Bishkek – May 27, 2022. U.S. Embassy Chargé d’Affaires Sonata Coulter congratulated members of Kyrgyzstan’s Ministry of the Interior (MVD) on successful completion of the U.S. State Department Antiterrorism Assistance (ATA) Program’s Identifying and Developing Investigative Information course. Sixteen Kyrgyz law enforcement and security officers have spent ten days learning how to integrate intelligence analysis techniques into the law enforcement intelligence process to detect, deter, and prevent terrorism in the Kyrgyz Republic.
Participants were introduced to several investigative analysis topics and offered some of the latest thinking on investigative processing of information. Through discussion groups, problem-solving exercises, case studies, and a course scenario, participants learned innovative methods for using law enforcement investigative information to combat terrorism and grasp the importance of sharing information with a variety of law enforcement entities. They have examined the law enforcement intelligence process, analytical methodologies, information sharing and cooperation, terrorist motives and methodologies, and ethics as related to law enforcement investigative analysis.
Addressing the course graduates, Chargé Coulter reflected on recent U.S. Department of Treasury sanctions against five Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS) financial facilitators operating across Indonesia, Syria, and Turkey. Chargé Coulter emphasized that identifying and developing investigative information is a key aspect of counterterrorism investigations and that the United States, as part of the Global Coalition to Defeat ISIS, is committed to denying ISIS the ability to raise and move illicit funds.
Six participants of the Identifying and Developing Investigative Information course arrived to Bishkek from Ysyk – Kul and Naryn provinces to join their colleagues from Chui Province and Bishkek city. Attendees noted high level of organization of the training event, exceptional level of experience of the instructors and thoroughly planned curriculum. One of the participants said: “Practical exercises seemed to be very easy from the first sight, but after we started working, they uncovered a lot of important aspects that need attention. Group work led to constructive dialog, and we see the differences and commonalities of the systems.”
This session of the Advanced Interrogation Techniques Workshop is one of six courses scheduled in the country through July 2022.
Established in 1983, the Department of State’s Antiterrorism Assistance (ATA) program is the U.S. Government’s premier counterterrorism training and equipment provider for foreign law enforcement agencies. All ATA assistance is delivered within a rule-of-law framework that promotes respect for human rights and fosters development of a self-sustaining capability through best practices such as embedded mentors and train-the-trainer programs.
ATA receives funding and policy guidance from the Bureau of Counterterrorism and is administered by the Diplomatic Security Service (DSS).
