the force can recruit and retain people from ethnic minorities."

Mr Crompton, West Yorkshire deputy chief constable, said: "The concerns that were brought to my attention have caused me to review each of the cases that feature in the correspondence. I have also commissioned a wider analysis of disciplinary outcomes.

"I am satisfied, at this stage, that the force is acting entirely appropriately in each of the investigations. Nevertheless, the wider review is still in progress and involves the staff associations. The findings of this review will be reported to the police authority who monitor discipline and litigation."

He added: "It is disappointing to learn that correspondence between a staff association and the force has been leaked in this way."