The Georgia International Law Enforcement Exchange at Georgia State is unlike any other program offered at our university.

GILEE, for short, is a joint program between Georgia and local, federal and international law enforcement agencies. The program was launched in May 1992 and serves as a police exchange program between Georgia police and the Israeli police force. GILEE states that the program wants to offer an educational professional program to senior Georgia law enforcement officials in Israel, primarily in the areas of counter-terrorism and drug interdiction.

Georgia police officers enrolled in the program are sent to Israel for two weeks and receive training in counter-terrorism techniques and other policing management strategies practiced by Israeli police. Conversely, Israeli police receive training on drug enforcement in Georgia from the Red Dog Unit in the Atlanta Police Department.

According to their website, GILEE is designed to network between international organizations and recommend counter-terrorism tactics for their respective countries.

The director of the GILEE program is Dr. Robert Friedman, professor emeritus of Criminal Justice at Georgia State. Friedman is also the founder of the ILEE program – the International Institute for Counter-Terrorism – which is an Israeli institution that possesses strong military intelligence in Israel. ILEE is an offshoot organization of GILEE.

Funding for GILEE comes from various private sources like corporations and GILEE graduates.

The interesting thing about the GILEE program is that is it not a program created by Georgia State for Georgia State students. GILEE is simply housed at Georgia State in the Criminal Justice department. The organization itself is a private organization but functions in the realm of a public university.

"The funding for GILEE is private, but Georgia State is giving GILEE a place to exist," said Vanessa Faraj, a former Georgia State student.

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http://www.gsusignal.com/perspectives/gilee-program-raises-concerns...