StormWarning’s Counterterrorism

It is an absolute.  Data Fusion Centers (DFCs), data warehouses and intelligence and information sharing is happening.  Regardless or despite any hand wringing of the liberal mindset that fears loss of rights or invasion of privacy, DFCs are being established in a concerted effort by the Department of Homeland Security and the Department of Justice to provide access to actionable information in real time across jurisdictions and across agencies.

Homeland intelligence chief lists risks
After 47 years spent gathering and analyzing foreign intelligence at the CIA, Charles Allen is facing perhaps his biggest career challenge in developing a homeland intelligence capability. He now must gain the respect of the U.S. intelligence community for the Homeland Security Department, where he has spent just over a year as chief intelligence officer…

…One of Allen’s innovations is to send intelligence officers to state and local "fusion centers," created in 43 locations around the country to blend law enforcement information and intelligence analysis collected at the local level.

Allen now has officers stationed in 12 of the fusion centers, following visits by assessment teams that determined whether each center was advanced enough and was interested in having a federal intelligence officer on staff…[more]

Localities Operate Intelligence Centers To Pool Terror Data
‘Fusion’ Facilities Raise Privacy Worries As Wide Range of Information Is Collected

Frustrated by poor federal cooperation, U.S. states and cities are building their own network of intelligence centers led by police to help detect and disrupt terrorist plots.

The new "fusion centers" are now operating in 37 states, including Virginia and Maryland, and another covers the Washington area, according to the Department of Homeland Security. The centers, which have received $380 million in federal support since the 2001 terrorist attacks, pool and analyze information from local, state and federal law enforcement officials.

The emerging "network of networks" marks a new era of opportunity for law enforcement, according to U.S. officials and homeland security experts…

This is one of the more important trends of today’s world.  As an overview, you can look into the Office of Justice Programs, Information Technology Initiatives website that compiles discussions of the Global Justice Information Sharing Initiative, the Justice Standards for fusion centers, a discussion and explanation of the Global Justice XML Data Model (Global JXDM) and the National Information Exchange Model.

For additional  reference you can look once again at the Information Sharing Environment Implementation Plan and the Fusion Center Guidelines—Developing and Sharing Information in a New Era

Ask the question of what all this is about.  ”What Is a Fusion Center?
A fusion center is an effective and efficient mechanism to exchange information and intelligence, maximize resources, streamline operations, and improve the ability to fight crime and terrorism by merging data from a variety of sources. In addition, fusion centers are a conduit for implementing portions of the National Criminal Intelligence Sharing Plan (NCISP).”  Critical to this overall effort is the belief that "although each fusion center will have unique characteristics, it is important for centers to operate under a consistent framework— similar to the construction of a group of buildings where each structure is unique, yet a consistent set of building codes and regulations are adhered to regardless of the size or shape of the building."

Also see: Data Fusion Centers - National & Local

It is a coming of age of American law enforcement and national security and intelligence components for there to be a realization that "we must stand together" and share information across disparate organizations and cultures in real time.  This is an evolution of information sharing.  It is a time when "virtual data warehouses" will be linked by specialized user interfaces to permit seamless and transparent sharing of information that before was never possible.  You don’t have direct access to my information, but you do have the "key" with which to search for information within my data.

This is a transformation of law enforcement.  Imagine a fugitive child abuser or a wife beater from one city or jurisdiction being arrested for a DWI in another city.  Before being arraigned for the drunk driving charge, a data sharing operation occurs and it is found that the same guy is wanted on other charges, perhaps more serious, in another location.

If you fear the imaginary loss of privacy or loss of rights that permits information sharing across jurisdictions, then perhaps you really do have something to fear.  In a simplified way, data fusion and information sharing will make it harder and harder for criminals to flee from one city or state and go to another, only to repeat crimes.

"… The ultimate goal of a fusion center is to provide a mechanism where law enforcement, public safety, and private partners can come together with a common purpose and improve the ability to safeguard our homeland and prevent criminal activity. A police officer, fireman, or building inspector should not have to search for bits of information. They should know to call one particular place—the jurisdiction’s fusion center…"

But fusion plays an even greater and more important role when it comes to deployment of resources in the event of a natural disaster or terorrist event.  And perhaps more importantly, it will enable officials to know if someone seeking a license, whether a "simple" drivers’ license or more critically, someone trying to get a license to transport hazardous materials, for example, might either be an illegal alien, or wanted for some other crime or infraction in a different part of the country.  Think I made this one up?  Think again!

New York Joint Terrorist Task Force and Rhode Island State Fusion Center apprehend person of interest..
…Last month a Highway Watch® participant made a report to the program’s Call Center regarding suspected suspicious behavior by a commercial driver student seeking a HAZMAT endorsement. That person was later identified as Mohammed Yusef Mullawala, an Indian resident of Pakistani descent. The Call Center subsequently relayed the information to the Highway Watch® Information Sharing and Analysis Center (ISAC) for validation and analysis. The Highway Watch® ISAC supports federal, state, and local law enforcement, as well as other entities responsible for national security, with unique intelligence analysis and assessment gathered from Highway Watch® participants and other sources. After the information was validated a classified “Advisory” was issued to law enforcement agencies nationwide.

“This investigation shows how effective we can be when Federal, State, and Local law enforcement agencies work together to protect our nation’s homeland security,” said Bill Jacobs, VP of Highway Watch®. “We’re pleased to have been a part of this investigation…”

The jostling for position (and the funding and recognition) is already getting old.  Competition for these fusion centers is hot and heavy.  Potential conflict between states and regions to house and manage these centers is obvious to some.  The question is not if, but when the network of statewide and regional fusion centers will go online and provide a completed national network for law enforcement, homeland security and homeland defense.

A friend of mine wrote this to me recently relating to the creation of fusion/data centers:  "Fusion is not simply connecting to large volumes of information, and letting technology search and connect the pieces to provide warning and operational pictures.  Not looking at the realities of how information has to be analyzed and assembled to support a variety of end uses, nor accepting the analytical process as a mix of technical and art forms…An analyst can be given all the technology and tools, but if he/she doesn’t have the ‘nose,’ they won’t produce very much."   Ultimately, the success of a fusion center, or a network of like centers has to blend "discipline entrenched attitudes in order to create an ability for them to appreciate multi disciplined problems."

Further, in explaining how these data fusion centers must combine resources, I was told that "…Homeland Security and Homeland Defense are not unique disciplines…each is a "discipline of disciplines."  I was told to picture it as a three-legged stool, with the seat being the base that provides identification of sources, connectivity, information processing and sharing, analysis, products, etc.  The three legs are the principal operational arenas… of public safety, responders and critical infrastructure.  Public safety is dominated by law enforcement and paramilitary efforts…For responders, the dominant leadership rests with the emergency managers and firemen as the primary solution area…The third leg, and probably the most important in addressing threat, risk, warning indicators and mitigation, response and recovery is the critical infrastructure.  Critical infrastructure has no champion, or dominant voice.  It calls for public/private partnerships in that it is more than inventories and individual vulnerabilities.  Interdependencies in disaster resilience have to be addressed…

Therefore, the establishment of a fusion center, especially one that serves a particular region under a broader statewide umbrella is a significant undertaking, and one that requires the ability to bring together the agendas and "personalities" of the individual components.  As with many other programs, it may well be that the hand of the "manager" is needed to superimpose the "good of all" over the agendas of each.

If you’ve heard (or read) any of this before, then maybe you know what I am writing about…and why.

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