"Over 250 mayors, police chiefs, fire chiefs and emergency managers met in Washington, D.C., on October 23-25 for our Mayors' Emergency, Safety and Security Summit, at which serious concern was expressed regarding the lack of intelligence sharing by the federal government with mayors and their law enforcement professionals," said New Orleans Mayor Marc Morial, president of the U.S. Conference of Mayors (USCM), in a letter sent to all senators on Thursday. "Every effort must be undertaken to break down any barriers to the sharing of federal intelligence with our primary homeland defense force -- the nation's 650,000 local police officers."
The letter expressed strong support for the bi-partisan "Federal-Local Information Sharing Partnership Act of 2001," as the legislation, S. 1615, is titled. According to the Associated Press, New York Sens. Charles Schumer and Hillary Rodham Clinton, both democrats, are sponsoring the bill.
Sen. Patrick Leahy, D-Vt., the chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee, and Orrin Hatch, R-Utah, both said they support the bill and will make it a priority, AP reported.
"When the Attorney General issued another terrorist attack warning recently, local law enforcement officers in Vermont told me they had to find out from CNN that they should be on the highest alert," said Sen Leahy at a press conference on Wednesday. "This legislation will help bridge this gap by authorizing information sharing by the FBI with state and local officials."
Federal anti-terrorism legislation that was recently signed into law by President Bush allows federal authorities to share confidential information from sources such as wiretaps and grand juries with other federal agents. The newly proposed bill would permit federal officials to also share that information with state and local law enforcement agencies.
According to the USCM, during the October summit, many of the nearly 100 participating mayors expressed concern regarding the lack of intelligence sharing by the federal government with mayors and the nation's 650,000 local law enforcement professionals.
Mayors also raised the issue in a public meeting with Tom Ridge, director of Homeland Security, and in private and public meetings with FBI Director Robert Mueller, the USCM said.
