Information from databases, such as names of terrorism suspects, fingerprints, photographs and biographical data, should be regularly available to a wider range of law enforcement agencies, Ashcroft said. However, the directive, issued April 11, deals primarily with developing policies, guidelines and . . .
Information from databases, such as names of terrorism suspects, fingerprints, photographs and biographical data, should be regularly available to a wider range of law enforcement agencies, Ashcroft said. However, the directive, issued April 11, deals primarily with developing policies, guidelines and standards for sharing information. It does not make money available to buy new data systems or order specific agencies to begin sharing information with other agencies.

The order does not specify deadlines, milestones or reporting requirements. "It's a necessary step toward better sharing," said Steven Aftergood, director of the Federation of American Scientists' Project on Government Secrecy. "One of the lessons of Sept. 11 was there was inadequate information sharing among federal and state and local law enforcement agencies."

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