Pact Signed on OC, Drugs Info

The US Immigration and Customs Enforcement and the Department of Justice signed two agreements Aug. 6 to share information between agencies at the Organized Crime Drug Enforcement Task Force (OCDETF) Fusion Center and the International Organized Crime Intelligence and Operations Center (IOC-2).

“By bringing together the agencies and personnel with existing resources and expertise we can work more effectively as partners to shut down organized crime networks, seize assets and save taxpayer dollars in the process,” said Deputy Attorney General David Ogden. “This agreement, coupled with recent agreements between ICE, DEA (Drug Enforcement Administration) and ATF (Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives) will allow new levels of cooperation and intelligence sharing.”

Avoiding Duplication

ICE will add more than 25 million records – investigation reports, wiretap intercepts and financial investigations – from its drug-related investigations to the OCDETF Fusion Center, which encompasses agencies including the FBI, the DEA and the ATF. ICE will also have access to the information from agencies under the umbrella of the Fusion Center. Besides helping Fusion Center agencies dismantle drug trafficking groups, the information sharing is also expected to prevent agencies from duplicating each other’s work, and to prevent one agency’s investigation from throwing a wrench into another agency’s investigation.

“By combining our resources, we expect to stop more drug smugglers and organized crime across the country,” said Homeland Security assistant secretary for ICE John Morton.

The ICE will also become a member of IOC-2, a new agency that combats organized crime through the shared resources and information of nine law enforcement agencies and federal prosecutors.

The agreements come just two months after the DEA and ICE signed an agreement to cooperate, and less than two months after the ATF and ICE signed similar agreements.

--Beth Kampschror