The Homeland Security Department is at risk for losing support for funding because it is not doing a good enough job of sharing information with state, local and federal homeland security officials, the chairwoman of the House subcommittee that oversees information sharing and intelligence gathering said March 18.
Speaking at the National Fusion Center Conference in San Francisco this week, Rep. Jane Harman (D-Calif.), chairwoman of the Homeland Security Committee’s intelligence subcommittee, said DHS’ Intelligence and Analysis Office (OIA) needs to improve its relationships with and understanding of the needs of state and local authorities to make its fusion center initiative successful. Congress has designated DHS as the lead agency for coordinating federal participation in local- and state-owned and operated fusion centers nationwide.
“I’m not convinced DHS gets the point about state and local participation,” she said in her prepared statement.
Harman drew on critiques from a DHS-commissioned report released last month by CENTRA Technologies, a consulting firm, that examined progress being made with the initiative and suggested ways information sharing among DHS and state and local authorities could be improved. Recommendations in the report included establishing:
• An employee or group of employees who will serve as focal point for all inquiries from state and local authorities. • A planning process for producing intelligence products that specifically address the needs of state and local officials. • An online, open-source training program for state and local officials. • A permanent leadership council of senior DHS officials to bolster the department’s administrative and logistical efforts. • Performance metrics and feedback collection. • A long-term plan for integrating DHS components and other intelligence agencies into the fusion center efforts.
Harman said she hoped the report marked the beginning of a relationship between DHS and state and local authorities that would include finalized baseline capabilities for fusion centers partially determined by states and localities and a clearly defined role for DHS in the centers.
“These reforms are critical, and as chair of the House Homeland Security Subcommittee on Intelligence, I am reluctant to support any new funding for the department’s fusion center initiative until DHS adopts them,” she said in her prepared statement.
The department has more than 20 representatives at fusion centers and has committed to having 35 employees deployed to them by the end of the fiscal year. FBI officials already work in almost all centers.
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