Homeland Security Focus Areas

Information Sharing and Systems

chicagotribune.com

Lebanon's fiber-optic powder keg

Iran's hand seen in Hezbollah's growing communication grid, amid fears of 'state within a state'

By Liz Sly

Tribune correspondent

11:26 PM CDT, May 15, 2008

BEIRUT — An extensive telephone network constructed by the Shiite Hezbollah movement, possibly with Iranian help, lies at the heart of the crisis that pushed Lebanon to the brink of civil war this week.

The state-of-the-art fiber-optic network was laid mostly in the two years since Hezbollah's 2006 war with Israel, under the guise of Iranian-sponsored reconstruction projects in Lebanon, according to Lebanon's telecommunications minister, Marwan Hamade.

The government became concerned in the past six months amid signs that the network was being rapidly extended into territory beyond Hezbollah's normal areas of operations, in the northern Bekaa Valley and on the peaks of Mt. Lebanon, he said. Amid concerns that Hezbollah's pursuit of a "state within a state" was taking on new dimensions, the government decided to investigate the network.

"In the past six months they have developed a huge, octopus-sized network covering the whole of Lebanon, entering areas where there are no Shiite headquarters in what appears to be the creation of a parallel Iranian network in Lebanon," Hamade said in an interview.

But Hezbollah regards the network as an integral part of its defensive network against Israel and demonstrated over the past week that it was prepared to wage war against fellow Lebanese to protect its existence.

Enraged by the government's decision to investigate the network, Hezbollah leader Sheik Hassan Nasrallah gave the green light to his forces to attack mostly Sunni West Beirut.

Crackdown reversed

In a humiliating climb-down Wednesday, the government rescinded the decision after Hezbollah succeeded in routing pro-government Sunni forces, leaving Hezbollah free to continue to build its still-unfinished network unchecked.

A second decision opposed by Hezbollah, to fire Beirut airport's security chief in the wake of the discovery of a Hezbollah surveillance camera at the airport, also was overturned, following a deal brokered Thursday by the Arab League.

Hezbollah agreed to lift its blockade of key roads, Beirut airport reopened for the first time in eight days, and the parties to the conflict are due to meet in Qatar on Friday with a view to finally settling their political differences, electing a new president and forming a new government.

But the episode also highlighted the sharp differences between the pro-U.S. government and Iranian-backed Hezbollah over the role played by the Shiite movement.

Addressing journalists live via a televised link to a venue in the Hezbollah-controlled southern suburbs that he said was made possible only by the existence of the network, Nasrallah described the telephone lines as a vital component in Hezbollah's ability to defend Lebanon against Israel, by enabling Hezbollah members to communicate with one another with minimal risk of eavesdropping.

"The wire network is not only part of the resistance arsenal but the most important part of the resistance arsenal," he said. Hezbollah fighters also used mobile and radio communications during the war, but those technologies are vulnerable to electronic interception and jamming, Nasrallah said. "Therefore, we have the wire network … the resistance wire network," he said.

Network expanded

According to Hamade, however, Hezbollah relied only on a limited fixed-line network during the 2006 war. There were cables linking command posts within Hezbollah's Beirut stronghold in the southern suburbs and others linking commanders along stretches of the border. But only since the war has Hezbollah significantly expanded the network.

Around six months ago, he said, ministry engineers attempting to map the network found that it was being extended far beyond the Israeli border region in the south to the far north of the Bekaa Valley and down into the mountains of Lebanon.

The network has a capacity of 99,999 lines, far beyond the needs of Hezbollah's small fighting force, and could easily be expanded, perhaps as a commercial network that would deprive the state of revenues, he said.

"It's a complete bypass of anything linked to the state," he said. "They already have their own justice system, their own police, their own social services and schools, and now their own phone network."

The project is being carried out under the auspices of the Iranian government organization that has carried out numerous reconstruction projects in Lebanon since the war without consulting the Lebanese government, he said. A spokesman for the Iranian Embassy declined to comment on the allegations.

"We are witnessing the creation of a Shiite land in Lebanon which if not contained will become a real beachhead of the Iranian Islamic revolution on the shore of the Mediterranean," Hamade said.

Militarily, Hezbollah's expansion of the network into the northern Bekaa Valley makes sense, said retired Gen. Elias Hanna. Many strategists agree that any future war with Israel would force Hezbollah to fight from deeper inside Lebanon.

"Hezbollah needs more strategic depth, so it needs a bigger network," Hanna said. "It's logical from a military point of view. But from a nation-state point of view it is not welcomed by many Lebanese."

Even Taliban fighters gripe about cell tower attack in Afghanistan

By Jason Straziuso

Associated Press

4:03 PM CDT, March 26, 2008

KABUL, Afghanistan (AP) — Taliban attacks on telecom towers have prompted cell phone companies to shut down service across southern Afghanistan at night, angering a quarter million customers who have no other telephones.

Even some Taliban fighters now regret the disruptions and are demanding that service be restored by the companies.

The communication blackout follows a campaign by the Taliban, which said the U.S. and NATO were using the fighters' cell phone signals to track them at night and launch pinpoint attacks.

About 10 towers have been attacked since the warning late last month — seven of them seriously — causing almost $2 million in damage, the telecom ministry said. Afghanistan's four major mobile phone companies began cutting nighttime service across the south soon after.

The speed with which the companies acted shows how little influence the government has in remote areas and how just a few attacks can cripple a basic service and a booming, profitable industry. The shutdown could also stifle international investment in the country during a time of rising violence.

But the cutoff is proving extremely unpopular among Afghan citizens. Even some Taliban fighters are asking that the towers be switched back on, said Afghanistan's telecommunications minister, A. Sangin.

That dissenting view shows how decisions made by the top-ranking Taliban leadership can have negative consequences for lower-ranking fighters in the field, the minister said.

Taliban spokesman Zabiullah Mujahid hinted in a telephone interview that the group could change its tactics.

"We see that some people are having problems, so we might change the times that the networks are shut down in the coming days," Mujahid said.

That the Taliban could dictate when the country's mobile phone networks operate shows the weakness of the central government and the international forces that operate here, said Mohammad Qassim Akhgar, a political analyst in Kabul.

"After the Taliban announcement, they were aware of the situation, and still they couldn't provide security for the towers," Akhgar said. "Maybe destroying a few towers will not have any effect on the government, but the news or the message that comes out of this is very big, and all to the benefit of the Taliban."

All four of the major phone companies — Roshan, AWCC, Areeba and Etisalat — declined to comment.

Sangin said the government is not overly worried about the Taliban threat because Afghans are becoming increasingly angered by the shutdown. He said seven destroyed towers, and three others with minor damage, out of the 2,000 now in the country was "not a big thing," though he added that the towers cost from $150,000 to $300,000 each.

"Our view of the people targeting the telecom infrastructure is that it's not a fight against the foreign troops, it's not a fight against the government, it's actually targeting the people, because the result of such activities is that the people will suffer," Sangin said. "We believe the people will stand up and provide protection for the telecom towers."

Haji Jan Ahmed Aqa, a 45-year-old farmer from the remote and dangerous Zhari district of Kandahar province, said the loss of cell phone communication at night is a big problem.

"What do we do if someone is sick?" he asked. "How can you agree to this Taliban demand? Maybe next the Taliban will say they have a problem in the daytime, and they'll shut down the network at daytime as well."

Afghanistan's cell phone industry has seen explosive growth since towers first appeared in late 2002, Sangin said. The country now has 5.4 million cell phone users and the industry has invested more than $1 billion. Sangin said he expects another $500 million in investments over the next two years.

Attacks on towers have taken place across the south, where the Taliban is most active. Companies have shut down service primarily in Helmand, Kandahar and Zabul provinces.

An official with knowledge of the situation said about 10 percent of the country's towers were being turned off at night, affecting up to 300,000 people. He spoke on condition he not be identified because he wasn't authorized to release that information.

The shutdown, Sangin noted, is causing problems both for civilians and for militants.

"In these provinces I've actually received reports where the Taliban has gone to some towers and told the companies not to shut them down, and keep them running," said Sangin. "I get the feeling that they are already regretting their decision to shut down the services."

Simon Baker, a Moscow-based analyst with the telecommunication firm IDC, said that despite the attacks, the outlook for the telecom industry in Afghanistan is still "pretty good," given the country's large untapped user base.

"There are substantial amounts of capital behind it. I think people will try to find a solution to this," Baker said. "Major international players will take the longer term view."

Sangin said the Taliban's stated reason for wanting the networks shut down — because the U.S. and NATO can track militants' movements — doesn't make sense, because the fighters could simply turn their phones off or remove the batteries. He said the military has other ways to track the militants.

U.S. Ambassador William Wood told reporters last month that the threat could cause investors to hesitate.

"I don't think that it's a serious threat because the Taliban relies on cell phones, too," Wood said. "But you can see how that would be a problem for a private investor."

Sangin, the telecommunications minister, said the Taliban closed down a cell tower in Ghazni province about four months ago, but that villagers demanded it reopen.

"The people said please ... repair the infrastructure and we will guarantee the security of the tower," Sangin said. "We believe that if the Taliban continue with these kinds of activities the hatred will increase against them, and as a result we are awaiting a change in their policy."

NYTimes.com

March 12, 2008

World Briefing | Europe 

Germany: Agreement with U.S. on Suspects’ Data

By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

Germany and the United States will grant each other access to databases of fingerprints and DNA of people suspected of terrorist activity. The agreement allows either country to see whether the other holds information on a suspect through preliminary searches in the databanks. The deal still needs approval by legislatures in each country.

Defense Employee, Two Others Charged With Passing Secrets to China
American Forces Press Service

WASHINGTON, Feb. 11, 2008 – A Defense Department employee was among three people arrested today for espionage after allegedly passing classified U.S. government documents and information to the People’s Republic of China, Justice Department officials announced.

Gregg William Bergersen, 51, a weapons system policy analyst at the Arlington, Va.-based Defense Security Cooperation Agency, is accused of being the source of the classified information. Much of the information related to U.S. military sales to Taiwan, Justice Department officials said.

Bergersen allegedly passed the information between January 2006 and this month to Tai Shen Kuo, 58, a naturalized U.S. citizen and New Orleans businessman who gathered national defense information on behalf of the Chinese government, officials said.

The two men met at various locations in Northern Virginia; Charleston, S.C.; and Las Vegas. On some occasions, Bergersen received cash payments from Kuo in exchange for the information and documents he provided, officials said.

Yu Xin Kang, 33, of New Orleans, allegedly served as the conduit between Kuo and an individual identified in the complaint affidavit only as “PRC Official A,” who provided direction. Kang is a People’s Republic of China citizen and lawful permanent U.S. resident.

Kuo and Kang face up to life in prison if convicted of conspiracy to disclose national defense information to a foreign government. Bergman is charged in a separate complaint and faces up to 10 years in prison if convicted of conspiracy to disclose national defense information to those not entitled to it, officials said.

The FBI conducted the investigation, with the Air Force Office of Special Investigations providing substantial assistance and cooperation, officials said.

“Today’s prosecution demonstrates that foreign spying remains a serious threat in the post-Cold War world,” said Assistant Attorney General for National Security Kenneth L. Wainstein in a Justice Department release. He noted that the case has all the elements of a classic espionage operation: “a foreign government focused on accessing our military secrets; foreign operatives who effectively use stealth and guile to gain that access; and an American government official who is willing to betray both is oath of public office and the duty of loyalty we rightly demand from every American citizen.”

“Such espionage networks pose a grave danger to our national security, and we should all thank the investigators and prosecutors on this case for effectively penetrating and dismantling this network before more sensitive information was compromised,” he said.

U.S. Attorney Chuck Rosenberg, of the Eastern District of Virginia, joined Wainstein in condemning the alleged activity. “Those who compromise classified national security information betray the enormous responsibility and trust placed in them by our government and the American people,” he said in the Justice Department release.

Today’s arrests came as a former Boeing Company engineer was arrested this morning on charges of passing to China stolen Boeing trade secrets related to several aerospace programs, including the C-17 military transport aircraft, Delta IV rocket and Space Shuttle.

Dongfan “Greg” Chung, 72, of Orange, Calif., was charged with economic espionage and acting as an unregistered foreign agent of the People’s Republic of China.

Chung was employed by Rockwell International from 1973 until its defense and space unit was acquired by Boeing in 1996. He retired in 2002, but returned as a contractor from 2003 to September 2006, officials said.

Wainstein said during a Justice Department news conference today that the cases demonstrate the very real threat that espionage has always presented.

“This threat is not new. Espionage has been a fact of life since the founding of the first nation-state, and it was particularly prominent during the Cold War of the last century,” he said.

“The threat is very simple. It's a threat to our national security and to our economic position in the world, a threat that is posed by the relentless efforts of foreign intelligence services to penetrate our security systems and steal our most sensitive military technology and information,” Wainstein said.

DHS to Replace 'Duplicative' Anti-Terrorism Data Network
$90 Million System Aimed to Aid State, Local Agencies

By Spencer S. Hsu and Robert O'Harrow Jr.
Washington Post Staff Writers
Friday, January 18, 2008; A03

The Homeland Security Department spent more than $90 million to create a network for sharing sensitive anti-terrorism information with state and local governments that it has decided to replace, according to an internal department document.

The decision was made late last year but was not announced. It was outlined in an Oct. 27 memorandum that listed the network's flaws and asserted that DHS's counterterrorism, immigration enforcement and disaster management missions were hampered by the proliferation of more than 100 Web "portals" that provide poorly coordinated information.

"Most are duplicative in capabilities" and lack innovation, noted the memo by DHS Undersecretary for Management Paul A. Schneider. He said that as a result, the department "will replace" the current system, known as the Homeland Security Information Network.

The decision underscores recurring criticism about the department's effectiveness at meeting the core need to better share information with government and private partners involved in counterterrorism efforts five years after it was formed, according to lawmakers and independent experts. The department also has repeatedly rushed crucial technology initiatives, leading to delays and millions of dollars in additional costs.

The network is the department's primary communications application for sensitive but unclassified information. It is a Web-based system designed to be used for chat and instant messaging, as well as a conduit for suspicious activity reports and analysis of terrorist threats.

But the department's information-sharing efforts, meant to fulfill a key security priority since the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks, have faltered from the beginning. Two years ago, the Government Accountability Office listed the network as a "high-risk area."

The GAO gave the program the same designation last year. Among the key problems, according to an April 2007 review: The department rushed to deploy the system without consulting users.

Other government agencies have struggled with technology initiatives. Congressional auditors in 2006 said that the FBI had spent nearly $600 million over five years without successfully developing a new case-management system.

Developed by the Defense Intelligence Agency and transferred to DHS in 2003, the information network has been criticized by law enforcement users for being difficult to use, providing little added value, and duplicating existing law enforcement networks operated by the Justice Department. A June 2006 report by the department's inspector general found that only 2 to 6 percent of authorized users had signed on to the Web-based network daily during the previous December.

But DHS officials have said publicly that the system was rapidly improving. That prompted Democratic and Republican leaders of the House Homeland Security Committee and its intelligence subcommittee to express anger in a letter to Schneider yesterday that they were not told in advance of the department's plan.

They said that on Oct. 26, a day before Schneider's memo was dated, DHS officials told lawmakers that the department had made "significant progress" in upgrading the network.

"It is unacceptable that the Department would brief the Congress on the status of the program on one day and dramatically alter that program the next," wrote Chairman Bennie Thompson (D-Miss.) and Reps. Peter T. King (R-N.Y.) , Jane Harman (D-Calif.) and Dave Reichert (R-Wash.).

The lawmakers gave Schneider until Feb. 14 to answer 18 questions about the possible impact on the system and its users, its projected cost savings, which contractors are involved, and whether DHS has consulted with states and the Office of the Director of National Intelligence, which is in charge of creating a nationwide information-sharing environment.

In his memo, Schneider ordered all DHS agency heads to "stop any new development or enhancements" to existing Web portal systems unless approved by DHS leadership.

DHS declined a request to interview Schneider, but department spokesman Russ Knocke said the network is being upgraded, not replaced.

"We're not departing from or discontinuing" the network, he said in an e-mail reply to questions. "Those allegations could not be more false. We'll be upgrading our systems over the next year, the same way that Microsoft puts out a new software version each year." Knocke later said that many of the network's features "are going to be integrated into a broader, more advanced platform."

Knocke said DHS briefers told the panel in October of desired upgrades and said then that they would update the committee in January. That meeting is scheduled for next week.

The current version of the network was developed by the Navy on behalf of DHS. BAE Systems was selected as the lead vendor, Knocke said.

BAE spokesman John Measell acknowledged that they are one of several contractors, and he said the company is working on the network's infrastructure, operations and maintenance. But he said officials have not seen the Schneider memo.

The system is split into dozens of Web portals used by DHS constituents, including state and local law enforcement, emergency management, counterterrorism agencies and critical private sector industries. Classified data-sharing systems that also are part of the network are not addressed by Schneider's memo, Knocke said.

A prime concern is whether the system is less useful than other, existing federal information-sharing networks, such as Law Enforcement Online (LEO) and the Regional Information Sharing Systems (Rissnet).

NYTimes.com

October 16, 2007 

Phone Utilities Won’t Give Details About Eavesdropping

By ERIC LICHTBLAU

WASHINGTON, Oct. 15 — The three biggest phone carriers have refused to tell members of Congress what role, if any, they had in the National Security Agency’s domestic eavesdropping program. The utilities said it would be illegal to divulge classified information.

“Given the focus of your questions,” a lawyer for AT&T wrote to members of the House Energy and Commerce Committee in a letter released on Monday, “our company essentially finds itself caught in the middle of an oversight dispute between the Congress and the executive relating to government surveillance activities.”

The role of the carriers will be central to the debate in Congress this week over limiting the eavesdropping. The Bush administration has pressed Congress to give the carriers immunity for their cooperation, but House Democrats are balking.

Democrats on the panel had asked AT&T, Verizon and Qwest for detailed responses on the roles. Like AT&T, Verizon and Qwest declined to answer specific questions.

Some Democrats on the House committee were not mollified. Representative John D. Dingell, the Michigan Democrat who leads the panel, said he would continue to press the administration for answers.

Representative Bart Stupak, a Michigan Democrat who leads the subcommittee on oversight, said, “While I recognize the unique legal constraints the telecommunications companies face regarding what information they may disclose, important questions remain unanswered about how the administration induced or compelled them to participate in the N.S.A.’s eavesdropping program.”

The carriers face a barrage of suits. The administration has sought to thwart the cases by invoking the “state secrets” privilege, and the utilities have said little because of the suits. Letters by the companies released Monday broadly defended the cooperation with law enforcement officials.

The companies also spoke of the damage they said has been done by the controversy.

As a result of the litigation, AT&T said in its letter, “carriers who are alleged to have cooperated with intelligence activities are faced with years of litigation, at great financial and reputational cost, and are forced to remain mute in the face of extreme allegations, no matter how false.”

Verizon said in its response that the burden should be on the government, not the phone companies, to establish that a request was proper and lawful.

“Such an approach is vital to ensure that providers are able to respond quickly to request for assistance,” Verizon said. “Placing the onus on the provider to determine whether the government is acting within the scope of its authority would inevitably slow lawful efforts to protect the public.”

Verizon and the other companies have acknowledged that they routinely comply with what Verizon called “lawful demands” for call records and access to phone lines. In 2006, the Verizon letter said, it received 88,000 such requests, about 34,000 from federal officials and 54,000 from state and local officials. Through September of this year, it received 24,000 federal requests and 37,000 state and local requests.

Verizon also acknowledged that the Federal Bureau of Investigation had asked for records to identify what it termed “a calling circle” but said it had not been able to provide them.

Verizon indicated that the F.B.I. had sought records for a broader network of callers than the bureau itself had previously acknowledged by requesting records not just on original targets and the people they had called, but on everyone that those people in turn had called.

NYTimes.com

August 16, 2007 

Agencies Win More Access to Imagery by Satellites

By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

WASHINGTON, Aug. 15 (AP) — Law enforcement, emergency response and border control agencies have won greater access to the nation’s spy satellites and other sensors to monitor United States territory.

The sharing of imagery and data will be especially useful in policing land and sea borders and in disaster planning, said Charles E. Allen, the Department of Homeland Security’s chief intelligence officer, in a telephone interview on Wednesday.

The effort may eventually support domestic law enforcement activities as well, he said, but the legal guidelines for that were still being worked out.

The new effort, first reported Wednesday by The Wall Street Journal, largely follows the recommendations outlined by a 2005 independent study group led by Keith R. Hall, a former chief of the National Reconnaissance Office who is a vice president of the consulting firm Booz Allen Hamilton.

At least 11 domestic agencies have had access to limited amounts of spy satellite imagery for the last 30 years, mostly on a case-by-case basis.

Such imagery has been used to monitor national disasters like Hurricane Katrina. It could also be used to map evacuation routes before anticipated disasters, or to identify patterns of illegal movement across borders.

The Central Intelligence Agency and the Pentagon are generally prohibited from spying on American citizens, and Mr. Allen stressed that the new data-sharing does not violate that ban. “This is not a system for tracking Americans,” Mr. Allen said.

A new office in the Department of Homeland Security, called the National Applications Office, will now be the conduit for all domestic requests for spy satellite information.

It will be up to the intelligence agencies— the National Geospatial Intelligence Agency at the Pentagon, for example — to determine which requests to honor.

Many imagery satellites are in low-Earth orbit, passing over the United States periodically on their way to foreign targets. They can easily be directed to photograph locations in the United States as they pass overhead.

But collecting the data is just part of the task. The data or imagery must be analyzed, turned into a useable product and disseminated.

Analysts across the intelligence community are already swamped with data from foreign surveillance and they may have little time for lower-priority work.

“That will be a challenge,” Mr. Allen said. “In many cases they will be able” to satisfy the request.

“In some cases they won’t,” he said.

Exactly how useful low-Earth orbit satellites would be to domestic government users is a central question, said John Pike, a space expert and director of GlobalSecurity.org.

“It’s not immediately apparent to me the satellites would tell me something I couldn’t otherwise learn from an airplane,” Mr. Pike said.

Spy satellite resolution, while better than that offered by commercial suppliers like Google Earth, is not precise enough to track individuals, and can photograph a given object only at intervals. “There are much better ways of surveilling an individual than using a satellite to do so,” Mr. Hall said.

Using the satellites to capture data about the United States raises privacy concerns. “What could go wrong?” said Steven Aftergood, director of the Project on Government Secrecy at the Federation of American Scientists.“ There’s the possibility of a recurrence of past abuses — surveillance used against political opponents as in the Civil Rights era, the McCarthy era.” Mr. Aftergood added, “There’s also an incidental erosion of personal privacy in which one now has to assume that anywhere you are, you are subject to overhead surveillance by the government.”

Mr. Allen said the office’s operations would be monitored closely by oversight committees, inspectors general and Homeland Security’s privacy office.

“This is going be a very controlled process, and I can’t conceive of Americans having any serious concern,” Mr. Allen said. “No American should be at all concerned.”

GovernmentExecutive.com

Anti-terrorism measure would require changes to alert system

By Chris Strohm National Journal's Technology Daily July 5, 2007

Pending legislation to implement anti-terrorism recommendations would require changes in how the Homeland Security Department collects and disseminates information, notably by overhauling the color-coded alert system, according to a Congressional Research Service report.

House Democrats say one of their top priorities when returning next week from the Independence Day congressional recess will be to negotiate on House and Senate bills to fully implement the recommendations of the panel that investigated the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks.

The bills closely track in several ways when it comes to making changes to Homeland Security's information-sharing activities, CRS said. The five-color advisory system has created confusion in the past, particularly because state, local and private-sector officials have not always known how to react when threat levels are increased.

"With respect to the Homeland Security Advisory System, the bills would provide greater congressional direction to the [Homeland Security] secretary in the administration of this program by responding to often-heard criticisms directed at the system and the department by first responders, state and local law enforcement, and some private-sector entities," CRS wrote.

Homeland Security has gradually been moving away from using the system as a blunt instrument. For example, the department did not raise the U.S. threat level in response to the alleged terrorist attacks in the United Kingdom last week.

Lawmakers, however, want to codify changes to the alert system. The House and Senate bills would require Homeland Security to refine the system so that each warning includes specific information and advice regarding appropriate protective actions in response to threats, CRS wrote. Furthermore, the bills stipulate that warnings should, whenever possible, be limited "to a specific region, locality or economic sector believed to be at risk."

The House-passed bill said the department "shall not, in issuing any advisory or alert, use color designations as the exclusive means of specifying homeland security threat conditions." CRS noted, however, that some provisions in the legislation could prove challenging.

"State and local authorities may be more familiar with the resources they have at their disposal to take protective actions against any potential threat," the service concluded.

The bills also contain provisions intended to improve information-sharing within the department and among federal, state and local law enforcers.

The Homeland Security Department's inspector general released a summary last week of a classified report on problems the department faces in managing its information-sharing activities.

"[Department] elements that are part of the intelligence community detect and analyze threats to the national security of the United States, while other intelligence organizations in the department collect information and develop analytical products to aid in the capture of prospective or practicing criminals," the IG wrote. "Until these activities are differentiated and 'intelligence' explicitly defined, the department will face challenges in determining what activities and organizations should be integrated."

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