FBI Launches Tip-Sharing For Inauguration

Agency Builds System For Sharing Information With Local Law Enforcement; But ACLU Raises Privacy Concerns

(CBS/AP)  The FBI has launched a system to share tips about possible terror threats with local police agencies just in time for the presidential inauguration.

The program aims to get law enforcement at all levels sharing data quickly about suspicious activity and people, particularly in and around the nation's capital in the week leading up to the historic ceremony.

Officials say they are getting as many as 1,000 tips a day from the public.

Called e-Guardian, the program had been delayed and underwent pilot testing before launching New Year's Eve as a system available to law enforcement agencies around the country.

Separately Tuesday, President Bush today declared an emergency in Washington, DC in preparation for the Obama inauguration.

By declaring an emergency, Mr. Bush opened the door for D.C. to get additional Federal funding to deal with the unique challenges that will accompany the influx, reports CBSNews.com's Brian Montopoli.

An emergency declaration doesn't mean that a dangerous event has been identified or is expected to occur.

Federal authorities hope the new tip-sharing system overcomes a drawback of another version, which lets police report their suspicions to the FBI but doesn't allow officers to search the system for similar patterns in other jurisdictions.

The program "will allow all law enforcement to share threats and suspicious activity and hopefully prevent a terrorist attack," said FBI supervisor Gerald Rogero, in Washington.

Of the 1,000 tips, a dozen might be worth noting in the new system.

With e-Guardian, Rogero said, those specific reports can be quickly checked by police in far-flung jurisdictions in case they have noticed something similar, such as a wave of uniform thefts or stolen military equipment.

Any law enforcement officer with an Internet connection and an account on the system can access e-Guardian.

That ease of access could be the worst thing about the program, said American Civil Liberties Union policy counsel Michael German.

"The concern is: What's being collected, who is it being shared with, and who is responsible for any action taken as a result?" said German, a former FBI agent. "If the federal government is creating this national system, it's their responsibility that only the proper and correct information is being put in."

Federal officials say there is a vetting process already in place to check the accuracy of the information put into the system. Users are trained in civil liberties protections.

Currently, more than 400 law enforcement officials have opened individual e-Guardian accounts. Agency officials hope it will prove useful and eventually spread to the 18,000 different law enforcement agencies in the country.

Since the 2001 terror attacks, the government has launched a number of different programs to both analyze and share threat information quickly. Early incarnations were criticized as haphazard.

FBI officials say e-Guardian will become part of a bigger, faster system of suspicious activity reporting spanning intelligence agencies and the Department of Homeland Security.

FBI Assistant Director Ronald Ruecker said the new system will allow "near-real time information sharing with our other federal, state, local, tribal, and campus public safety partners around the country."

Not everyone is sold, however.

The New York Police Department is not participating because they say they already have a threat-sharing system through their joint terrorism task force with the FBI.

NYPD spokesman Paul Browne said e-Guardian "is for smaller jurisdictions that don't have that relationship."

[eggy1620]

%u201CThe concern is: What''s being collected, who is it being shared with, and who is responsible for any action taken as a result?" said German, a former FBI agent.%u201D

That is a legitimate gripe. No telling what Barney Fife would put in that database about Otis.

[tonyinmil]

Hopefully terrorism will be a fear of the past moving forward. Lets pray for a safer world.

www.talesofcourage.com

[tincup356]

HOT TIP FOR FBI...CONGRESS IS COMMITTING TREASON if the FBI doesnt investigate this one ...we will know there is a congresspiracy to commit treason going on.

[tincup356]

if Obama is going to start investigations...then the first one needs to be ,,,redo the 911 investigation ...it was a coverup and the first step that was taken to take our country to war.A real investigation was never done ,,,if anything the one done led away from the truth....no proof was ever given to prove a jet went down in Penns. or that one hit the pentagon,,,in fact you would think that a building with so many security cameras would have a video of a 757 hitting the building....not one,,,,because it didnt happen that way and they know it.So if that was a lie ...how much more were lies?,,,Then your Bin Laden suspect becomes very dim unless HE was part of the conspiracy.But it DID NOT go down like Bush wanted you to think.it seems as though they would like you to believe in hollywood dramatics...but science won''t support what they said happened.

[juangalt]

glad to see Bush making an exit - but unsure if I would not rather have professionals ease-dropping as opposed to neighbors ratting out neighbors.
tell on 10 people, get a free brown shirt?

[bobarian1]

Here''s a tip: the oath of office is about to be given to a charlatan who wasn''t born on US soil, contrary to the requirements of our Constitution. Can the FBI please investigate that?

[bobarian1]

Here''s a tip: the oath of office is about to be given to a charlatan who wasn''t born on US soil, contrary to the requirements of our Constitution. Can the FBI please investigate that?

[bobarian1]

Here''s a tip: the oath of office is about to be given to a charlatan who wasn''t born on US soil, contrary to the requirements of our Constitution. Can the FBI please investigate that?

[impeach___w]

Here a tip: some war criminals will be on stage with Our new leadership and the 20th hijacker will not face charges because the Bush official responsible for reviewing practices at Guantanamo publicly stated that this detainee was tortured. "His treatment met the legal definition of torture. And that''s why I did not refer the case for prosecution" said Susan J. Crawford.
The terrorists (the 20th hijacker at least) will go free and we have the actual torturering agencys and those who stood by- guarding the ones who authorized these criminal acts. If the new or current AG does not investigate this, they are accomplices and there is no place in our country for any of them except prison.

[quapawsix]

I would imagine that a neo-nazi skinhead with lots of swastika tattoos and a well documented history of race-baiting has already been selected to be found with the murder weapon near his dead body.
Hey...it worked before...why wait for an election you%u2019re sure to lose to get back into power?
Posted by ddaymichael
You need to stage his untimely demise on TV like 1963
as the FBI and the police are transferring him out of court to the jail.
That way there is no chance of him telling the truth