The President and Congress directed establishment of the ITACG to improve the sharing of information with State, local, tibal, and private sector (SLTP) officials within the scope of the Information Sharing Environment (ISE). As stated in the Administration's National Strategy for Information Sharing: Successes and Challenges in Improving Terrorism-Related Information Sharing, the ITACG supports the efforts of the National Counterterrorism Center (NCTC) to produce "federally coordinated" terrorism-related information products intended for dissemination to State, local, and tribal officials and private sector partners through existing channels established by Federal departments and agencies by:

1. Enabling the development of intelligence reports on terrorist threats and related issues 1. that represent a "federally coordinated" perspective regarding those threats and issues and that satisfy the needs of State, local, tribal, and private sector entities until such time as the ISE matures organizationally and culturally to satisfy those needs as a normal part of doing business;
2. Regarding the operations of State, local, and tribal officials, including how such entities use terrorism-related information to fulfill their counterterrorism responsibilities as part of their core mission of protecting their communities;
3. Enabling the production of clear, relevant, official, "federally coordinated" threat information in a timely and consistent manner;
4. Facilitating the production of "federally coordinated" situation awareness reporting for State, local, tribal, and private sector entities on significant domestic and international terrorism or terrorism-related events that have the potential to have an impact on local or regional security conditions in the United States;
5. Ensuring terrorism-related information intended for State, local, tribal, and private sector entities is rendered in a usable format that is, to the extent possible, unclassified, to facilitate further dissemination;
6. Informing and helping to shape Intelligence Community products for State, local, tribal, and private sector entities by providing advice, counsel, and subject matter expertise; and
7. Facilitating the production and posting by NCTC of "federally coordinated" terrorism-related information intended for augmentation, as appropriate, and subsequent dissemination to State, local, tribal, and private sector entities by other federal departments and agencies. Accordingly, the ITACG will advise the Intelligence Community on how to tailor its products to satisfy the needs of DHS, FBI, and other federal entities so that they in turn can better serve their consumers.

The efforts of the ITACG complement and supplement existing analytic, production, and dissemination efforts by federal entities. The integration into NCTC affords the coordination group direct access to experts assigned to NCTC and other co-located organizations such as the National Joint Terrorism Task Force (NJTTF) to effect decisions rapidly regarding sanitization and release of information to be shared with State, local, and tribal officials, and the private sector.

Specifically, the group will coordinate the production and timely issuance of the following interagency products intended for distribution to State, local, and tribal officials, the private sector, as well as the general public when appropriate:

• Alerts, warnings, and notifications of time-sensitive terrorism threats to locations within the United States;
• Situational awareness reporting regarding significant events or activities occurring at the international, national, State, or local levels; and
• Strategic assessments of terrorist risks and threats to the United States.

Components of the ITACG

The Implementing Recommendations of the 9/11 Commission Act of 2007 (The Act) requires the ITACG be comprised of a Detail and an Advisory Council.

ITACG Detail

The Act established "an ITACG Detail comprised of State, local, and tribal homeland security and law enforcement officers and intelligence analysts detailed to work in the National Counter Terrorism Center (NCTC) with federal intelligence analysts for the purpose of integrating, analyzing, and assisting in the dissemination of federally-coordinated information within the scope of the information sharing environment, including homeland security information, terrorism information and weapons of mass destruction information."

The Detail provides advice, counsel, and subject matter expertise to the Intelligence Community regarding the operations of SLT officials, including how such entities use terrorism-related information to fulfill their counterterrorism responsibilities as part of their core mission of protecting their communities. The efforts of the ITACG Detail complement and supplement federal analytic, production and dissemination efforts. The desired goal of the ITACG Detail is to further enable the production of clear, tailored, relevant, official and federally-coordinated threat information in a timely, consistent and usable manner.

ITACG Advisory Council

ITACT Advisory Council sets policies and develops processes for the ITACG Detail to facilitate the integration, analysis and dissemination of federally-coordinated information within the scsope of the ISE, including homeland security information, terrorism information and weapons of mass destruction information.