Gaithersburg Police Department

One of the organizations that organize and sponsor these trainings is the Jewish Institute for National Security of America (JINSA). JINSA is a think tank that advocates for US-Israeli security cooperation, increased domestic military spending, and military aid to Israel, and has board members with close ties to US defense contractors. JINSA launched its Law Enforcement Exchange Program (LEEP) shortly after 9/11, and since 2002 has run annual trips to Israel for US federal, state, and local law enforcement. Over 11,000 additional American law enforcement officials have attended LEEP conferences nationwide, which bring in Israeli security officials as experts.

The Police Department of Gaithersburg, Maryland, is among the departments that have sent delegates to Israel. Mary Ann Viverette served as Chief of Gaithersburg Police Department between 1986 and 2007. Chief Viverette attended a training in Israel with JINSA as a delegate of their LEEP program in 2003. In 2005, Chief Viverette became the first woman president of the International Association of Chiefs of Police (IACP), the oldest and largest law enforcement organization in the world, with 20,000 members from 100 countries exchanging information on law enforcement training.