Florida Atlantic University Effective Collaboration Discussion

Post 1

Below I have post please provide a response.. min. 200 words each with reference (WITHIN THE LAST 5 YEARS).

Part I: Elaborate on what you think is the largest horizontal obstacle or challenge preventing effective collaboration or sharing of information.

Part II: Identify and describe what you think is the largest vertical obstacle or challenge preventing effective collaboration or sharing of information.

Part III: Provide examples of one horizontal legal issue that occurs when dealing with the sharing of information and describe a solution that is being used (or that can be better employed) to overcome this obstacle and ensure effective inter and intra-agency collaboration for intelligence support to the HSE.

Part IV: Provide examples of one vertical legal issue that occurs when dealing with the sharing of information and describe a solution that is being used (or that can be better employed) to overcome this obstacle and ensure effective inter and intra-agency collaboration for intelligence support to the HSE.

Do not include quotes in your posting since if you were in a class talking aloud, you likely would not be using direct quotes; instead, as necessary, paraphrase what you need to convey. You need to show me good critical thinking skills and not quotes written by others. Formulating your own thoughts from analyzing new information and studying established work is what we need for successful experts of the future. You must include at least one source per paragraph and thus include it in your reference section as best as you can (hint – not just a URL).

Below I have 4 posts please provide a response to both. 150 words each with reference (WITHIN THE LAST 5 YEARS).

Your response to your peer by extending, refuting/correcting, or adding additional nuance to their posts. The response must enhance the discussion and use
of scholarly resources is required (text or any article from a journal, or governmental cite). (NO WEBSITES ALLOWED)

Post 2

Part I: Elaborate on what you think is the largest horizontal obstacle or challenge preventing effective collaboration or sharing of information.

Hand-to-hand information exchange still dominates the IC. Sharing information horizontally comes down to relationships which is still the biggest challenge to effective information sharing. For example, I facilitated a multi-agency hostage recovery effort for the better part of two years. Various three letter agencies loaned a “representative” to attend the meetings and liaise with the rest of the team. After a while, these representatives would change out or get reassigned to another task leaving a gap on the team. The success of the team depended on a literal stack of business cards for individual contacts. Without these individuals, the team struggled to make progress. The relationship building aspect takes time and when people get reassigned, retire, or get promoted, the relationship building starts over. In 2011, The White House identified the need to develop and sustain relationships across all sectors within U.S. communities to prevent acts of terrorism (Carter, 2015). Building relationships is great, but information that passes from one person to another will always fail since there are humans in the loop. Automating information sharing is critical to solving this issue.

Part II: Identify and describe what you think is the largest vertical obstacle or challenge preventing effective collaboration or sharing of information.

Vertical sharing of information can relate to sharing within the organization itself or between local, state, and federal levels. In both cases, there are still issues sharing information. The 2014 report that investigated the progress of the 9/11 Commission found that there had been little progress since the 9/11 Commission report of 2004 (Maras, 2017). One of the biggest challenges to sharing information is that information and sources are highly protected in each organization. This is because organizations view information as an instrument of power which can lead to better funding and/or a higher prestige. According to Marie-Helen Maras, law enforcement, defense and intelligence agencies are more interested in defending their turf than coordinating their efforts and sharing intelligence (Maras, 2017). This will continue to be an issue as long as there are seventeen intelligence agencies with overlapping missions operating in the same environment.

Part III: Provide examples of one horizontal legal issue that occurs when dealing with the sharing of information and describe a solution that is being used (or that can be better employed) to overcome this obstacle and ensure effective inter and intra-agency collaboration for intelligence support to the HSE.

There are many legal issues impeding the information sharing effort between agencies. The most overarching issue is the lack of distinct mission or authorities when it comes to counterterrorism efforts. According to Foley, congressional committees divide up key counterterrorism missions so that they and the agencies that they oversee are all involved (Foley, 2016). This creates a lot of overlapping missions which results in vague priorities. A possible solution is to adopt Britain’s approach where they have concentrated key counterterrorism responsibilities in a relatively small number of security agencies and each agency has a clear and distinct mission (Foley, 2016). Having distinct lines between missions would result in better understanding of roles and responsibilities which translates into an understanding of who needs what information.

Part IV: Provide examples of one vertical legal issue that occurs when dealing with the sharing of information and describe a solution that is being used (or that can be better employed) to overcome this obstacle and ensure effective inter and intra-agency collaboration for intelligence support to the HSE.

Sharing information vertically can refer to private entities sharing with the government. This brings up a host of legal concerns, some of which are outlined in the “Cybersecurity and Information Sharing: Legal Challenges and Solutions” article. Specifically, digital information collected by private industry is protected by trade secret laws which are designed to give companies a competitive advantage (Nolan, 2015). The concern is that once the information is shared with the government, it would nullify all intellectual property rights associated with the information. This creates a legal barrier to sharing information between private entities and government agencies. The current legal framework is very narrow which restricts the sharing of broad categories of intelligence. One of the solutions to eliminating this barrier is to create a broad legal framework allowing for the sharing of information. While there are laws in place that facilitate sharing such as the Cyber Intelligence Sharing and Protection Act (CISPA), there are still areas that need attention with regard to who can share as well as what can be shared.

Cheers,

Adam

References:

Carter, J. G. (2015). Inter-organizational relationships and law enforcement information sharing post 11 September 2001. Journal of Crime and Justice, 38(4), 522–542. https://doi.org/10.1080/0735648X.2014.927786

Foley, F. (2016). U.S. counterterrorism is mired in turf wars. We could learn a lot from the U.K. (n.d.). Washington Post. Retrieved September 7, 2022, from https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/monkey-cage/wp/2016/07/19/there-are-turf-wars-in-u-s-domestic-counterterrorism-efforts-the-u-k-doesnt-have-this-problem/

Maras, M.-H. (2017). Overcoming the intelligence-sharing paradox: Improving information sharing through change in organizational culture. Comparative Strategy, 36(3), 187–197. https://doi.org/10.1080/01495933.2017.1338477

Nolan. A. (2015). Cybersecurity and Information Sharing: Legal Challenges and Solutions. Cybersecurity and Information Sharing: Legal Challenges and Solutions (fas.org).

Post 3

Part I: Elaborate on what you think is the largest horizontal obstacle or challenge preventing effective collaboration or sharing of information.
I think one challenge with horizontal sharing of information is the small percentage of people who feel the need to withhold information by overprotection or to make themselves feel like they are irreplaceable. These are the people that don’t train new employees because they feel threatened by someone else. Sometimes, it isn’t an intentional act, they just feel the more information they have that no one else does, the less likely they are to get overlooked for promotion or lose their job. I have run into this numerous times in my military and now civilian career. Someone withholds information from you so they can tell the boss and take credit for whatever they are doing. While sharing information is a different aspect of this, even if someone waited one day to tell the boss instead of a co=worker, that one day could be the difference between stopping an attack and missing the opportunity. As Masas (2017) mentions in the article, it has been imbedded in our brains to protect all information, even questioning someone within our agency whether they have a valid need-to-know. This could also play a role in the tight grip we have on information/intelligence. The goal is to realize we are all on the same team and sharing information is needed now more than ever to save lives.

Part II: Identify and describe what you think is the largest vertical obstacle or challenge preventing effective collaboration or sharing of information.
I feel jurisdiction is by far the largest vertical obstacle regarding information sharing and collaboration. We see on TV shows and movies where a federal agency goes to a small town and bullies the local law because they don’t know as much or aren’t equipped to handle a situation and there is a back-and-forth struggle between the agencies. While movies and TV shows are scripted, many times they take from research done for the show/roles. Local law doesn’t want to share information with the federal agency because they feel the feds don’t really care about their communities as much as they do. And the feds have more resources and funding for training and equipment, so they feel the local agency should step down and let the “big boys” handle the incident. Not only does this cause issues vertically, but there are also local law enforcement officers that work on joint task force teams, and they are ostracized by their own people because they no longer must abide by the same rules as their counterparts. This drives an even larger wedge between the agencies vertically. Some cities have even gone to court and ended their participation in these joint task forces due to differences in regulations between the local and federal agencies. Portland, OR was one such city that ended their participation and accused the joint task force of committing civil rights violations (Levinson, 2022). As I mentioned before, we all just need to work together, no matter who we work for, and make this country as safe as possible.

Part III: Provide examples of one horizontal legal issue that occurs when dealing with the sharing of information and describe a solution that is being used (or that can be better employed) to overcome this obstacle and ensure effective inter and intra-agency collaboration for intelligence support to the HSE.
I think liability is one legal issue that is prevalent within information sharing. Some private entities are dissuaded from information sharing due to the fear of gathering information they don’t know is important and then being held liable if that information could have led to stopping an attack or incident (Nolan, 2015). This falls back to one piece of information could seem irrelevant to one but would be vital to others. There are solutions in place to attempt to curve this liability though. Tort Law is one example of this. Under this law, certain criteria must be met to prove the defendant has acted negligently. Even with laws like this in place, some entities are still on the fence about information sharing because even if they aren’t in the wrong, they don’t want to deal with long, drawn out court cases and don’t want to dump a bunch of money into legal fees to fight it in court. One way we could help these private entities to feel more secure is to offer legal assistance if there was a scenario where they were taken to court in a liability suit for information they had/shared. This way, the monetary piece wouldn’t be an issue and they could focus on making sure they are sharing whatever information they receive. Not having to worry about legal fees would be an incentive for them to share the information they obtain.

Part IV: Provide examples of one vertical legal issue that occurs when dealing with the sharing of information and describe a solution that is being used (or that can be better employed) to overcome this obstacle and ensure effective inter and intra-agency collaboration for intelligence support to the HSE.
One vertical legal issue would be the illegal gathering of information at a certain level could lead to court cases being thrown out. This is particularly relevant in places where joint task forces are being utilized. As we learned earlier in the class, local agency officials can be selected to serve on these task forces and when they do, they now follow the rules of the federal agency, not their local one. The FBI is authorized to tap phones without probable cause (under the US PATRIOT Act), but local police cannot. If an officer was part of a joint task force and was following this rule, the information gathered would be admissible in court. If they were to tap a phone while abiding by local regulations, this would be illegal, and any information gathered/shared vertically wouldn’t be admissible in court. One way to overcome this barrier would be to have a set of regulations that applies to all law enforcement agencies, from the top to the bottom. This way, there would be no issues with people transitioning between local, state or federal agencies and having to worry about which set of rules to follow depending on who they are working under.

References:

Maras, M. (2017). Overcoming the intelligence-sharing paradox: Improving information sharing through change in organizational culture. Comparative Strategy, 36(3), 187–197. https://doi.org/10.1080/01495933.2017.1338477

Nolan, A. (2015). Cybersecurity and information sharing: Legal challenges and solutions (Vol. 5). Congressional Research Servic

Post 4

Part I: Elaborate on what you think is the largest horizontal obstacle or challenge preventing effective collaboration or sharing of information.

I think the largest horizontal obstacle or challenge preventing effective collaboration or sharing of information is due to the organizational culture of agencies within the intelligence community (IC). The IC operates on a bureaucratic paradigm (Maras, 2017). Bureaucracies are hierarchically organized, with rules and procedures governing day-to-day operations (Maras, 2017). With this structure, the dissemination of information inside the organization is strictly regulated (Maras, 2017). These bureaucratic agencies, departments, and bureaus are often reluctant to release control of the information they have accumulated to protect their interests to achieve their goals (Maras, 2017). Maras describes this as their “organizational culture” which is a term used to describe the norms, standards, and practices that are accepted as normal inside a particular workplace. Organizational culture also affects and influences the behavior inside the workplace which is reflected in decision-making, promotions, and employee recognition (Maras, 2017). If organizations could overcome their cultural biases, I believe information sharing would become more effective.

Part II: Identify and describe what you think is the largest vertical obstacle or challenge preventing effective collaboration or sharing of information.

I think the largest vertical obstacle or challenge preventing effective collaboration or sharing of information is due to compartmentalization practices. For instance, the classification status of information/intelligence and who has the “need to know” for such information/intelligence greatly impedes effective collaboration and information sharing (Maras, 2017). According to the Homeland Security Intelligence Council (2016), state, local, tribal, and territorial (SLTT) entities identified the pressing need to improve the timeliness and usefulness of the information provided by government partners. These delays continue to be caused by the difficulties associated with declassifying material or downgrading its classification using unclassified “tearline” reports that can be widely shared (Homeland Security Intelligence Council, 2016). There is also a lack of “planning and direction” for SLTT partners. To elaborate, Homeland Security Intelligence Council (2016) states that to better utilize SLTT information capabilities, SLTT entities need (1) a means to learn about the specific information requirements of federal partners, (2) a clear process for disseminating data to the IC, and (3) a means to teach employees on the proper use of this data. These obstacles hinder effective collaboration and information sharing but if these issues were to be resolved, it is possible that information sharing would become more effective.

Part III: Provide examples of one horizontal legal issue that occurs when dealing with the sharing of information and describe a solution that is being used (or that can be better employed) to overcome this obstacle and ensure effective inter and intra-agency collaboration for intelligence support to the HSE.

I believe the biggest horizontal legal issue is the protection of privacy, civil rights, and civil liberties when dealing with information sharing. Following the terrorist attacks on 9/11, the USA PATRIOT Act was enacted and gave the government considerable surveillance authority with limited oversight (Vasi & Strang, 2009). Once it became known what the Act allowed the government to do (spy on its citizens), corrective actions were taken. President Obama enacted the USA Freedom Act, which limited the government’s ability to gather data and instituted significant modifications to surveillance practices. In 2018, ODNI updated its prior recommendations and released a policy that considers civil liberties, privacy, and openness (ODNI, 2018). The policy mandates that all IC components make civil rights and privacy protections central to their intelligence operations (ODNI, 2018). Elements of the IC must also integrate, share, and secure data in a way that respects people’s rights to privacy and civil liberties (ODNI, 2018). Additionally, the policy codifies the idea that the public should be given more information about intelligence activities and the IC’s governing structure, so long as doing so does not compromise national security (ODNI, 2018). Accordingly, the policy suggests that all parts of the IC actively promote the Intelligence Community’s Principles of Intelligence Transparency (ODNI, 2018).

Part IV: Provide examples of one vertical legal issue that occurs when dealing with the sharing of information and describe a solution that is being used (or that can be better employed) to overcome this obstacle and ensure effective inter and intra-agency collaboration for intelligence support to the HSE.

One vertical legal issue that occurs when dealing with information sharing is the law that requires the protection of intelligence sources and methods from unauthorized disclosure (ODNI, n.d.). Nolan (2015, p. 11) states that DHS can only share cyber-intelligence with “private organizations that control or run vital information systems” “upon [those entities’] request,” according to the Homeland Security Act. National Cybersecurity Protection Act of 2014 (NCPA) includes language making it clear that no private organization is obligated to seek help from DHS (Nolan, 2015). Some have questioned the efficacy of the existing voluntary information sharing system since DHS cannot “mandate private sector involvement” in federal cyber information sharing activities (Nolan, 2015, p. 11). Additionally, laws unrelated to cybersecurity may hinder the government’s capacity to release information about cyber threats (Nolan, 2015). The Homeland Security Act mandates that DHS guarantee that any intelligence in its possession is “kept from unauthorized disclosure and handled and utilized solely for official tasks” (Nolan, 2015, p. 11). Notably, the Act requires DHS to comply with (1) the provisions of the National Security Act of 1947 insofar as such information pertains to intelligence sources and techniques, and (2) any Attorney General powers “concerning sensitive law enforcement information” (Nolan, 2015, p. 11). In other words, the government may not be able to share sensitive information from federal cyber-intelligence, such as the sources or methods at the center of an ongoing cybercrime investigation (Nolan, 2015).

Chamness

References

Homeland Security Intelligence Council. (2016). Protecting the Homeland: Intelligence integration 15 years after 9/11. https://www.insaonline.org/wp-content/uploads/2017…

Maras, M.-H. (2017). Overcoming the intelligence-sharing paradox: Improving information sharing through change in organizational culture. Comparative Strategy, 36(3), 187–197. https://doi.org/10.1080/01495933.2017.1338477

Nolan, A. (2015). Cybersecurity and information sharing: Legal challenges and solutions. Congressional Research Service. https://sgp.fas.org/crs/intel/R43941.pdf

ODNI. (2018). 2018 Information sharing environment: Leading intelligence integration. https://www.dni.gov/files/documents/FOIA/2018_Info…

REF BOOK – 1947 NATIONAL SECURITY ACT. Office of the Director of National Intelligence. (n.d.). https://www.dni.gov/index.php/ic-legal-reference-b…

Vasi, I. B., & Strang, D. (2009). Civil Liberty in America: The Diffusion of Municipal Bill of Rights Resolutions after the Passage of the USA PATRIOT Act. American Journal of Sociology, 114(6), 1716–1764. https://doi.org/10.1086/597177

Post 5

I thought the gathering of information under the USA FREEDOM Act by federal levels and sharing to lower levels was also one of the top legal concerns when it comes to sharing information. It seems like there should either be oversight in the issue so that it does not happen or that there should be a law put in place to allow it. The way I understand it, the problem comes when the USA FREEDOM Act is used to collect intelligence on a suspected terrorist, but then it is found out either before information is shared to the local authorities by the feds or after it is shared by the feds to the local authorities that the suspect is not a terrorist, but is guilty of another crime like for instance drug dealing or money laundering. In this situation the evidence collected under the USA FREEDOM Act is thrown out the window and cannot be use in the court system to prosecute on a crime because it will illegally obtain under the current charges. Furthermore, the locals continuing to monitor for criminal activities is hard because when they are asked how they were first put on to this suspect they have to say the feds tipped them based off terrorist monitoring, which also leads to a problem in court.

I feel like they should put some laws into place to be able to turn intelligence that falls in these types of situations over to other authorities so that criminals can be prosecuted. What are your opinions on these types of situations? Thanks for sharing.