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Fusion Centers
Amendment IV of the Constitution - The right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures, shall not be violated, and no Warrants shall issue, but upon probable cause, supported by Oath or affirmation, and particularly describing the place to be searched, and the persons or things to be seized.
Principle of Collectivism
A fusion center is defined as a “collaborative effort of two or more agencies that provide resources, expertise, and information to the center with the goal of maximizing their ability to detect, prevent, investigate, and respond to criminal and terrorist activity.” Among the primary focuses of fusion centers are the intelligence and fusion processes, through which information is collected, integrated, evaluated, analyzed, and disseminated. Nontraditional collectors of intelligence, such as public safety entities and private sector organizations, possess important information (e.g., risk assessments and suspicious activity reports) that can be “fused” with law enforcement data to provide meaningful information and intelligence about threats and criminal activity. It is recommended that the fusion of public safety and private sector information with law enforcement data be virtual through networking and utilizing a search function. Examples of the types of information incorporated into these processes are threat assessments and information related to public safety, law enforcement, public health, social services, and public works.
Data fusion involves the exchange of information from different sources—including law enforcement, public safety, and the
private sector—and, with analysis, can result in meaningful and actionable intelligence and information. The fusion process turns this information and intelligence into actionable knowledge. Fusion also allows for relentless reevaluation of existing data in context with new data in order to provide constant updates. The public safety and private sector components are integral in the fusion process because they provide fusion centers with crime-related information, including risk and threat assessments, and subject-matter experts who can aid in threat identification.
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NEW POSTING
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RFID DATA
SNIFFED
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LAS VEGAS — It’s one of the most hostile hacker environments in the country –- the DefCon hacker conference held every summer in Las Vegas.
But despite the fact that attendees know they should take precautions to protect their data, federal agents at the conference got a scare on Friday when they were told they might have been caught in the sights of an RFID reader.
The reader, connected to a web camera, sniffed data from RFID-enabled ID cards and other documents carried by attendees in pockets and backpacks as they passed a table where the equipment was stationed in full view.
It was part of a security-awareness project set up by a group of security researchers and consultants to highlight privacy issues around RFID. When the reader caught an RFID chip in its sights — embedded in a company or government agency access card, for example — it grabbed data from the card, and the camera snapped the card holder’s picture.
This year they planned to add data collected from the RFID reader and camera (below) — to raise awareness about a privacy threat that’s becoming increasingly prevalent as RFID chips are embedded into credit cards, employee access cards, state driver’s licenses, passports and other documents.
You have probably heard of Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) technology in many different contexts. RFID describes a broad range of technologies that allow the identification and tracking of physical items using radio waves, and have far-reaching implications for processes as wide-ranging as factories, hospitals, airports, battlefields and retail sales.
 RFID The Right Frequency for Government IBM
The integration of RFID technology with other information technology makes a paradigm shift now possible. RFID technology can track patient safety by error-proofing processes for medication, as well as providing global visibility of worldwide shipments, which will improve the flow of commerce and the security of nations. The future role of RFID will dramatically increase its impact over that of its predecessors.
The potential of RFID is indeed great. The supply chain management industry refers to the “three V’s of RFID”: visibility, velocity, and value. RFID promises to increase visibility to make earlier and better decisions and actions possible. Second, RFID will enable the flow of goods and information to be accelerated, with a higher certainty of information for decision making. Finally, RFID will enable important enhancement of value, often in new ways. As described by Professor Wyld, RFID offers the potential to provide increased safety for patients, faster movement of automobiles from manufacturer to dealer, and greater national security.
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NEW POSTING
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TRUCK TEXTING
BAN ENFORCEMENT
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WASHINGTON — The Transportation Department said Tuesday it is prohibiting truck and bus drivers from sending text messages on hand-held devices while operating commercial vehicles.
The prohibition, which applies to drivers of interstate buses and trucks over 10,000 pounds, is effective immediately, the department said in a statement. Truck and bus drivers who text while driving commercial vehicles may be subject to civil or criminal penalties of up to $2,750, the department said.
LaHood said enforcing restrictions on texting and cell phone use by drivers will be difficult. He urged the wireless industry to work with public officials to come up with a solution.
The Transportation Department and safety advocates have also joined forces to create FocusDriven, an organization to campaign against cell phone use or texting on handheld computers while driving.
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FUSION CENTER
CONFERENCE
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The next National Fusion Center Conference will be held Feb 23-25, 2010 in New Orleans, LA.
The 2010 agenda confirms everything we've been talking about - information sharing, funding, partnering with the private sector, etc.
Schedule of Events
The conference agenda will provide attendees with an opportunity to learn more about issues directly affecting fusion centers. Featuring both plenary and breakout sessions, the conference will cover a variety of topics, including:
- Funding and Sustainment
- Baseline Capabilities
- Suspicious Activity Reporting Projects
- Threats/Alerts/Warnings
- Developing an Intelligence Capability
- Federal Initiatives
- Security and Privacy Issues
- Sharing of Best Practices and Success Stories
- Protecting Sensitive Case Material
- Fusion Center Resources
- Fusion Center Training and Technical Assistance
- National Intelligence Information Sharing Tools
- Integration Efforts
- And more!
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NEW POSTING
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FUSION CENTER
NAPOLITONO SPEECH
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I think to do that requires us at the federal level in our organizational strategy to make clear that Fusion Centers are not just about isolated information-sharing, but they really are about taking information gathered at the state and local level and putting it into an analytical product that can be used at the federal level and that the federal law enforcement agencies are sharing the reverse at the state and local as much as can be done.
And second is that the partnerships involved in Fusion Centers need to be looked at very, very broadly. Who is in your Fusion Center? Do you have representatives from the relevant federal authorities in your locality? Do you have representation from your state, from your local police departments, tribal, if you are in an area of the country that has tribes? In short, are the relevant players all there and co-located in the right way? And are those players undergoing some things that will give them some commonality, training, exercising, things of that sort, so that a building filled with individuals becomes a real active and vibrant center for thinking, analysis, exchange of information?
Third, have we made sure that through the Fusion Centers, we have created kind of seamless network of information-sharing not just vertically state to Fed, local to state to Fed, but also horizontally across the country at different levels, and have we taken into account all that that sharing can entail?
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FUSION CENTER
CORWIN TESTIMONY
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Transcript of Testimony by Captain Michael Corwin
Transcript of KC Police Capt. Michael Corwin's testimony at the August 31, 2009 Missouri House Interim Committee on State Intelligence Analysis Oversight, where public input was sought on the MIAC report (Missouri Information Analysis Center - one of Missouri's federally funded fusion centers).
OK-SAFE's Executive Director, Amanda Teegarden, gave testimony to the committee and presented copies of OK-SAFE's power point on "Fusion Centers, or I Spy for the Intelligence Enterprise"
Of particular interest in Corwin's statement is the following comment, "The era of intelligence-led policing is upon us."
Sounds like a military operation...
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FUSION CENTER
CORWIN TESTIMONY
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The Departments of Defense (DoD) and Homeland Security (DHS) today announced an initiative to grant select state and major urban area fusion center personnel access to classified terrorism-related information residing in DoD’s classified network.
Under this initiative, select fusion center personnel with a federal security clearance will be able to access specific terrorism-related information resident on the DoD Secret Internet Protocol Router Network (SIPRNet)—a secure network used to send classified data. This classified data will be accessed via DHS’ Homeland Security Data Network (HSDN). DHS will be responsible for ensuring that proper security procedures are followed.
“With this action, DoD continues its work in supporting states and localities who are leading our efforts to secure the nation from domestic terrorism attacks, said Assistant Secretary of Defense for Homeland Defense and Americas’ Security Affairs Paul N. Stockton. “We look forward to exploring other opportunities where DoD can help our state and local partners effectively defeat terrorism.” _______________________________________________________________________________________________________
"What we in America call terrorists are really groups of people that reject the international system..." -- Henry Kissinger, speaking at a conference hosted by AKbank in Istanbul Turkey on May 31, 2007
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TULSA BEACON
PRIVACY CONCERN
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The director of the Oklahoma State Bureau of Investigation said there is a constant balancing act between the basic rights of Americans and the need to investigate and prevent crime.
A controversial aspect to 21st Century crime fighting is the development of “fusion centers” across the country.
In fact, the OSBI created such a center in its headquarters in Oklahoma City.
A fusion center is defined as a “collaborative effort of two or more agencies that provide resources, expertise, and information to the center with the goal of maximizing their ability to detect, prevent, investigate, and respond to criminal and terrorist activity.” Among the primary focuses of fusion centers are the intelligence and fusion processes, through which information is
collected, integrated, evaluated, analyzed and disseminated.
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INTELLIGENCE
DOCUMENTS
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