On November 17-26, a delegation from the Ministry of Public Security visited the United States and Canada on an official visit.
The visit was within the framework of the joint work team with the American Department of Homeland Security on Science and Technology. The Israeli delegation consisted of the Deputy Director General of the Ministry, the Chief Scientist of the Ministry (Chairman of the science and technology committee) and other representatives of the Israel Police, the Ministry of Defense, the Prime Minister's office, the Israel Security Agency (Shabak) and the Home Front Command in the IDF.

The objective of the meetings were to get the wheels turning in the implementation of the homeland security agreement signed between the Israeli Minister of Public Security and the American Secretary of Homeland Security in May 2008.

The work teams meet annually both in Israel and the United States and maintain a close and direct work relationship designed to execute joint research and technology projects in order to improve both countries capability to confront the challenges of homeland security and other security threats such as terror, natural disasters, large scale tragedies and state of emergency.

The recent meetings concluded with the decision to start on a number of joint projects in behavioral research on terror prevention and explosives.
During the meetings the Israeli delegation presented a number of other potential joint projects which was decided to further examine prior to executing them.

In the framework of an operational agreement signed between the Israeli Ministry of Public Security and the United States Department of Justice, a number of joint technology and social and behavioral projects are underway in the fields of law enforcement and counter terrorism.

During the last visit, representatives of the Ministry of Public Security and the Israel Police met with their counterparts in the National Institute of Justice (NIJ) as part of their annual work meetings. The meetings were within the framework of the agreement signed between the Ministry of Public Security and the United States Department of Justice a number of years ago.

During the meetings the two parties presented the primary ongoing projects being run by the different offices, including a number of new technology and behavioral projects to be implemented in the near future.

Over the past few years the two offices have joined forces in a number of projects in the fields of explosives, forensic science, weaponry and others. The concluded projects have dramatically improved the operational capabilities of the Israel Police in its battle against crime and terror.

In March 2008 a Declaration of Intent was signed between the Israeli Ministry of Public Security and the Canadian Ministry of Public Safety in order to promote mutual interests in the fields of the battle against organized crime, human trafficking, terror financing, managing crisis situations, border security, crime prevention and other aspects of homeland security.

The first work meetings of the two sides were held on November 24-26 in Ottawa, Canada, with the aim at forming a framework for the implementation of the agreement signed between the two countries.

The meetings were attended by the Deputy Director General of the Ministry, the Chief Scientist, representatives of the Israel Police and the Israel Prison Service, a representative of the Counter Terrorism Division in the Office of the Israeli Prime Minister, and representatives of the Canadian Ministry of Public Safety, the Canadian Police and Canadian Prison Service.

The meetings focused on the following fields:

• Security of strategic facilities
• Border control
• Emergency preparedness
• Correction facilities and services
• Crime and delinquency
• Science and technology – including law enforcement and counter terrorism technologies.

During the meetings the two parties surveyed their primary activities in their fields and examined potential projects of mutual interest.  The Israel delegation visited the Federal Police of Canada and the Lansdowne border crossing point between Canada and the United States.

The meetings concluded by deciding on primary principles of the operational and technological cooperation between the two countries in the above fields.