As we approach the 18th anniversary of the horrific terrorist attack on September 11, 2001, I wanted to provide some important insight on America’s flawed inter-agency sharing practices related to terrorism investigations. I served 28 years with the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA).

During my career, I was the Agent in Charge of the New York Drug Enforcement Task Force in New York City and during my last nine and half years in DEA, I was the Director of the Special Operations Division, a multi-agency criminal law enforcement operational coordination center with representatives from 30 agencies. SOD’s main job was to synchronize and support transnational organized crime investigations.

As state sponsorship of terrorism declines, terrorism fueled by drug trafficking and criminal activity is on the rise.

As state sponsorship of terrorism declines, terrorism fueled by drug trafficking and criminal activity is on the rise. This evolving crisis needs the immediate attention of government leaders to close the intelligence gaps created by the walls that remain high between agencies working traditional criminal cases and terrorism. There are many businesses around America engaging in massive criminal activity like illegal cigarette trafficking, counterfeiting, EBT Welfare fraud, Drugs and other crimes and sending millions of dollars back to support radical terrorists. The agencies must adjust their strategies and shut these terror funding schemes down.

Since “terrorists are increasingly turning to crime and criminal networks for funding” and the networks have formed stronger alliances, it’s imperative the hard-working dedicated investigators align their efforts. We need to use the best and brightest in all the agencies to combat the evolving and complex threats. It’s not good enough to just have a task force and talk about cooperation, but rather implement sound processes utilizing all tools of national power and cooperate across the agencies. Sadly, this isn’t happening as the citizens would expect so many years after the worst terrorist act in U.S. history.

We have seen substantial progress on criminal law enforcement information sharing since 911. The U.S. criminal investigators have also made tremendous strides in sharing information with the Joint Terrorism Task Forces (JTTF’s) around the country on potential terrorism. The JTTF’s have improved substantially on providing threat information and trends to the state and local police and other partners. However, when the JTTF’s are investigating terrorism leads like the one from Russia on Tamerlan Tsarnaev, the main subject of the Boston Bombing, they should have used all the federal resources like the Special Operations Division, the Organized Crime Drug Enforcement Task Force (OCDETF) Fusion Center, the CBP’s National Targeting Center as well as state and local fusion centers to develop possible criminal links to the terror suspects. In the Tsarnaev case, we unfortunately learned there was critical drug related information that could have been used to investigate Tsarnaev and his crew long before he had a chance to detonate the bombs.

The JTTF’s need to investigate all potential criminal offenses associated with their terror suspects. This failed during the Boston case causing death to innocent Americans. This continues to be a substantial problem impacting America’s national security and leadership must act.

We need to use the “Al Capone” model when investigating terrorism.

By getting the criminal related intelligence in advance on the Boston matter, the JTTF leadership could have tasked the DEA and Homeland Security to investigate all the criminal intelligence available related to Tsarnaev. By doing the investigation in a proactive way using all the tools available to the JTTFs, the agents may have been able to identify the criminal activities of Tsarnaev long before he had a chance to radicalize and conduct terror in America.

We need to use the “Al Capone” model when investigating terrorism. Capone was a mass murderer who was taken off the streets and put in prison on tax charges. This prevented additional murders. Federal law enforcement agencies must work together, in an effort to build prosecutable evidence on terror networks that have developed criminal funding streams to support their organizations.

By unifying, focusing on eliminating the threats and using the skills of the talented federal, state and local resources, the JTTF’s will be way more effective in preventing terrorist attacks.

To keep America safe, we need proactive investigative law enforcement prior to tragic events, not after people die. As we approach 911, we should remember that radical terrorist organizations are still a viable threat and law enforcement agencies can no longer afford to be territorial. These agencies must tear down the walls between them because right now those walls put our nation at risk.