The National Criminal Intelligence Information Exchange

This paper evaluates The National Criminal Intelligence Information Exchange, a multi-agency information sharing platform implemented by the US Department of Justice. The paper assesses the strengths and weaknesses of the system, and provides recommendations for improvement.

The National Criminal Intelligence Information Exchange (NCIE) is a multi-agency information sharing platform implemented by the US Department of Justice. The NCIE allows authorized law enforcement agencies to access, share, and exchange criminal intelligence information. The platform is designed to improve information sharing among federal, state, local, and tribal law enforcement agencies; however, several factors have limited its effectiveness.

One major issue with the NCIE is that it relies on voluntary participation from law enforcement agencies. While over 70% of federal agencies are registered on the platform, only a fraction of state and local agencies have signed up. This limits the amount of information that is shared through the NCIE, and makes it difficult for law enforcement agencies to access information that could be critical to their investigations.

Another issue with the NCIE is that it does not have a central repository for all criminal intelligence information. Instead, each participating agency maintains its own database of information. This makes it difficult for law enforcement agencies to search for information across all databases.

Finally, the NCIE has been criticized for its lack of security features. The platform does not encrypt data, which means that sensitive information could be compromised if the system was hacked. In addition, the NCIE does not have a mechanism for verifying the identity of users. This could allow unauthorized users to access sensitive information.

The NCIE has the potential to be a valuable tool for law enforcement agencies; however, its effectiveness is limited by several factors. To improve the NCIE, the Department of Justice should focus on increasing participation from state and local law enforcement agencies, developing a central repository for all criminal intelligence information, and enhancing security features.