Chinese Walls
News reports today on NPR discuss some of the findings of the 9/11 commission. The report that I heard made specific mention of the barriers in place to prevent sharing of information between private companies and the government, as well as the separation between domestic and foreign intelligence. The report made it sound as if these barriers were unfortunate, but things we can look forward to disposing of. Be afraid. Be very afraid.
Most of these barriers are of a type known as Chinese Walls. Named after the Great Wall of China, a Chinese Wall is a set of policies and practices that prevent entities from having any knowledge of each other's activities. In theory all brokerage houses have Chinese Walls between their trading divisions and their analyst divisions. Anyone who followed the aftermath of the tech wreck will understand that not everyone has proper Chinese Walls in place. Clearly this can be very problematic.
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