{
  "id": "R40901",
  "type": "CRS Report",
  "typeId": "REPORTS",
  "number": "R40901",
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  "source": "EveryCRSReport.com, University of North Texas Libraries Government Documents Department",
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      "id": 395475,
      "date": "2011-12-28",
      "retrieved": "2016-04-07T00:22:58.255421",
      "title": "Terrorism Information Sharing and the Nationwide Suspicious Activity Report Initiative: Background and Issues for Congress",
      "summary": "The 2004 National Commission on Terrorist Attacks Upon the United States (the 9/11 Commission) cited breakdowns in information sharing and the failure to fuse pertinent intelligence (i.e., \u201cconnecting the dots\u201d) as key factors in the failure to prevent the 9/11 attacks. Two of the efforts undertaken since 2001 to tackle these issues included\nCongress mandating the creation of an information-sharing environment (commonly known as the \u201cISE\u201d) that would provide and facilitate the means of sharing terrorism information among all appropriate federal, state, local, and tribal entities and the private sector through the use of policy guidelines and technologies. \nStates and major urban areas establishing intelligence fusion centers to coordinate the gathering, analysis, and dissemination of law enforcement, homeland security, public safety, and terrorism intelligence and analysis.\nThe imperative for the exchange of terrorism-related intelligence information among law enforcement and security officials at all levels of government is founded on three propositions. The first is that any terrorist attack in the homeland will necessarily occur in a community within a state or tribal area, and the initial response to it will be by state, local, and tribal emergency responders and law enforcement officials. Second, the plotting and preparation for a terrorist attack within the United States (such as surveillance of a target, acquisition and transport of weapons or explosives, and even the recruitment of participants) will also occur within local communities. Third, \u201c[i]nformation acquired for one purpose, or under one set of authorities, might provide unique insights when combined, in accordance with applicable law, with seemingly unrelated information from other sources.\u201d \nSuspicious Activity Reports (SARs) contain information about criminal activity that may also reveal terrorist pre-operational planning. Many believe that the sharing of SARs among all levels of government and the fusing of these reports with other intelligence information will help uncover terrorist plots within the United States. \nThe Nationwide SAR Initiative (NSI) is an effort to have most federal, state, local, and tribal law enforcement organizations participate in a standardized, integrated approach to gathering, documenting, processing, and analyzing terrorism-related SARs. The NSI is designed to respond to the mandate of the Intelligence Reform and Terrorism Prevention Act of 2004 (P.L. 108-458), for a \u201cdecentralized, distributed, and coordinated [information sharing] environment ... with \u2018applicable legal standards relating to privacy and civil liberties.\u2019\u201d \nThis report describes the NSI, the rationale for the sharing of terrorism-related SARs, and how the NSI seeks to achieve this objective. It examines the privacy and civil liberties concerns raised by the initiative and identifies other oversight issues for Congress.",
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    {
      "source": "University of North Texas Libraries Government Documents Department",
      "sourceLink": "https://digital.library.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metadc811022/",
      "id": "R40901_2011Jun10",
      "date": "2011-06-10",
      "retrieved": "2016-03-19T13:57:26",
      "title": "Terrorism Information Sharing and the Nationwide Suspicious Activity Report Initiative: Background and Issues for Congress",
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      "type": "CRS Report",
      "typeId": "REPORT",
      "active": false,
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    },
    {
      "source": "University of North Texas Libraries Government Documents Department",
      "sourceLink": "https://digital.library.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metadc626955/",
      "id": "R40901_2009Nov05",
      "date": "2009-11-05",
      "retrieved": "2015-06-15T14:46:40",
      "title": "Terrorism Information Sharing and the Nationwide Suspicious Activity Report Initiative: Background and Issues for Congress",
      "summary": "This report describes the Nationwide SAR Initiative (NSI), the rationale for the sharing of terrorism-related Suspicious Activity Reports (SARs), and how the NSI seeks to achieve this objective. It examines the privacy and civil liberties concerns raised by the initiative and identifies other oversight issues for Congress.",
      "type": "CRS Report",
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      "topics": [
        {
          "source": "LIV",
          "id": "Terrorism",
          "name": "Terrorism"
        },
        {
          "source": "LIV",
          "id": "Information disclosure (Securities law)",
          "name": "Information disclosure (Securities law)"
        },
        {
          "source": "LIV",
          "id": "Government information",
          "name": "Government information"
        },
        {
          "source": "LIV",
          "id": "Right of privacy",
          "name": "Right of privacy"
        }
      ]
    }
  ],
  "topics": [
    "Intelligence and National Security"
  ]
}