Giuliani Says FBI Must Work Closely With Local Agencies

Mayor Rudolph W. Giuliani called Monday for a federal law requiring the FBI to share terrorism information with local law enforcement authorities in order to improve coordination in times of crisis.

Speaking at a congressional subcommittee meeting that included Los Angeles County Sheriff Lee Baca and several governors, Giuliani urged that the process be formalized through a new FBI office directed by a senior bureau staff member, and that the agency give top security clearance to more people.

“We need real-time information about what is happening,” he told members of the House Intelligence Subcommittee on Terrorism and Homeland Security during the hearing in City Hall. “You need to legislate permission to do that.”

The meeting, planned before Sept. 11, was supposed to be held in the World Trade Center just blocks away, according to Rep. Jane Harman (D-Venice), a committee member. She said that one of the proposed witnesses died in the disaster.

A major theme at Monday’s hearing was the need for the FBI to work more closely with local law enforcement and emergency management agencies, which would be the first to respond to another attack.

Oklahoma Gov. Frank Keating, a former FBI agent and federal prosecutor, agreed with Giuliani.

“From my own service in Washington, I know there exists an instinct for secrecy and [an] urge to classify that often bears little relation to the realities of the moment,” he said.

“The response to terrorism does not begin and end in Washington,” Keating added.

“Trust local governments, local agencies and local citizens to do the right thing, because in the end, they are the real targets of terrorism,” he said.

Baca warned of the dangers of a fragmented response with inadequate coordination, which can inhibit communications. In particular he mentioned the many radio frequencies that agencies use.

“Contemporary terrorism involves a struggle against networked adversaries,” he said. “Simply stated, it takes a network to combat a network.”

He said the current communications network needs to be changed so that all levels of government can share information.

“To date, responses to terrorism in the United States have been hampered by interagency rivalry, a lack of resources and personnel and a lack of doctrine,” Baca said.

He also said that the structure is in place to manage incidents in Los Angeles County and that planning began in 1996 with the formation of the Terrorism Working Group and the Terrorism Early Warning Group, both of which address intelligence needs.

“While the Los Angeles approach to combating terrorism may be five years ahead of efforts in other jurisdictions, it is likely five years behind where it needs to be, particularly when measured against recent events,” he cautioned.

Gov. Jeb Bush said that Florida had taken steps to coordinate driver’s licenses with Immigration and Naturalization Service documents.

Florida’s Department of Highway Safety and Motor Vehicles has the authority to issue 30-day temporary permits when time is needed to verify an applicant’s identity.

In addition, the expiration time on licenses is tied to INS documents, he told the committee.

Gov. Roy E. Barnes of Georgia, drawing on the experience of hosting the 1996 Summer Olympics, said his state had recently created a new anti-terrorism intelligence center.

It will be staffed by management personnel, investigators and the Georgia National Guard.

The center will gather intelligence, seek to detect and deter threats and share intelligence with state, local and federal authorities.

“This effort is essentially a state adjunct to the anti-terrorism work of the FBI,” Barnes said.

Harman said that the enormity of the World Trade Center attack “challenged even the best preparation plans of one of the best prepared cities in the nation” and that a national system must be put in place.

She emphasized that the resources of the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention should be increased.

“We have starved the CDC over the years and we have to fix that,” Harman said.