The U.S. Attorney General, as head of the Department of Justice and Chief Law Enforcement Officer of the United States' federal government, attends the annual meetings of the Forum and, with the Solicitor General of Canada, ensures that both countries continue to work closely to deal with cross-border crime issues. Janet Reno was sworn in as the United States' 78 th attorney general on March 12, 1993. The counterpart agencies from the United States that participate in the Forum include U.S. Attorneys, officials from the FBI, DEA, U.S. Marshalls Service, Immigration and Naturalization Service, U.S. Customs, the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms, the Secret Service, the Internal Revenue Service and regional and state officers. Agencies from both sides of the border work together within and across jurisdictions to vigorously develop effective law enforcement initiatives and to improve policy cooperation and coordination. Officials evaluate priorities and examine best practices and legislation on both sides of the border to support cooperation at the national level, as well as regionally and locally in communities where border crime is a serious public safety concern.
Intelligence sharing is also vital to a coordinated response to cross-border crime.
As such, there are agreements in place among partners to share technology, including databases and access to police information networks. Canada and the U.S. have put in place two key mechanisms to facilitate co-operation between the two countries. In 1990, Canada and the U.S. signed a mutual legal assistance treaty, which provides for the international exchange of evidence to be used in criminal proceedings. An asset sharing agreement was signed in 1994. That Agreement promotes joint enforcement and co-operation and provides for the sharing of forfeited criminal assets arising from joint investigations conducted by agencies on both sides of the border.