Project Details
The role of intelligence is to identify threats, and indicators of threats, in order to support efforts by operational law enforcement organizations to take actions to mitigate those threats. There are multiple challenges that must be overcome for this model to work. All of these challenges involve perceptions -- by officers and analysts alike -- and they all can be remedied with effective training and policy change in law enforcement organizations, but effective training must be rooted in a clear and accurate understanding of existing perceptions.
To establish an empirical baseline of attitudes and beliefs about using the intelligence process as a key tool in law-enforcement agencies to counter violent extremism, the project team will survey a sample of law enforcement officials from across the country to gain insights into their attitudes towards and involvement with the intelligence community and its counterterrorism efforts. The survey will be administered to a select sample of officials who are expected to work with the intelligence community as part of their responsibilities and will assess perceptions of terrorist threats, beliefs that might impact the potential for effective law enforcement/intelligence collaboration.