[Infowarrior] - Fusion centers face 'insufficient' terrorist activity

[Richard Forno]

http://www.fas.org/blog/secrecy/2008/06/fusion_centers_face.html



FUSION CENTERS FACE "INSUFFICIENT" TERRORIST ACTIVITY

Fusion centers are collaborative law enforcement and intelligence  
organizations that were established all over the country after 9/11 to  
share intelligence and counterterrorism information. But in the  
absence of a widespread domestic terrorist threat, they have not  
consistently demonstrated their value, according to a recent study.

"Fusion centers emerged almost spontaneously in response to a need by  
state and local law enforcement for useful and usable intelligence  
related to the evolving terrorist threat," observed Milton Nenneman, a  
Sacramento police officer, in a master's thesis based on a survey of  
California fusion centers.

But the terrorist threat has turned out to be "insufficient" to  
justify or sustain the new fusion centers.

"There is, more often than not, insufficient purely 'terrorist'  
activity to support a multi-jurisdictional and multi-governmental  
level fusion center that exclusively processes terrorist activity,"  
Lt. Nenneman wrote.

As a result, "Fusion centers must consider analyzing or processing  
other criminal activity, in addition to terrorist activity, in order  
to maintain the skills and interest of the analysts, as well as the  
participation and data collection of the emergency responder community."

Basic questions regarding who the fusion centers are supposed to serve  
and exactly what they are supposed to produce often lack satisfactory  
answers, Lt. Nenneman reported.

While there is little consensus about the precise mission or function  
of fusion centers, which vary widely, "the majority of fusion centers  
operate exclusively in an analytical capacity rather than as having  
any response or operational capacity."

"It would seem prudent to make a concerted effort to seek out the  
emergency responder administrators and elected officials to given them  
regular threat assessments and situational awareness briefings to  
demonstrate the value and capability of the unit," he suggested.

See "An Examination of State and Local Fusion Centers and Data  
Collection Methods" by Milton W. Nenneman, Naval Postgraduate School,  
March 2008.


http://www.fas.org/irp/eprint/fusion.pdf
Related issues were examined by the Congressional Research Service in  
"Fusion Centers: Issues and Options for Congress," updated January 18,  
2008:


http://www.fas.org/sgp/crs/intel/RL34070.pdf
See also "Homeland Security: Federal Efforts Are Helping to Alleviate  
Some Challenges Encountered by State and Local Information Fusion  
Centers," Government Accountability Office Report No. GAO-08-35,  
October 2007:


http://www.fas.org/irp/gao/fusion.pdf
The Electronic Privacy Information Center recently won disclosure  
under the Freedom of Information Act of records documenting federal  
efforts to curtail public disclosure of fusion center information in  
the state of Virginia.


http://epic.org/privacy/virginia_fusion/