This press release discusses the TSA’s specialized training effort being undertaken to assist local law enforcement agencies with identifying terrorist-related planning activities. ?With this important and bold new program, TSA and the Federal Law Enforcement Training Center (FLETC) will assist law enforcement officers nationwide to train others in their communities to identify suspicious?and possibly terrorist-related?behavior,? said William Arrington, Acting General Manager for TSA?s Highway and Motor Carrier division. ?Our best assets in securing the homeland are people on the ground, in our towns and cities.? This training program is designed to train police officers to identify the indications and warnings of suspicious terrorist activities. It is part of a predictive intelligence cycle, which hinges on the notion that terrorist attacks do not occur in a single, isolated moment in time, but rather an attack is the culminating action of a series of distinct, knowable, and observable activities. Getting out in front of an attack?ie prevention?requires security and law enforcement agencies to have a comprehensive understanding of the potential threat paths to violence.
In late 2003, the Army developed a comparable program, ?Every Soldier is a Sensor,? aimed at improving soldiers’ basic observing and reporting skills. The bottom-up feedback from soldiers on the ground is critical to intelligence operations. Soldiers are learning their new duties as information collectors (sensors) in theater and “on the job,” but this is not acceptable. The Army is training soldiers in fundamental observation and reporting techniques early and often at all levels within all branches and specialties. Soldiers must learn to identify and report information vital to the fight. Just as law enforcement agencies provide their officers with specialized training in gangs, narcotics, and crowd control, this specialized training program should assist with being able to predict and prevent a terrorist attack.
The press release indicates that, ?FLETC will combine existing counterterrorism training instruction with roadside-specific methodologies that will then be delivered this year to as many as 90 state, local and municipal enforcement officers across the country. Those 90 will then be prepared to return to their communities to serve as trainers for other officers within their home agency or in nearby communities. Employing a ‘train-the-trainer’ approach will allow the TSA/FLETC training program to reach enforcement agencies at the federal, state and local levels quickly and effectively.?
Our nation is faced with fighting an ever-changing terrorist network. We need to encourage and support these kinds of training efforts that enhance law enforcement’s ability to identify suspicious?and possibly terrorist-related?behavior and take action or report their observations to the appropriate authority.