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Fourth International Symposium "Global Security and Global Competitiveness: Open Source Solutions" Washington, D.C. November 1995 USE OF OPEN SOURCES IN THE CRIMINAL INTELLIGENCE PROGRAM OF THE ROYAL CANADIAN MOUNTED POLICE Presented by: Lori Schnittker Civilian Member Open Source Analysis Unit Criminal Analysis Branch Criminal Intelligence Directorate Royal Canadian Mounted Police 253 INTRODUCTION Good afternoon ladies and gentlemen. My name is Lori Schnittker. I am a civilian member of the Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP), Canada's national police force. I work in the Open Source Analysis Unit (OSAU) within the Criminal Analysis Branch (CAB) which is part of the Criminal Intelligence Directorate (CID). I am delighted to be here today to speak with you about the expanding role of open source information within the RCMP's Criminal Intelligence Program. THE RCMP Let me begin by clearing up some general misconceptions about the RCMP. Our members do not patrol on horseback wearing stetsons and red serge. Rather they drive police cars equipped with on-board computers which can access central databanks for information on license plates, persons, or businesses. The only police officers who ride horseback and wear stetsons and red serge are members of the RCMP Musical Ride. Red serge is generally worn only for ceremonial duties, and only by a few selected members, such as during a visit of foreign dignitaries like the Queen of England or the President of the United States. I am a member of the RCMP, but I am not a police officer. The RCMP has approximately 22,000 employees, most of whom are sworn police officers; but, there are between 20 and 25 % who are designated civilian members. We have all of the privileges of the 'regular' members, the term we use to refer to the police officers, but we have not been issued firearms, nor do we get involved in the front lines of investigations, spend six months in the training academy, or get transferred all over the country. Civilian members perform a number of specialized functions within the RCMP including: * processing of evidence in our internationally-respected crime labs, * analytical work - both strategic and tactical, * operation of most computer systems, and * most of the administrative functions of the force. STRUCTURE OF THE RCMP The RCMP is mandated to function in English and French, and in many communities officers have the ability to communicate in native languages. We are almost totally responsible for many of the functions which are handled by a number of agencies in the United States including the 254 FBI, Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms, U.S. Immigration and Naturalization Service, U.S. Secret Service, and the Drug Enforcement Administration. The RCMP is the national police force of Canada with responsibility for the enforcement of laws made by, or under the authority of, the Canadian Parliament. The administration of justice within the provinces, including the enforcement of the Canadian Criminal Code, is part of the power and duty delegated to the provincial governments. There are 14 divisions of the RCMP - one in each of the two northern territories and one in each of the ten provinces, with the exceptions of Ontario and Saskatchewan, which have 2 divisions each. National Headquarters is located in the nation's capital, Ottawa, Ontario. In eight of our ten provinces, and in the Yukon and Northwest Territories, the RCMP is the provincial/territorial police force, under contract to the provincial/territorial governments to provide policing services to the rural areas. The RCMP. under separate policing agreements, functions as the municipal police force to 200 municipalities. Therefore, in most regions of Canada, there is only one police force responsible for enforcing municipal by-laws, provincial laws and federal statutes. Large urban areas throughout the country are policed by municipal forces, sometimes in concert with the RCMP in matters relating to major drug investigations, criminal extremism, and other federal statutes. The provinces of Ontario and Quebec have their own provincial police forces. The RCMP has no jurisdiction within these two provinces except for enforcing the federal statutes, and by special agreements, policing of the major international airports. However, the RCMP has the sole responsibility in Canada for the protection of internationally-designated protected persons. Although Canada has a population of only 27 million people it is, geographically, the second largest country in the world. We share almost 5,000 miles of common and undefended border with the United States. Our policing responsibilities range from major urban areas to the tundra of the Canadian north; our policing vehicles range from bicycles, snowmobiles and canoes to four by fours, airplanes and helicopters. The responsibility of providing policing under these circumstances, and under a variety of government structures, is considerable. DEVELOPMENT OF THE CRIMINAL INTELLIGENCE DIRECTORATE As the national police force, it is the responsibility of the RCMP to protect the citizens of Canada and the integrity of Canadian borders from national and transnational organized crime threats. Since the 1950s, law enforcement and other government agencies in Canada have been involved in an ad hoc fashion in the collection, evaluation, storage and analysis of criminal information and intelligence in varying capacities in an attempt to identify major criminals as 255 well as organized crime groups. In the early 1960s, the National Criminal Intelligence Branch was established to assume the responsibility of directing the criminal intelligence program within the RCMP in relation to organized crime. Unfortunately, over the years, this branch failed to fulfil its mandate for a variety of reasons, one of which was lack of a strong centralized information management system. As a result, various departments within the RCMP began developing their own intelligence units which led to: * fragmentation and isolation between program areas; * duplication of effort; * lack of comprehensive policy guidelines for management of criminal information and criminal intelligence; and, * significant deficiency in strategic and tactical analytical capabilities, primarily due to an absence of proper training. The failure of the criminal intelligence program was hindering the Force's effectiveness in managing its criminal operations program and deploying its resources to control the detrimental effects of organized crime in Canada. Without a well-developed intelligence component the law enforcement program was totally reactive. However, senior management believed that a well- developed, functioning and effective intelligence program could significantly increase the productivity of a law enforcement organization through the effective and efficient allocation of resources. They hoped that such a program would enable the RCMP to become more proactive than reactive in regards to confronting organized crime. The current Criminal Intelligence Program of the RCMP was developed largely in response to the Air India disaster of 1985. More than 300 people, the majority of them Canadians, were killed when their plane exploded over the North Atlantic off the Irish coast. This incident is still under investigation, but its lessons have influenced how the RCMP polices on a national level. In 1991, The Criminal Intelligence Directorate was created with the following mission statement: TO PROVIDE A NATIONAL PROGRAM FOR THE MANAGEMENT OF CRIMINAL INFORMATION AND INTELLIGENCE WHICH WILL PERMIT THE RCMP TO DETECT AND PREVENT CRIME HAVING AN ORGANIZED, SERIOUS OR NATIONAL SECURITY DIMENSION IN CANADA, OR INTERNATIONALLY AS IT AFFECTS CANADA In a time of increased government restraint, resources, both physical and manpower, were amalgamated from all parts of the Force. The result is a grouping of some of the top investigators in the country, some of them functioning as analysts in the divisions, complemented by civilian member analysts recruited from a variety of professions and academic backgrounds. These analysts would be equivalent to intelligence research specialists here in the U.S. The analysts, both at headquarters and in the divisions, work in teams with investigators who 256 specialize in a number of enforcement areas including organized crime, drug investigations, immigration and passport offenses, customs and excise, and criminal extremism. Most under the auspices of the Criminal Intelligence Directorate. CRIMINAL ANALYSIS BRANCH At the National Headquarter level, the Criminal Intelligence Directorate (CID) is comprised of 4 Branches: 1) Criminal Analysis Branch (CAB) 2) Criminal Organizations Branch (COB) 3) Security Offenses Branch (SOB) 4) Systems Services Branch (SSB) As I am a member of the Criminal Analysis Branch (CAB), I will focus my discussion primarily on CAB. Its Mandate is: TO EMPLOY THE INTELLIGENCE PROCESS TO PROVIDE SUFFICIENT STRATEGIC AND TACTICAL ANALYSIS AT BOTH HEADQUARTERS AND DIVISION LEVELS NECESSARY FOR IMPLEMENTING LONG RANGE ENFORCEMENT POLICY AND STRATEGIES AIMED AT CONTROLLING SERIOUS AND ORGANIZED CRIME IN CANADA CAB is comprised entirely of civilian members under the direction of a civilian member. CAB is divided into four sections and one unit: DRUG ANALYSIS SECTION (DAS): These analysts concentrate on issues concerning drug smuggling and drug trafficking. There are separate desks for heroin, cocaine, cannabis and chemical drugs. GENERAL ANALYSIS SECTION (GAS): The analysts in this section

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