JINSA Sends U.S. Police Chiefs to Israel for Anti-Terror Cooperation

Washington, D.C., 8/21/02 – Top U.S. law enforcement officers met Monday with Uzi Landau, Israel’s Public Security Minister, in Jerusalem. Since the Sept. 11th attacks in New York City and Washington, anti-terrorism cooperation between the U.S. and Israel has increased. The spectre of homicide bombers in the U.S. has further drawn the two sides together.

Nine U.S. officers brought to Israel by the Jewish Institute for National Security Affairs (JINSA) represent the New York and Los Angeles Police Departments, the Major County Sheriffs Association, the New York Port Authority and the New York Metropolitan Transportation Authority.

“Some of us believe that what is happening here now may be the vanguard of what we may be facing in the future in America,” Louis Anemone, director of security for the New York Metropolitan Transport Authority, told the Associated Press later that day.

Anemone said that the visit was to show solidarity with the police in Israel and establish relations that would lead to sharing of information, strategies and tactics. “We are convinced that an educated, trained police force can make a difference,” he said.

Landau thanked the group for U.S. assistance and support, especially cooperation between the two countries on defense and military technology.

The group will meet with the head of the Israeli bomb squad and forensic lab and tour the country, meeting with the heads of police districts as well as visiting the sites of Palestinian terror attacks. “It is a working delegation to give some impressions of what we are going through,” said police spokesman Gil Kleiman.