Stratfor Official Calls for International Intel Cooperation to Defeat ISIL

If the intelligence services of the United States, Russia and France came up together and shared more information that they each have on ISIL, it would be much easier to defeat the terrorist organization and prevent future terrorist acts, Vice President of Stratfor Fred Burton told Radio Sputnik.

On Monday, French President Francois Hollande called for a broad coalition including the United States and Russia to tackle ISIL, which had claimed responsibility for the Paris attacks on Friday. Russian President Vladimir Putin agreed with Hollande and charged Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu and Chief of General Staff Valery Gerasimov to elaborate a joint action plan on Syria both in the sea and in the air.

"It is necessary to establish direct contact with the French and work with them as allies," Putin said regarding the issue.

Both leaders agreed to ensure military and intelligence cooperation between Russia and France. Putin and Hollande agreed to meet during Hollande's visit to Moscow on November 26.

This is some major political development, Burton explained, adding that the future collaboration of Russian and French intelligence agencies would be very effective in finding more clues to both the terrorist attacks in Paris and the bombing of the Russian Airbus A321 in the Sinai Peninsula.

"I think we're seeing the tremendous amount of international, multinational cooperation as a result of what unfolded in Paris," Burton told Radio Sputnik.

Collaboration among intelligence agencies of different countries happens from time to time, Burton revealed. In the past, Russia's FSB provided valuable information to the CIA that helped the United States to hunt down the Boston Marathon bombers.

The FSB, the CIA and other intelligence agencies should track down the people who were behind the Paris attacks, especially those who built explosive devices, and share information on these people with each other, the top Stratfor official said.

Making highly effective explosive devices similar to those that were used during the Paris attacks isn't an easy thing to do. The person who made the explosive devices must have learned the skill on the battlefield, somewhere in Syria or Iraq, and that's why it should be possible for intelligence services to track them down. But more importantly, they need to share information with each other to avoid future large-scale terrorist acts, Burton concluded.