OPERATION TIPS FACT SHEET

Operation TIPS (Terrorism Information and Prevention System) was introduced as a program in development in January 2002. This document contains information a bout the background and purpose of the program as it has developed over the past six months, a list of the industries that will be invited to participate in the final program, specific information about the design of the reporting system, and information about existing similar systems.

OVERVIEW

This reporting system is being developed by the Department of Justice in coordination with several other federal agencies, including the Office of Homeland Security, the Department of Labor, the Federal Bureau of Investigation, and FEMA, as a part of Citizen Corps. The program was announced in concept in January 2002 for the stated purpose of creating a national information sharing system for specific industry groups to report suspicious, publicly observable activity that could be related to terrorism. The program is scheduled to be operational in the fall of 2002 as one of the new Citizen Corps programs.

The initiative's design is based on existing programs, such as Highway Watch and Coast Watch, that allow truckers and ship captains to report dangerous conditions along their routes. In response to significant demand among industry groups, Operation TIPS would make these programs available nationwide by providing specific industry groups a single phone number for reporting potentially terrorist-related activities occurring in public areas. Specifically, industry groups have looked to the Justice Department to offer a r eliable and cost-effective system that their workers could use to report information to state, local, and federal law enforcement agencies about unusual activities they might observe in the normal course of their daily routines. Similarly, law enforcement agencies have sought a system for receiving terrorist tips that would avoid overburdening the 911system.

The Operation TIPS hotline would also offer some unique improvements upon current systems by:

• Providing a centralized telephone hotline and web-based reporting system that automatically and immediately routes tips to appropriate federal, state, and local law enforcement nationwide;
• Providing specific industry groups with a means of reporting non-emergency, potentially terrorist-related activity; and
• Enabling law enforcement officials to "connect the dots" and take appropriate action on potentially terrorist-related activities that may be occurring simultaneously.

INDUSTRIES

Industries interested in participating will be given printed materials on how to contact the reporting center, and would in turn provide information and any training to their workers directly. Many industries already provide this type of information as part of their security and job training.

Operation TIPS would offer its hotline service to workers involved in the transportation, trucking, shipping, maritime, and mass transit industries. Industry associatio ns and groups in these areas will be invited to receive information about the hotline so their workers can participate in the program if they so choose. Other industry associations involved in the above-mentioned industries could also seek participation by contacting the Department of Justice.

At the outset of the program, the Department of Justice planned to engage the postal and utility industries to participate because their workers maintain regular public routes in the communities they serve, putting them in a unique position to recognize potentially dangerous activity along transportation routes and in public places. In addition, the inclusion of postal workers and utility workers made sense because they have been identified as targets for terrorism. Postal workers in New Jersey and Washington, D.C. were victims of the anthrax terrorist attacks last year, and postal workers across the country were affected by the recent pipe bomb attacks. As attac ks on utility plants and water systems could affect the public health and safety of millions of people, these facilities have long been considered prime targets of domestic and international terrorism. The Department never intended that workers calling the hotline would report on anything other than publicly observable activities. However, given the concerns raised during the program development phase about safeguarding against all possibilities of invasion of individual privacy, the Department of Justice has decided that the hotline number will not be shared with any workers, including postal and utility workers, whose work puts them in contact with homes and private property.

REPORTING SYSTEM

The National White Collar Crime Center (NW3C) is a non-profit corporation whose membership includes law enforcement agencies, state regulatory bodies with criminal investigative authority, and state and local prosecution offices. NW3C has offered to host the hotline call center. They can also provide the technical infrastructure and personnel for the project. The hotline project would be funded by a grant from the Bureau of Justice Assistance for approximately $800,000 (FY'02 funds) to establish and operate the call center.

NW3C has the capacity to both receive information via the hotline and through electronic submissions of information, and to serve as a central point for distribution of that information to the app ropriate law enforcement agencies at all levels. The information received can be routed automatically to law enforcement agencies through virtual private network (VPN) technology, National Law Enforcement Telecommunication System (NLETS) transmission, or encrypted data transmission via the Internet. The information can be submitted using Secure Sockets Layering (SSL) technology to ensure the confidentiality of the submitter.

NW3C can facilitate information flow to state, loca l, and federal entities that want to receive information from the TIPS hotline through stakeholder meetings with each state. Agencies opting to receive TIPS information would be responsible for determining how to respond to the tips they receive. Based on information from existing hotlines, it is estimated that the reporting center would receive 12-25 calls each month per every 1,000 workers in the participating industries.

EXISTING SYSTEMS/HOTLINES

The following is a list of some of the similar programs and hotlines already in operation around the country. They do not accomplish the same goals as Operation TIPS and/or receive information from the same groups of people, but they illustrate the effectiveness of such programs in addressing public safety needs:

Coast Watch
Maritime industries currently report all chemical, radiological, etiological, oil and biological releases to the National Response Center, w hich has expertise in dealing with the release of hazardous materials and emergency situations.

Highway Watch
Created by the American Trucking Association in 1998, this national safety initiative trains professional truck drivers to recognize and report a variety of incidents-such as stranded motorists, drunk drivers, changing road conditions, poor signage, accidents, etc. The American Trucking Association wants to expand this program beyond the six states currently served and to include terrorism prevention.

River Watch
This program is based in Michigan and engages the boating public and shoreline owners and operators to assist the Michigan State Police and relevant federal agencies in protecting the borders from illegal entry into the country by undocumented aliens, drug smuggling, etc.

AMBER Alert
The AMBER Plan, created in 1996 as a powerful legacy to 9 year-old Amber Hagerman who wa s kidnapped and murdered in Texas, is a voluntary partnership between law-enforcement agencies and broadcasters to activate urgent bulletins in the most serious child-abduction cases. The goal of an AMBER Alert is to instantly galvanize the entire community to assist in the search for and safe return of the child. The AMBER Alert system was responsible for the recent rescue of two teenage girls who were abducted in California. Truckers and motorists were engaged in looking for the girls after they were alerted to the description of the suspect's vehicle. An anonymous tip from a motorist ultimately led to the safe return of the girls.

Treasury Department's Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN)
FinCEN established a Financial Institutions Hotline for the voluntary reporting to law enforcement of suspicious transactions that may relate to terrorist activity. The purpose of the hotline is to facilitate the immediate transmittal of t his information to law enforcement.

1-800-BeAlert Hotline
The U.S. Customs Service provides the 1-800-BeAlert Hotline to allow the general public to report violations of federal law enforced by the U.S. Customs Service, such as the smuggling of drugs, jewelry, etc.

Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, and Firearms (ATF)
ATF has four nationwide hotline programs: 800-ATF-GUNS, 888 ATF-BOMB, 888 ATF-FIRE, and 888 STF-TIPS, each of which was created in the mid or late 1990s. These toll-free numbers give members of the public the means to report any suspected criminal misuse of firearms, bombing activity, arsons, and general criminal activity. According to ATF, in 2001, hundreds of significant investigative leads were received on the hotlines and were referred to the ATF field offices for follow-up investigation.

Massachusetts Transit Crime Watch
In December of 1998, the Massachusetts Neighborho od Crime Watch Commission (MNCWC) and the Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority (MBTA) Police Department launched Transit Crime Watch, a unique crime watch program designed to provide crime prevention education to the one million passengers who ride the MBTA daily. The program instructs and encourages commuters to contact the police when they observe an emergency situation, suspicious activity, or a crime in progress. Signs are posted both on and around each subway line, bus ter minal, and commuter rail station advertising the MBTA Police phone number and promoting the use of emergency call boxes to report crime and suspicious activity.

Terrorist Tipline
The National White Collar Crime Center (NW3C) was selected by Attorney General John Ashcroft immediately following the terrorist attacks of September 11 to serve as the single on-line portal for the public to report information regarding terrorist activity to the FBI. To date this pag e has received more than 200,000 tips from the public.

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