[Infowarrior] - DHS to Try Fusion Centers for Sharing Classified Information with Industry

[Richard Forno]

DHS to Try Fusion Centers for Sharing Classified Information with  
Industry
Source:
http://fcw.com/articles/2010/03/16/web-cyber-threat-fusion-center.aspx


The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) plans to start a pilot program
that would use state and local intelligence fusion centers to pass
secret-level information on cyber threats to critical infrastructure to
critical infrastructure industry officials with security clearances, a
DHS official said last week. Under the Cybersecurity Partners Local
Access Program (CPLAP), officials with the necessary credentials would
be able to go to a local fusion center to receive the classified
information, according to Jenny Menna, Director of Critical
Infrastructure Cyber Protection and Awareness at DHS' National Cyber
Security Division.

"We've heard from a lot of our private-sector partners that travel
budgets are being cut, so this will allow people who are outside the
Beltway to go to their local fusion center and get that information, and
it will also help build that relationship between the fusion centers and
the critical infrastructure and key resource partners within their
area," Menna said.

In addition to convenience, the CPLAP program would allow industry
officials to build relationships with the intelligence and homeland
security communities. Five fusion centers have agreed to participate in
the planned pilot program, Menna said. If the pilot programs go well,
CPLAP could be used to share data related to other hazards.

States and municipalities own and run fusion centers that use
information technology to share homeland security-related information
among officials from different levels of government. DHS serves as the
lead federal agency for the centers and is also in charge of leading the
coordination of infrastructure protection between federal agencies,
state and local authorities, and the private sector. A majority the
country's critical infrastructure is privately owned.