Intelligence Monitoring Comes Home To Kansas
The Kansas Threat Integration Center (KTIC) has been in operation for a year and comprises three staff members who analyze data from law enforcement agencies nationwide. The most compelling incidents are placed in a daily bulletin that is sent to law officers across the state. “KTIC is a one-stop shop of information,” says Tod Bunting, the homeland security director of Kansas and adjutant general of the Kansas National Guard.
But some privacy specialists and advocates say KTIC and other intelligence hubs are controversial because in the past the government has mishandled the monitoring of data on citizens.
By 2007, every state will be required to operate a regional terrorism information center, also known as counter-terrorism fusion centers. Some 20 states have submitted plans for such centers but only a handful are in operation.
Kansas spends some $200,000 annually to operate its center. With KTIC, officers can get data about other states, share suspicions, look for trends, or search for people carrying out target surveillance.
The objective is to get link ideas and obtain an overall view to prevent a crime before it occurs, says Bunting. He adds that KTIC does not keep files on individuals and that data is passed on to law enforcement to boost awareness of potential threats.
But Joy Moser with the Kansas National Guard says KTIC does not have a written policy for what it does with the data.
Abstracted by the National Law Enforcement and Corrections Technology Center(NLECTC) from the Kansas City Star (08/16/05); Kavanaugh, Lee Hill .
