Gathering National Security Intelligence

Collecting National Security Intelligence

Intelligence gathering is one of the most important activities in law enforcement and plays a crucial role in the development of national security strategies. The significance of intelligence in law enforcement and national security strategies is attributed to the fact that it helps in lessening ambiguity intrinsic in observation of external initiatives and activities. National security intelligence is usually collected through a cycle which determines how information is obtained, created, and shared with users. This cycle has five major steps i.e. planning and direction, collection, processing, producing, and dissemination ("Intelligence Collection Activities and Disciplines," n.d.).

Generally, the responsibility of collecting national security intelligence is given to intelligence collection organizations at the national level. These organizations are mandated with the task of gathering, processing, and disseminating security information that is in turn used to develop suitable law enforcement and national security strategies and initiatives. The intelligence collection organizations play a crucial role in national security since they help raise awareness of security threats to the relevant law enforcement agencies. Intelligence collection organizations collect security information through the use of several means including technological capabilities that help in gathering different types of national security data.

In addition to the use of intelligence collection organizations, national security intelligence is currently collected through a federal intelligence collection structure. This is primarily because of the difficulty in replicating the federal structure across all states because state and local law enforcement agencies may not have the capability to manage such structure. While the federal model is not relevant in all states, state and local law enforcement do not have adequate resources to develop and maintain the multifaceted intelligence structures that are prevalent at the federal level.

In light of the seeming irrelevance of federal intelligence collection to all states and the increase in security threats like terrorism, state and local law enforcement agencies should gather national security intelligence. Despite lack of enough resources for creating a multilayered intelligence collection structure, states and local law enforcement agencies are increasingly facing the need to develop structures for intelligence collection. The agencies can accomplish this through developing customized structures that accommodate the robust abilities and infrastructures maintained by national intelligence organizations with the states' geographic boundaries (Steiner, 2009). The creation of such structures would play a crucial role in the lead role assigned to state governments in homeland security. Actually, since the 9/11 attacks, many states have now developed several intelligence cells in the existing national intelligence structures and systems. The intelligence cells at the state and local level provides links between state and local homeland security and law enforcement strategies and initiatives. These measures demonstrate that state and local law enforcement agencies can and should collect national security intelligence.