BENS releases domestic security report

Last year, Business Executives for National Security (BENS) published Domestic Security: Confronting a Changing Threat to Ensure Public Safety and Civil Liberties. The BENS report assesses whether the many reforms enacted after the September 11, 2001 terror attacks are still effective at confronting a changing terrorist threat.

During their research, BENS found that U.S. law enforcement and intelligence agencies are currently operating without an enterprise-wide concept at the federal level. This inhibits the federal government’s ability to conduct domestic intelligence activities in support of counterterrorism.

BENS recommendations include:

  • Establishing integrated fusion centers located in the highest-threat areas;
  • Increasing the mutual awareness of state and local law enforcement and FBI Joint Terrorism Task Forces though increased information sharing;
  • Enhancing intelligence analyst capabilities and interoperability through the development and application of high-quality, standardized training for intelligence personnel at all levels of government and the application of Goldwater-Nichols style joint duty and joint training protocols;
  • Establishing a domestic threat framework through an annual, interagency process to assess and prioritize domestic threats and intelligence needs; and
  • Enabling better coordination and management of federal intelligence efforts by including within the Intelligence Community federal entities that undertake domestic intelligence activities but are not now included as members of the Intelligence Community.

While BENS notes that the agencies involved have all made progress since research closed on this report, they maintain that the central themes of their recommendations are still valid.

BENS is a non-profit, non-partisan organization that applies best business practices to public sector challenges in order to help strengthen the nation’s security and improve the performance of government agencies.

BENS domestic security report - 2014

From more information about the BENS report, please follow the link below.
Domestic Security: Confronting a Changing Threat to Ensure Public Safety and Civil Liberties, Business Executives for National Security


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