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Monterey CA - March 2012

CHDS Supports Fusion Center Development

Fusion center experts gathered at CHDS March 13-16. From left, Pat Miller, CHDS alumnus; Chuck Eaneff, CHDS alumnus; Ray Guidetti, CHDS alumnus; and, Doug Keyer, Vice President of the National Fusion Center Association; and, Scott McAllister, an ELP graduate and DHS Deputy Undersecretary, State and Local Programs Office, Intelligence and Analysis

The Center of Homeland Defense and Security continued its role in furthering the mission of fusion centers with two workshops in March.

About 20 fusion center personnel convened on the Naval Postgraduate School campus March 13-14 to discuss developing Centers of Analytical Excellence (CoAE). That was followed March 15-16 with the National Fusion Liaison Officer Program Workshop that drew 60 participants to the NPS campus.

The events follow previous fusion center programs as CHDS has conducted four Fusion Center Leaders Program (FCLP) courses since 2010 and will convene its fifth FCLP in June 2012.

Fusion centers are owned and operated by state and local governments and convene federal, state and local representatives from law enforcement as well as the fire service, public health and other disciplines to gather, analyze, and share potential terrorism and crime information.

"The mission shifts, but it is always multi-level and multi-jurisdictional," said Scott McAllister, Deputy Undersecretary, State and Local Programs Office, DHS Intelligence and Analysis and a graduate of the CHDS Executive Leaders Program.

With Centers of Analytical Excellence, the idea is to enable certain fusion centers to specialize in a certain themes and strengths. For example, a fusion center in a border state may have specialized knowledge about border security issues it could share analysis with other fusion centers should the need arise. The same would be true with comparable topics such as counter-terrorism, gun running, drugs or gangs, among others.

"The fusion center network is now at a point of maturation that we need to elevate the analytical function within fusion centers to the point of excellence," said Douglas Keyer, Vice President of the National Fusion Center Association (NFCA) and a captain with the New York State Police.

Discussions centered on what security topics should be specialized, what constitutes a Center of Analytic Excellence, and what body would accredit such a designation.

"Centers of Analytical Excellence make a significant contribution to fusion center work and the homeland security enterprise," said CHDS alumni Chuck Eaneff, who facilitated the workshop on behalf of the NFCA. "It means they meet a sort of minimum requirement for analytic excellence."

"There are various ways to organize intelligence disciplines and certify analysts– no small task – and the Centers of Analytical Excellence workshop led by the National Fusion Center Association is doing an admirable job of taking that on," said Robert Simeral of the CHDS faculty, who worked with the NFCA in organizing the event.

The National Fusion Liaison Officer Program Workshop addressed a need for liaison officers who work with fusion centers and the communities served by those centers to ensure information is flowing efficiently for both. Most states have employed these liaisons to great benefit, said Keyer.

Attendees were charged with developing a document highlighting best practices that could be replicated in other states.

"It goes to the crux of what fusion centers are about – collaboration with a wide range of people to make communities safer," said Pat Miller, CHDS advisor.

Such liaisons are a way to expand the reach of fusion center expertise into communities, said Ray Guidetti of the New Jersey State Police, and a master’s degree graduate of CHDS.

"The value-add is that in these times of constrained budgets and limited resources the relationship between the local police department, the local fire department or the private sector and fusion centers benefits from force-multiplication of our resources."

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