Los Angeles Fusion Centers: A Case Study

Many of the current differences we see today between the federal, state and local law enforcement intelligence stemmed from prior to the September 11 attack. Prior to this attack many states lacked a robust intelligence capability, as it was the primary role of federal agencies to protect the United States from both foreign and domestic terrorist threats. In an attempt to mitigate future attacks of this nature state, local, and

DHS has supported this idea of intelligence centers or information analysis centers by having a “renewed commitment to creating a robust, nationwide network of fusion centers to share and analyze data on citizens and others.”1 As of 2009 DHS contributes 254 million in funding to sate and local

The formation of fusion centers is a step in the right direction to countering terrorist threats. By working efficiently and appropriately, information leading to arrests can be shared across county lines, state lines, and all around the world in a timely manner. Fusion centers can make law enforcement agencies more competent and effective in stopping crimes (to include terrorist attacks) before they take place. As long as the centers follow the laws they are governed by, they will remain ethical and can be a helpful addition in protecting the United States. Fusion centers in the United States perform a valuable role in countering terrorist threats, their positive influence far

-To those of you who are still unaware, every day we are under the threat of both external and internal threats to our society. For example many still remember the tragedy of 9/11; many innocent lives were lost that day and many attribute the blame to poor information sharing between agencies. Fusion centers were the answer to prevent

The September 11th attacks on the World Trade Center spawned the formation of different tactics and strategy on countering terrorism. One of the plans is to create a Fusion Center. There were plans and trainings in place prior to the attacks in 2001, however the information gathered were not shared or utilized properly. Fusion Centers were established across the country between 2003 to 2007 by local, state and federal law enforcement.

Fusion centers receive information from a variety of sources, including SAR from stakeholders within their jurisdictions, as well as federal information and intelligence. They analyze the information and develop relevant products to disseminate to their customers. These products assist homeland security partners at all levels of government to identify and address immediate and emerging threats. “The National Strategy for Information Sharing considers fusion centers to be “vital assets” that provide the federal government with critical information about state and local governments, while the state and local governments obtain information about terrorist-related threats” (White House

“With mobile phones, the internet, and other forms of communication…can extend the reach of a formal organization and make it much more dangerous” (Lutz, J. & Lutz, B., 7). If agencies had the intelligence and the communication abilities that we have today, Richard Reid may have never boarded that flight. Authorities in Paris might have known that Reid had been in the Middle East for an extended period of time, and that he also had suspected ties to known terrorists. “Intelligence is the process by which raw data is collected and transformed into usable information…” (Pfeifer 8). If this intelligence information had been properly relayed to airport authorities, he may not have been allowed to book a flight for the next day. Because of fusion centers now in place, cities, states, and even countries can communicate and relay information better than ever before. It is a step in the right direction towards stopping people like Richard Reid before they even have a chance to commit such a heinous

According to Jones (2011), the strength of fusion centers is called "Epistemic Federalism" (p. 178). Epistemic Federalism allows local agencies to utilize an approach that is taken from their perspective. The fusion center encompasses federal; state, local, tribal, territorial (SLTT); and private sector partners, but the state and local government plays more of a substantial role with the gathering of information. Local agencies deal with the public on a daily bases and their mission is to protect and serve the public. This connection allows local agencies to gain more information from the public, especially when they suspect something suspicious. As stated by Jones (2011), the local agencies are more adept at identify terrorist cells, than

The fusion centers have many roles in fighting emanate threats outside our borders and within our borders. These fusion centers have a critical role in sharing threat-related information between the federal and state government, local, tribal, territorial(SLTT), and private-sector partners. The fusion centers receive, analyze, disseminate, and gather the information for the government.

When it comes to personnel, fusion centers attempt to hire many people with many diverse backgrounds. For example, many civilian analysts are retired from police work and the military. Earlier I mentioned that many fusion centers are state run. In these cases, the State police are responsible for running fusion centers (Cincotta, 2009). A good example of this is the fusion center located here in Michigan. The Michigan Intelligence Operations Center is run by the Michigan State Police and is partnered with many other law enforcement agencies including MDC (Michigan Department of Corrections), MNG (Michigan National Guard), MSPD (Michigan State University Police Department, FBI (Federal Bureau of Investigations), Michigan Sheriffs Association,

With radicalized individuals such as Timothy Mcveigh or Gale Nettles, home grown violent extremist pose a threat that will always be prevalent and remain with no end or relief in sight. These individuals or groups are very hard to detect. With the advent of the fusion centers across the nation, this could be one part of the puzzle on how to combat this type of terrorism. The local law enforcement could have the right piece of information that could help to detect where these types of individuals will materialize. With ISIL and ISIS calling for western cultures to perpetrate more of this type of attack, it is becoming ever more important to learn and detect these types of attacks before they happen.

There are different issues that I would like to explore in this paper. One of the issues I would like to explore is whether or not fusion centers are a threat to our civil liberties. Another issue that I want to explore are what is their strengths and weaknesses? At the end of my report, I will also provide some issues that need to be resolved and provide some thoughts of my own.

Additionally, why is there some obstruction to this course of action? Department of Homeland Security originated the fusion center which is an information sharing center determined to contribute intelligence among agencies such as the Federal Bureau of Investigation, Central Intelligence Agency, Department of Justice, the US military and local, state and other federal law enforcement. These agencies bring together intelligence to investigate and analyze it. According to the fusion center and guidelines, “a fusion center is a successful and proficient instrument to exchange intelligence and information that maximizes resources, streamlines operations, and improves the ability to fight crime and terrorism by evaluating data from a diversity of sources.” The importance to share information among all US intelligence agencies, law enforcement and military contributes to the prevention of the most serious crimes and cyber-crimes. Quick and accurate information is one of the advantages of information sharing. Information sharing outweighs vulnerability when being accessible to all law enforcement personnel and other intelligence agencies. Information sharing makes criminal cases run smoother in an approach that all agencies receive the required feedback from a certain case. It can be trusted and reliable after being collected and

In the State of New York, fusion center is a perfect example of information technology optimizing their performance in reducing crime within their police departments. The New York/New Jersey High Intensity Drug Trafficking Center serves as an information hub for law enforcement. According to (Johnson, 2008), the mass of intelligence data in the central location has proved to be a key factor in identifying individuals and organizations that are facilitating or carrying out terrorist activity in New York City.

Fusion centers were created to improve the efficiency of the state and local level of homeland security. "Fusion centers are owned and operated by state and local entities with support from federal partners in the form of deployed personnel, training, technical assistance, exercise support, security clearances, connectivity to federal systems, technology, and grant funding." (U.S. National Intelligence, 2013, p. 20). This initiative is extremely beneficial, because the state level does not always have the means to comb through data. Training also proves to be a costly burden the state cannot always fund. At the national and international level, the country utilizes the National Security Agency (NSA) and the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA). Fusion centers are been extremely effective, because the intelligence gathered in this manner is much more relevant in terms of locale. For example, if the FBI acquires some intelligence about New York City, it does not do much good for California. If California focuses more on itself with the fusion