Fusion centers: have they found their sweet spot?
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Increased state investment in fusion centers may suggest a change of opinion on the information-gathering groups.
Fusion centers combine data from the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), other federal offices, state and local government, and private-sector sources on a variety of topics, including cybersecurity and terrorism activity. Analysts synthesize that information and send any intelligence derived from it back to the DHS and other law enforcement agencies.
Ever since fusion centers were created in the aftermath of the 9/11 terrorist attacks to improve information-sharing between governments, they’ve often been criticized for their ineffectiveness. But if recent state investment in the centers is any indication, faith in the work they do may be on the rise.
Rick “Ozzie” Nelson, a senior associate at the Center for Strategic and International Studies, told Government Technology that as public-safety grant funding from the federal government has slowed, states are dedicating more of their own money to finance fusion centers.
He believes that is a solid indicator that the centers “have found their sweet spot” when it comes to intelligence-gathering and communications activities.
Statistics from the 2013 National Network of Fusion Centers Final Report support Nelson’s claim. Direct federal expenditures on fusion centers decreased by 10 percent from 2012 to 2013. By comparison, states spent 3.6 percent more to finance fusion centers in 2013, while local government spending on them were up 2.1 percent.
When the centers came online in 2004, the flow of counter-terrorism information they would receive from and pass on to the DHS was one of the key factors of their creation. Technology was at a level that made transfer of that data – in theory – relatively easy.
For example, while the U.S. government is heavily focused on counter-terrorism information, lower-risk areas may not find the data as useful as a big metropolis such as New York or Chicago. As a result, instead of focusing on the value of sending that information back and forth with the feds, some fusion centers concentrated on improving information access across local and state governments.
