House panel backs anti-terror information sharing bill

A bipartisan bill to make it easier for federal agencies to share counter-terrorism information with state and local officials won quick approval from a House Judiciary subcommittee Tuesday.

The Homeland Security Information Sharing Act (H.R. 4598) would direct the president, the attorney general and the director of central intelligence to develop procedures for federal agencies to share classified or sensitive threat information with certain state and local officials, and vice versa. The Crime, Terrorism and Homeland Security Subcommittee approved the measure by a unanimous voice vote.

The bill would require agencies to declassify information before sharing it by redacting the names of sources and intelligence-gathering methods. Bill sponsors said agencies would be required to use existing declassification technologies, such as those used for sharing information with NATO allies and Interpol. They would also be required to use existing networks, such as the National Law Enforcement Telecommunications System, to share that information with state and local officials.

"With the recent press reports about what information the government had prior to Sept. 11, it has become abundantly clear that better information sharing among government agencies, and with state and local officials, needs to be a higher priority," said Rep Saxby Chambliss, R-Ga., during a hearing that preceded the markup.

Chambliss co-authored the legislation with Rep. Jane Harman, D-Calif. Neither Chambliss nor Harman are members of the Judiciary Committee, but they both serve on the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence's Subcommittee on Terrorism and Homeland Security.

"The United States government has vast amounts of information that might be useful in stopping suspected terrorists and criminals across the nation," Chambliss said. "Yet old, outdated computer systems cannot talk to each other, share information or quickly provide alerts and warnings to officials who need to know."

Harman testified that although federal agencies typically gather the most intelligence on suspected terrorists, state and local officials are the most likely to encounter those individuals. She noted, for example, that one Sept. 11 hijacker had been stopped for speeding by a Maryland state trooper two days before the attacks. The trooper did not detain the individual because he had not been informed that the individual was listed on a CIA watch list of suspected terrorists.

"Every act of terrorism is local--it happens in a neighborhood in someone's city," Harman said. "These people need good information. They have to know what to be looking for."

Subcommittee Chairman Lamar Smith, R-Texas, is one of several Judiciary Committee members who have signed on as cosponsors of the bill. He said the legislation would improve federal, state and local officials' ability to "prevent, detect and disrupt terrorist attacks."

Prior to approving the bill, the committee adopted, by voice vote, an amendment by Smith that clarified several provisions concerning classified, unclassified and sensitive information.