The feds must open, link databases

Chief Executive, The, Jan-Feb, 2005

CEOS WHO ARE at the very heart of deterring terrorism have a simple request to the feds: Tell us who the bad guys are. Larry Johnston of Albertsons is worried about the security of the global food supply system. He has 237,000 employees and turnover levels are high, as they are throughout the retail sector. "It's a perfect place for anybody to walk in the front door," Johnston says.

Fred Smith of FedEx also has more than 200,000 employees and independent contractors handling millions of packages a day, all over the world. He also hires thousands of people each year. Imagine if an al-Qaeda cell were able to penetrate a FedEx operation and bring just one explosive or biological agent into an American city.

Bob Nardelli's Home Depot, with 320,000 employees, probably isn't quite as sensitive a part of the American defense against terror, but he makes a separate point: American companies spend millions of dollars doing background checks that they didn't have to do in the past. Make it cheaper and companies will hire more people.

The solution is to allow employers to have access to the Federal Bureau of Investigation's National Crime Information Center so they know more about who they're hiring.

The broader national challenge is to link up all the databases that track terror suspects. Rival agencies haven't allowed it. By some counts, as many as 30 different federal databases exist. There is no one place that keeps track of all suspects.

It's amazing that more than three years after September 11, we as a nation haven't figured this out. Technology should be integral to our defense. Giving employers access to the FBI information should be achieved with as much protection as possible for individual privacy. The same sensitivity should be shown in linking the government's varied databases. We don't want an Orwellian state. But getting the databases right should be a burning priority.