At least one investigator will be sent to each of the three countries, police spokesman Michael O'Looney said Tuesday. They will work with the Bundeskriminalamt, Germany's equivalent of the FBI, in Hamburg; Israel's Mossad intelligence service in Tel Aviv; and Scotland Yard in London.

A Hamburg al-Qaida cell is believed to have been central to planning the Sept. 11 attacks.

The department already has detectives in Toronto and at the offices of Interpol in Lyon, France, O'Looney said.

"The benefit is that you have a direct line of communication," he said.

The detectives will stay for six months to a year, and the postings could become permanent if successful. Some foreign law enforcement agencies are considering sending agents to New York.