What Are Fusion Centers and How Are These a Part of Homeland Security - Research Paper Example

Research Paper: What are "fusion centers" and how are these a part of homeland security? Are they effective? Tutor name: Date due: Introduction Fusion centers are the joint efforts of the local state and federal agencies to offer their resources, special skills, and share information with the centers so as to be able to maximize their capableness of detecting, avoiding, investigating, and taking necessary measures to combat terrorism and other unlawful activities (Masse and Rollins, 2008). Numerous fusion centers were jointly brought to existence between the year 2003 and 2007. This move of establishing fusion centers was prompted by the 9/11 attack in 2001. The attack made it clear that there was a need to find ways that will help in preventing future terrorist attacks. This goal can only be achieved successfully when the local law enforcement agencies work together with the federal intelligent agencies by sharing any threat information. This was clearly stressed in the 9/11 commission report. Former US president George, W. Bush on August 3, 2007 signed the 9/11 Commission Act of 2007. With reference to the 9/11 Commission Act, the department of homeland security should have formal discussions with program directors of information sharing context and the attorney general so as to create a state, local, and regional fusion centers initiates (Abbott and Hetzel,2010). The centers are made up of representatives from local law enforcement, state and federal agencies. Federal intelligence officers also form part of the centers. When the centers get any threat information from the federal government, it is their task to analyze the information, ensure the information is disseminated to the local agencies then gather inside information they have received, leads given and the suspicious activity reporting by the public and also local agencies. How fusion centers are a part of homeland security The idea of fusion has sprung up as the most important process to enhance the ability of sharing information that assists in providing homeland security and also sharing of any information that helps in knowing of any criminal activities taking place and also sharing of intelligence (Abbott and Hetzel, 2010). The fusion process involves a comprehensive process of controlling the flow of any threat information and intelligence through different levels and sectors of the private agencies and the government. After receiving information from various sources, that is; the public, law enforcement agencies, and the private sector agencies; the information is then analyzed and afterwards turned into applicable knowledge. Fusion centers do not merge all federal databases that reveal personally recognizable information with databases of the state, local and tribal agencies into one single system (Masse and Rollins, 2008). This is due to privacy issues that arise when that is done. Instead, when a threat is noted, criminal activities suspected or public safety is threatened, that is when fusion centers can be able to gather information from the different sources and be able to analyze the information they received and afterwards give results of what they found and how to handle the situation. The databases provided by the different sources depend on the threat that is at hand. Fusion centers play a vital role in enhancing the sharing of threat information by the federal government together with the state, local, tribal and territorial partners. According to Uda (2009) this is very crucial since United States faces threats on their security which are generated outside its borders or within the nation (p. 10). Prominent urban areas and states continue to create state and local fusion centers; many states have one or more fusion centers. Cities and counties are also establishing fusion centers, and the number is expected to rise. The established fusion centers adhere to political and legal restrictions that are observed in their given jurisdiction. The state and local fusion centers (SLFCs) act as focal points of sharing and disseminating of threat information in their respective states. Since February 2009, 58 fusion centers were established in the United States, 43 amongst them were fully operational while 15 were not yet completely developed. In 34 of the established fusion centers, intelligence federal officers worked jointly with their local agencies. The importance of fusion centers and its role of sharing threat information among local, state and federal agencies have been very evident in various circumstances. Two days before the 9/11 dreadful attack, Ziad Jarrah was pulled over by an officer of the Maryland State. He was however allowed to go by the trooper since he did not identify him as a national threat yet he was watchlisted by the CIA (Uda, 2009). If this information was shared by the CIA, and the trooper or FBI knew of the people in that list then, Ziad would have been arrested and maybe the attack would have been prevented. Other occasions where sharing of information was of great importance include: the arrest of Timothy McVeigh for bombing a federal building of Alfred P. Murrah. He was caught by a trooper of Oklahoma State when he was driving a car with no license plate. Another incident was that of Eric Robert Rudolph, who participated in bombing of the Olympic park. He got arrested by local police officer of North Carolina because of other charges. Despite the fact that fusion centers are governed by the state and also the local government; federal governments provide the centers with funds and people with exceptional skills and knowledge in dealing with terrorism and other criminal activities (Uda, 2009). It involves the Department of Homeland Security that is State Homeland Security Grant Program and The Urban Area Security Initiative. The US department of homeland security has the duty of addressing five major issues to ensure the security of its citizens. This includes: ensuring that its citizens are protected from terrorists attack, ensuring that the US border is very secure by making sure that illegal immigrants are not able to cross the borders, promoting of legal immigration by deporting people who entered the country illegally and also taking stern actions on employees who provide jobs for illegal workers, and lastly to meliorate their preparedness to, how they deal with and comeback from national disasters (Abbott and Hetzel, 2010). Its major role is to ensure that American citizens are protected from terrorist’s threats. To make this possible and also effectively deal with other criminal activities, the department of homeland security is diligently working in creating a powerful partnership with the state and the local fusion centers (SLFCs). These partnerships allow the homeland security to effectively perform its goals and also to support the different actions taken by state and local fusion centers in counter-terrorism and also dealing with other forms of criminal activities. The improvements and guidelines for fusion centers were divided into three major parts. These include The Law Enforcement Intelligence, Private Sectors and also Public Safety (Masse and Rollins, 2008). These guidelines are used in homeland security; in ensuring the safety of all American citizens as well as providing effective measures to deal with all sought of criminal activities. Are fusion centers effective? The question which majority of Americans citizens asks is whether or not these fusion centers are effective. There are several fusion centers that have already been established. These fusion centers bring about serious issues concerning the privacy of American citizens. Another issue that brings about debate is if data fusion is an effective way of combating terrorism and whether using state money to fund the centers is a wise move. Federal, state and also local agencies continue with increment of investments for the fusion centers without finding out if they are effectively performing their duties. Fusion centers are considered not to be effective in some degree because of the various problems that they present. The problems are brought about by; lines of authority that are ambiguous, the involvement of private sectors in centers, military taking part in the activities of the fusion centers, data fusion and too much secrecy in the centers (Masse and Rollins, 2008). Fusion centers are caught in areas of ambiguity between the states and the federal government. This makes policy and regulations not to be clear and, therefore, can be easily manipulated. There is no certainty to who is in charge of fusion centers. Since fusion centers have representatives from federal, local and state agencies, and there is still uncertainty of who controls the centers may lead them to start exercising “Policy Shopping." This is where the managers choose overlying the set of laws making them able to gather and make use of the personal information they acquire in whichever way they please and at the same time not paying any attention to laws that protect people’s privacy acts of open-records together with civil liability. Military involvement with fusion centers goes against the basic principles of liberty. The participation of military personnel is very harmful especially when the managers exaggerate the threats to terrorism so as to scare citizens to make them neglect than civil rights. The process of data fusion in fusion centers is equal to data mining. According to the guidelines of the justice department in 2006, fusion centers are encouraged to gather data from “Nontraditional Sources”. This includes the private sector institutions and public safety and merging it with federal intelligence so as to be able to detect, identify, avoid and monitor all kinds of criminal and also terrorist activity. Data mining has negative effects on fusion centers. It may cause many people to be marked and observed, their lives to be scrutinized and for them to be listed in watch lists. They can also be arrested and investigation to completely ruin their lives. Time and money are wasted by chasing leads that lead them nowhere and also in investments. The participation of the private sector also undermines the effectiveness of fusion centers in performing their roles. First it is not an excellent idea to provide private companies with classified materials and delicate law enforcement information. This is because private sectors are bound to misuse the classified materials to their advantage. The workers of the partnership that are in partnership with fusion could be told to spy on their fellow workers, neighbors and also clients. When private sectors to all classified and private information from the fusion centers, it may lead to the firing of innocent people who may be listed on watch list, people can also be unfairly evicted from their houses and also not granted loans. The private organizations can also take advantage of the fact that they have classified information and use it to get ahead of their business competitions. Conclusion Despite the fact that fusion centers are established so as to prevent future terrorists attacks and enhance homeland security, its establishment has brought with it negative effects. United States being a democratic country, fusion centers have to gather and share intelligence information with utmost care, especially information that concerns us citizens and other non-citizens living in America. This is because when a lot of information about someone is gathered, it can be used to be able to know how they conduct their daily lives, and the security agencies use that information in determining how suspicious someone is. When the fusion centers do not have correct legal restrictions, it threatens to undermine the basic American values and also converting the values into wasteful and misled bureaucracy which end up acting like the US federal security before the 9/11 attack. This in turn makes the centers not be able effectively to achieve their goals of preventing terrorist attacks and other criminal activities. References Abbott, E. B, Hetzel. O.J. (2010). Homeland Security and Emergency Management; A Legal Guide State and Local Governments. American Bar Association. Homeland Security. (n.d.). Fusion Centers Support of National Strategies and Guidance. Retrieved June 19, 2014, from http://www.dhs.gov/topic/fusion-centers-support-national-strategies-and-guidance Masse, T., & Rollins, J (2008). Information and Intelligence (Including Terrorism) Fusion Centers. Nova Publishers. Uda, T. R (2009). Combating Terrorist in the USA. Iuniverse. Read More