Pakistan: ICITAP Delivers Criminal Informant Recruitment and Operations Training for Federal Investigative Agency and Islamabad Capitol Police Counterterrorism Department

From March 20 to March 22, ICITAP completed a three-day training program for 35 counterterrorism investigators from the Federal Investigative Agency (FIA), and the Islamabad Capitol Police Counterterrorism Department (CTD). Two days of in-classroom training in Islamabad culminated into a final day of role play simulations involving outside participants, assuming the role of recruitment targets, helping the students to think on their feet and use the techniques they had previously received training in that week. Attendees learned how to best identify potential criminal informants based on access, motivation, ability to take direction, and operate independently. The attendees also learned how to recognize dangerous potential informant characteristics which were likely to result in handling problems, which may jeopardize the safety of the informant, the handling officer, and the integrity of the ongoing criminal investigation. Furthermore, the training also emphasized the characteristics and skillsets that the best police officers possess to ensure success in criminal informant operation. Many trainees asked about ethical and legal issues associated with informant operations, and recommendations were made to minimize misconduct allegations against officers for abuse of power and how to recognize potential conflicts of interest. Finally, and just as exciting, the three-day program and role-playing simulations were the final component of a three-class curriculum that previously trained participating officers in interview and interrogation as well as anti-money laundering and terrorism finance. There are now thirty more graduates of ICITAPs complete counterterrorism training program in Pakistan, something all individuals involved are very proud to have participated in. In Pakistan, ICITAP works with the support of the U.S. Department of State Bureau of Counterterrorism.