Fusion Centers
Author:
Eben Kaplan
February 22, 2007
Introduction
In the early morning hours of September 9, 2001, a Maryland State Trooper made a routine traffic stop, pulling over a car headed north on I-95 and issuing a speeding ticket. Two days later, the driver of that car, Ziad Jarrah was one of four hijackers aboard United Airlines Flight 93 when it crashed in western Pennsylvania. The officer who issued the speeding ticket had no idea that Jarrah was on a CIA watch list. If he had, experts say it is possible he might have prevented, or at least disrupted, the worst terrorist attack in history.
About two years later, Maryland opened its Coordination and Analysis Center, an intelligence “fusion center” designed to pool and analyze information from federal, state, and local sources, in an effort to get vital information to the police officers who every day patrol the home front of the “war on terror.” Now in forty-two states plus the District of Columbia, fusion centers represent an important development in state-level homeland security initiatives. In some cases, police departments have even changed how they approach their work, emphasizing intelligence collection and sharing. Though experts applaud efforts to have better informed police officers, some civil libertarians worry about the collection and use of such information.
How Fusion Centers Work
Though fusion centers vary from state to state, most contain similar elements, including members of state law enforcement, public health, social services, public safety, and public works organizations. Increasingly, federal agencies such as the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), Federal Bureau of Investigation, Drug Enforcement Administration, and Bureau of Alcohol Tobacco and Firearms station representatives at state-level fusion centers.
State and federal representatives input into a fusion center's database a broad spectrum of information, including the location and capabilities of area hospitals, details from calls to the state's 911 emergency hotline, and names from federal terrorism watch lists. This data pool is then drawn on to form a clearer picture of threats facing each state. In addition, it helps inform police investigations, contingency planning, and emergency response.
“If we learn about a threat only when it becomes imminent, then it is too late.”
Experts say putting this information at the fingertips of local law enforcement—who are likelier than federal authorities to come across aspiring terrorists on U.S. soil—transforms police officers from first responders into “first preventers.” The idea is that the next time a would-be terrorist on a government watch list is pulled over for speeding, the officer at the scene will have the information he needs.
Placing federal representatives alongside local officials also helps to ensure more timely delivery of information. In the past, state and local authorities often received warnings only in times of immediate danger. As Cathy L. Lanier, Washington D.C.'s acting police chief, told a recent Senate hearing (PDF), “If we learn about a threat only when it becomes imminent, then it is too late.”
Federal Support
The rise of fusion centers, which accelerated greatly from 2004 to 2005, came about in part because the federal government placed much of the responsibility for homeland security on state governments. Many states view fusion centers as a necessary tool for meeting this charge. The U.S. government's response has been enthusiastic: “Fusion centers will be a key conduit for sharing federal information and intelligence down to the local level,” says DHS Chief Intelligence Officer Charles E. Allen.
To help states create intelligence hubs that function properly, DHS teamed with the Department of Justice to author a set of guidelines (PDF) for establishing and operating fusion centers. Since 2001, the federal government has provided some $380 million to help fund fusion centers that meet the guidelines, though in recent years only sixteen states received such assistance (PDF).
The federal government has even adopted the fusion-center model for its own purposes. The National Counterterrorism Center (NCTC), established in 2004, tracks the terrorist threat by pooling representatives from the various national intelligence agencies.
via Fusion Centers – Council on Foreign Relations.
