According to Downing and Matt (2012), intelligence is only valuable if it is shared with those who need it at the right time and in the right manner. However, sharing classified information may not only render it irrelevant, but it may also pose a threat to the intelligence agencies and their ability to access highly important information needed for the protection of the country. On one end, there is need to share information with as many people who need it as possible so that a positive difference can be made. On the other end, there is need to protect intelligence from people who may use it against the state.
Finding a common ground between sharing intelligence and protecting it is often the biggest challenge that intelligence agencies and law enforcers face. Finding this common ground, which Best (2011) refers to as ‘sweet spot’, is critical in ensuring that relevant agencies get the information they need to act appropriately without rendering the intelligence irrelevant. A number of models of sharing intelligence have been proposed. While others believe that ‘Need-to-Know’ is the right model, others insist that ‘Need-to-Share’ should always be embraced. In this paper, the researcher seeks to determine the appropriate model that should be used.
The federal government spends a lot of money every financial year to collect intelligence with the primary goal of ensuring that the country is protected from terror attack, crime, espionage, or any form of aggression that may physically, socially, or financially harm the people or their government. This information can only be relevant if it is acted upon by all the relevant authorities, especially the law enforcement agencies. However, there is always the risk of this information being accessed by individuals who may use it against the state (Kuriscak, 2011). As such, the law enforcers and intelligence agencies have the obligation of coming up with an appropriate model of sharing information in a responsible manner. The ‘sweet spot’ in intelligence share must be identified. The best way of identifying this spot is to use ‘Need-to-Know’ model of intelligence sharing. According to Walsh (2010), when using a ‘Need-to-Know’ model, the individual must have a work-related requirement for access to the information, not just generalized curiosity. Such a person must be proven to be capable of protecting the information and using it responsibly.
The researcher strongly supports the need to embrace a ‘Need-to-Know’ intelligence sharing model among law enforcement agencies and intelligence agencies. The Department of Homeland Security, Office of the Director of National Intelligence and other law enforcement agencies have the primary responsibility of ensuring that the United States is safe from any attack (Borene, 2010). That should be the primary reason of gathering intelligence. When it comes to sharing of intelligence, it must be done in a way that it does not jeopardize the operations of law enforcers (Pollack, 2014). Sometimes it may even be necessary to protect the information from a section of the law enforcers just to ensure that it does not reach wrong people. This is so because sometimes law enforcers may be compromised. When handling a very sensitive issue, intelligence should only be shared by people who have proven that they have a genuine need to know, and that their knowledge will not have a negative impact on the ability of law enforcement agencies to do their work in an effective manner.
References
Best, R. A. (2011). Intelligence information: Need-to-know vs. need-to-share: Congressional Research Service. Web.
Borene, A. (2010). The U.S. intelligence community law sourcebook: A compendium of national security related laws and policy documents. Chicago, Ill: American Bar Association.
Downing, M. & Matt, A. (2012).The domestic counterterrorism enterprise: Time to streamline.Web.
Kuriscak, J. (2011). Intelligence sharing silos between the FBI and the CIA. Washington, DC: Cengage.
Pollack, F. (2014). Coalition theater-level intelligence sharing: Overcoming failures and strengthening relationships. Norfolk, VA: National Defense University.
Walsh, J. I. (2010). The international politics of intelligence sharing. New York: Columbia University Press.