OXFORD,
\nMiss. – The world is becoming more global and connected through the
\never-increasing role of the Internet and other technology. Because of
\nthe shifting international environment, the role of agents involved in
\nnational security and intelligence also is changing rapidly, said a
\npanel of FBI experts in a public discussion Monday evening at the
\nUniversity of Mississippi.<\/p>\n
The panel, hosted by UM’s Department Joining Jensen in the panel discussion, titled “Homeland Security 2015,” were Michael Buerger, a former fellow with the National Institute of Justice and an associate professor of criminal justice at Bowling Green State University; Bernard Levin, director of research and development for the Society of Police Futurists International and member of the Traffic Law Enforcement Committee of the U.S. Transportation Research Board; and David McElreath, professor and chair of the UM Department of Legal Studies and retired colonel from the U.S. Marine Corps.<\/p>\n Jensen said the 9\/11 Commission found that American intelligence agents should have been shocked by the terrorist attacks in New York and Washington, D.C., but they should not have been surprised.<\/p>\n “So, we began to ask ourselves: What can we do to reduce the surprise? What can we do to reduce the uncertainty?” he said. “That became the goal of the Futures Working Group, and one reason it is so important is because of the way the world is unfolding around us.”<\/p>\n What the group and other intelligence agencies have found over the past seven years is that the definition of homeland security is much broader than just preventing terrorists attacks. It also includes dealing with natural disasters, preventing Internet crimes and investigating transnational crimes such as human trafficking, Jensen said.<\/p>\n “Futurists try to imagine going to places where other people have not been,” he said.<\/p>\n McElreath added that there are problems of disjointed agencies that do not share information or cooperate with each other as they should. However, he said, students of intelligence can change that mindset.<\/p>\n “The people who will be making the decisions are the people sitting in this room now,” he said, explaining the intelligence directors of 2020 or 2030 are being educated now.<\/p>\n Levin said one key to improving the effectiveness of intelligence agencies is to break down the bureaucratic systems that exist.<\/p>\n “We have a history of building hierarchies when we are faced with problems,” he said, adding that Israel has developed an intelligence model that this country should emulate more closely.<\/p>\n The only hijacking of an Israeli plane happened in 1968, which is remarkable considering the positioning of Israel in the Middle East and the political strife between that country and Palestine, he said.<\/p>\n “The U.S. security focuses on technology and weapons,” he said. “Israel’s (security) focuses on people and intent.”<\/p>\n The panel was the first event hosted by the Center for Intelligence and Security Studies. For more information, visit http:\/\/www.olemiss.edu\/applied?sciences<\/a> <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
\nof Legal Studies<\/a> , Center for Intelligence and Security Studies, and
\nSchool of Applied Sciences<\/a> , featured three members of the FBI’s Futures
\nWorking Group. The group was created in 2002 in response to the
\nterrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, said Carl Jensen, retired FBI
\nagent and director of the new CISS.
\n
Jensen explained that intelligence agencies were still operating under the processes developed during the Cold War, which were not effective in combating the threat of global terrorism.<\/p>\n