NEW YORK?The FBI should be required to share information on efforts to fight terrorism with local law enforcement in the wake of the Sept. 11 attacks, Mayor Rudolph Giuliani said Monday.

Testifying in City Hall at a field hearing of the House terrorism subcommittee, Giuliani proposed that Congress pass a law requiring the FBI and other federal authorities to share their intelligence with local police and government officials, especially in a crisis.

“We need the information and we need it right away,” he said. “We need real-time information about what is happening.”

“Do we really need to pass a law?” asked Rep. Jane Harman, D-Calif. “Couldn’t the director of the FBI just start doing that?”

“You need to legislate permission to do that,” replied the mayor, himself a former federal prosecutor.

On Monday in Toronto, FBI Director Robert Mueller pledged better cooperation between police and the FBI working on the investigation into the terrorist attacks.