The state-of-the-art storage, retrieval, and communications network for national police and intelligence agencies is built around an IBM 9370 mainframe and a Wang optical disk storage system. Interoffice work is handled by a Digital Equipment minicomputer which functions in all European languages plus Arabic. Messages to and from National Central Bureaus (NCB's), the local offices of Interpol, come into the communications center via encrypted fax and radio systems and through telex and telephone. Member nations can and do communicate directly with each other as well. Some 10,000 requests for information come into the communications center each month. However, Interpol handles only serious violations that transcend national borders such as while collar crimes and terrorism. About 50 percent of the workload involves drugs. All files are stored in abbreviated form on the IBM mainframe which provides the facts in one boiled-down paragraph that lists name and outstanding warrants. Keeping member countries up to date on transborder crime is the job of Division Four's Notice Section. This section pulls information from Interpol files and sends out bulletins to the NCB's. Interpol's computer modernization has resulted in faster response times and increased arrests. An associated problem, however, is how to safeguard the privacy of Interpol files and keep information from falling into the wrong hands.