Oct. 4, 2009

Sharing and analyzing intelligence between law enforcement agencies is crucial to keeping the United States safe from a terrorist attack, the nation's top federal officials told an audience of police chiefs in Denver on Monday.

U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder, FBI Director Robert Mueller and Department of Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano addressed the International Association of Chiefs of Police at the Colorado Convention Center.

Secretary of Homeland Security Janet Napolitano and Colorado Gov. Bill Ritter visit a terrorism exhibit Monday at The Center for Empowered Living and Learning, or The Cell, a nonprofit center designed to educate citizens on how to combat terrorism. They also watched a locally produced video called "Recognizing the 8 Signs of Terrorism." story, 6B. (Cyrus McCrimmon, The Denver Post )

"You are the lead public protectors, and you have a keen awareness and understanding," Napolitano said. "We need a seamless network of information sharing and intelligence development to protect the homeland from harm."

The three officials discussed the recent arrest of Najibullah Zazi, a 24-year-old Aurora resident arrested first for lying to the FBI during a terrorism investigation. Days later, Zazi was indicted in New York on charges of conspiring to use a weapon of mass destruction.

Zazi is accused of purchasing beauty-supply items in the Denver metro area that contained chemicals that can be made into hydrogen-peroxide bombs. Authorities think he might have been planning a terrorism attack in New York City and say he received bomb-making training at an al-Qaeda training camp in Pakistan last year.

"All the information to share has been shared about the overpurchase of certain products," Napolitano said. "We are working with the private sector so that we find those kind of purchases before a bomb can be made, before a bomb can go off."

Holder told the audience that local and federal law enforcement partnerships in New York and Colorado who worked on the Zazi case helped thwart a terrorism attack.

"Working together in a multi-agency, coordinated investigation, we disrupted what we believe was a plot to kill scores of Americans by detonating explosives here in the homeland," Holder said. "More work remains to be done on this matter. It is my firm belief, though, that the outstanding work of personnel at the federal, state and local level in monitoring and apprehending those committed to doing us harm may very well have saved us from an unspeakable tragedy."

Mueller said there are many threats to the U.S. from "pockets around the world," including tribal areas of Pakistan and Afghanistan and emerging threats from Algeria, Somalia and Yemen.

But Mueller stressed that local police officers also have threats to worry about in their own backyards from "lone offenders."

He said in an 11-day period in May and June, lone gunmen were responsible for the shooting of late-abortion provider Dr. George Tiller; a shooting at a Little Rock military recruiting center; and the killing of a police officer at the Holocaust Museum in Washington, D.C.

Holder emphasized that police officers in all cities and towns must be vigilant, no matter how small the community.

"Few casual observers would cite a midsized city like Aurora, Colo., as a central battleground in the fight against terrorism," he said. "But you and I know better. We know that every city and town in America — and therefore every law enforcement official in America — has a role to play in the fight against terrorism."

Felisa Cardona: 303-954-1219 or fcardona@denverpost.com

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