Intelligence vs. Evidence Gathering: Knowing the Difference

Intelligence vs. Evidence Gathering: Knowing the Difference.

by Patrick Dunleavy
Special to IPT News
August 29, 2011

http://www.investigativeproject.org/3132/intelligence-vs-evidence-gathering-knowing

There is a new brouhaha stirring among civil libertarians and Islamic organizations in light of the recent Associated Press story regarding the working relationship between the NYPD and the CIA. The article focused on the Intelligence Division of the NYPD and the deputy commissioner who runs it. David Cohen is a former career employee of the Central Intelligence Agency who was appointed by Commissioner Ray Kelly in 2002.

Terms like “rakers” and “mosque crawlers” were bantered about painting a picture of unrestrained spying on the citizenry by the government. The authors, Adam Goldman and Matt Apuzzo, described a purported super-secret section of the Intelligence Division called the “Demographics Unit” whose responsibility was to send undercover officers into predominantly Muslim neighborhoods and gather information by observing the neighborhood.

Immediately following story’s release, several spokespersons for the Council on American Islamic Affairs (CAIR), and the Islamic Leadership Council voiced their outrage at what they termed “profiling.” CAIR staff attorney Gadeir Abbas went so far as to call on the Justice Department and the Senate Intelligence Committee to investigate the NYPD.

It was not too long ago that these same organizations were accusing the police of entrapment and the use of informants in several thwarted terrorist plots, such as “the Bronx Four” and the “Christmas Tree Bomber” in Portland.

As the former Deputy Inspector General of the Criminal Intelligence Division in New York State prisons, I was assigned to work in the NYPD Intelligence Division from 2002-05. In all of my time there, working on numerous cases regarding terrorism and homegrown radicalization, I never heard anyone use the terms “rakers” or “crawlers” when describing human intelligence gathering. In recent conversations with former colleagues who also worked in the Intelligence Division, none of us could recall ever seeing the “Demographics Unit.”

So what is true in the article?