By Louis Chunovic, Senior Editor

Published April 2nd, 2009

DHS continues to support the concept and practice of fusion centers as the "core means" and "centerpiece" of federal, state, local and tribal information sharing.

And in keeping with the Obama era's homeland security emphasis, the mission of fusion centers is "all-crimes and all-hazards," not simply anti-terrorism.

That was the gist of April 1 testimony by Director Robert Riegle, State and Local Program Office, Office of Intelligence and Analysis, before the Committee on Homeland Security, Subcommittee on Intelligence, Information Sharing, and Terrorism Risk Assessment.

Riegle heads an office charged with supporting the current network of 70 fusion centers, "through personnel and system deployments, training and technical assistance, security clearance support, and intradepartmental coordination and outreach efforts."

There is now a fusion center in "in every state and every major city" in the U.S., he said, and their successes "thus far give us good reason for our continued support." Riegle told the subcommittee about two of those successes in some detail.

In March 2007, Denver was dealing with seven cases of firebombed SUVs, he said, when investigators requested the Colorado Information Analysis Center's (CIAC) assistance. "The CIAC developed a report that included a description of the suspect's vehicle. Based on this report, the suspect in the crimes was arrested shortly thereafter."

A year later, in May 2008, a fusion center official was instrumental in the safe recovery of a child kidnapped by a suspect wanted for rape and murder. "By coordinating with DHS officials, local law enforcement, and INTERPOL, the DHS Intelligence Operations Specialist [for northern California] was able to track the suspect and the kidnapped child to a flight bound for the Netherlands," Riegle said. "With only hours to spare, the DHS Intelligence Operations Specialist coordinated with authorities to ensure law enforcement authorities in Amsterdam detained the subject. The child was recovered unharmed."

That California fusion center official, a DHS Intelligence Operations Specialist (IOS), is one of 34 Intelligence Operations Specialists who serve as a "critical link" between their fusion centers and DHS, Riegle said. By the end of fiscal year 2010, DHS expects to have deployed an IOS to each one of the 70 fusion centers.

The IOS "augments the analytical capabilities of the fusion centers," according to Riegle, providing a "real time situational awareness to the Secretary and the Department, as well as all levels of government in times of crisis."

In addition to seconding personnel like that to fusion centers, DHS has "installed more than 30 Homeland Secure Data Network (HSDN) terminals, a SECRET-level collateral network, in fusion centers and will install HSDN terminals in all 70 fusion centers as soon as all security requirements are met."

DHS also offers its state and local fusion center partners classes and workshops, such as Critical Thinking and Analytical Method and Principals of Intelligence Writing and Briefing (PIWB), as well as the Analytic and Critical Thinking Skills Workshop.

Among the "challenges" that Riegle identified to the subcommittee are "providing timely, actionable information to the 'first preventers and first responders' on the ground"; funding "during this time of national economic austerity"; data interoperability among centers; and "communications and outreach support."

Riegle also assured the subcommittee that DHS is "committed to ensuring that all those working at fusion centers are fully cognizant of their privacy and civil liberties obligations.

Testifying before the same subcommittee, an American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) official expressed "vast concerns" about the risks to privacy fusion centers present, pointing to an ACLU report that focused on "their ambiguous lines of authority, the troubling role of private corporations, the participation of the military, the use of data mining and the excessive secrecy surrounding the centers."