Mohammed Atta, coordinator of the terrorist attacks on Sept. 11, 2001, was stopped by police three times during the course of his stay in the United States.
But the police who stopped him for traffic violations weren't informed he was here illegally.
They should have been, a state department official told security professionals this past week at the annual gathering of the National Security Management Society.
Keynote speaker at the Little America Hotel event was Francis X. Taylor, assistant secretary of state for diplomatic security, who told attendees he was coming to them without answers.
Instead he came with a challenge: Find a way to give law enforcement the information needed to disrupt terrorist activities.
"Without information at the point of attack in time to make a difference, we will lose this war," Taylor said.
He praised the extent to which the United States acted in rooting out the Taliban from Afghanistan and toppling Saddam Hussein's regime in Iraq, but for him that's not enough.
Not only does the cop on the beat need information, but he needs to have the assurance his information is accurate, Taylor said.
"Your challenge is to make it effective," he told the nearly 400 attendees. "You are as important as any young man on the front lines in Afghanistan in defending this nation."
"Top secret," "secret" and "confidential" are designations people can hear in any spy movie, but their importance reaches far beyond the silver screen.
Joe Cotton, representing L-3 Communications in Salt Lake City, said the classifications are integral in protecting critical infrastructure, such as power grids, which are commonly computer controlled and monitored.
E-MAIL: jdougherty@desnews.com