WASHINGTON, January 10 (Sputnik) — The complex range of threats to US national security underscore the need for a global intelligence apparatus, former National Security Council special advisor to US President George W. Bush, Michael Allen, has stressed.
"When you look at the panoply of threats around the United States…this underscores the need for a global intelligence system," Allen said during a Foreign Policy Initiative conference call on Friday.
"We've got to be able to have a seamless international database, a lot of information sharing," Allen explained, adding that this week's terror attacks in Paris are "another reminder" of the threats the global intelligence community has to address.
Revelations made by National Security Agency (NSA) contractor Edward Snowden in 2013 raised serious concerns among Americans over data collection by their government. Allen argues that despite those concerns "this is not the time…to be letting some of our intelligence surveillance programs lapse or be restricted, either by Congress or the executive branch".
On January 7, two gunmen opened fire in the office of French satirical magazine, Charlie Hebdo, killing 12 people and injuring another 11.
On Friday, the two suspects were killed during a police raid on a print shop in an industrial zone north-east of Paris.
The United States currently shares intelligence with France, along with other western European nations known as the fourteen eyes, according to a document released by Snowden in 2013.
The United States is also locked into the Five Eyes treaty, which authorizes extensive intelligence sharing between the United States, Great Britain, Australia, Canada and New Zealand.
