6 U.S.C. § 124h — Department of Homeland Security State, Local, and Regional Fusion Center Initiative

(a) Establishment. The Secretary must establish the Department of Homeland Security State, Local, and Regional Fusion Center Initiative. Doing this requires consulting with the program manager of the information sharing environment created under section 485 of this title, the Attorney General, the Department's Privacy Officer, the Department's Officer for Civil Rights and Civil Liberties, and the Privacy and Civil Liberties Oversight Board created under section 2000ee of title 42. The goal is to build partnerships with state, local, and regional "fusion centers." (b) Department support and coordination. Working through the Initiative, and coordinating with the leaders of participating fusion centers and with each state's Homeland Security Advisor, the Secretary must: give operational and intelligence advice and help to fusion centers; support folding fusion centers into the information sharing environment; run tabletop and live training exercises to check how well fusion center networks work with the Department; coordinate with other relevant federal homeland-security agencies; give fusion centers analytic and reporting advice and help; review the homeland security, terrorism, and weapons of mass destruction information fusion centers gather, and fold it into the Department's own information where appropriate; give fusion centers management assistance; act as a point of contact to ensure information gets disseminated; help fusion centers and the Department communicate and coordinate closely; give fusion centers expertise on Department resources and operations; train fusion centers and encourage them to join the Department's terrorism threat exercises; and carry out any other duties the Secretary decides are appropriate. (c) Personnel assignment. The Under Secretary for Intelligence and Analysis must, to the maximum extent practicable, assign Department officers and intelligence analysts to work at participating fusion centers. These staff may come from: the Office of Intelligence and Analysis; the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency; the Transportation Security Administration; U.S. Customs and Border Protection; U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement; the U.S. Coast Guard; or other Department components the Secretary names — with the relevant component head and the fusion center's leaders involved. The Secretary must develop qualifying criteria for a fusion center to receive assigned staff. Those criteria may look at whether the center: focuses broadly on counterterrorism throughout its structure; has enough trained personnel for a broad counterterrorism mission; can access relevant law enforcement, emergency response, private sector, open source, and national security data, and can share and use that data lawfully; is adequately funded by its state or local government; and fits the mission of the Department component sending staff. Before being assigned, an officer or analyst must first complete: intelligence analysis or information-sharing training using an intelligence-led policing curriculum consistent with standard Department training programs and with the Criminal Intelligence Systems Operating Policies (part 23 of title 28, Code of Federal Regulations); privacy and civil liberties training developed with the Department's Privacy Officer and Officer for Civil Rights and Civil Liberties, in consultation with the Privacy and Civil Liberties Oversight Board; and any other training the Under Secretary prescribes. When deciding who to assign, the Under Secretary must also weigh whether the person already knows the state, locality, or region — for example, whether they've previously worked there, or worked with intelligence or law enforcement officials from there. The Under Secretary must ensure each assigned officer or analyst has the appropriate security clearance, and may request that clearance processing be expedited, using available funds. Each assigned person must also satisfy any other qualifications the Under Secretary prescribes. (d) Responsibilities. An officer or analyst assigned to a fusion center must: help state, local, and tribal law enforcement agencies, other emergency response providers, and fusion center personnel use covered information to develop an accurate threat picture; review homeland-security-relevant information from state, local, and tribal agencies; create intelligence and other information products from that information and other homeland security-relevant Department information; and assist in disseminating those products — as coordinated by the Under Secretary — to state, local, and tribal agencies, other fusion centers, and appropriate federal agencies. (e) Border intelligence priority. The Secretary must make it a priority to assign Customs and Border Protection, Immigration and Customs Enforcement, and Coast Guard staff to fusion centers in jurisdictions along land or maritime borders, to enhance border integrity and security by helping identify, investigate, and interdict threats. Staff assigned to those border-area fusion centers must, as a primary responsibility, create border intelligence products that: help state, local, and tribal law enforcement agencies deploy resources most efficiently to detect and interdict terrorists, weapons of mass destruction, and related contraband at the border; promote more consistent, timely information sharing among border-area jurisdictions; and enhance the Department's situational awareness of terrorism threats at or involving the border. (f) Database access. To fulfill the responsibilities described in subsection (d), each assigned officer or analyst must have appropriate access to all relevant federal databases and information systems, consistent with the policies established for the information sharing environment. (g) Consumer feedback. The Secretary must create a voluntary mechanism for state, local, or tribal law enforcement officers or other emergency response providers who consume fusion center intelligence products to give the Department feedback on the products' quality and utility. Starting one year after August 3, 2007, and annually after that, the Secretary must submit a report to Congress's Homeland Security committees describing that feedback and how the Department has adjusted its production of intelligence products in response. (h) Rule of construction. This section supplements, but does not take away, the authorities already granted under section 121(d) of this title. Also, nothing in this section requires any state, local, or regional government or entity to accept the assignment of Department officers or intelligence analysts into its fusion center — participation stays voluntary. (i) Guidelines. The Secretary, consulting with the Attorney General, must establish guidelines for fusion centers created and run by state and local governments. Under these guidelines, a fusion center must: collaboratively develop a mission statement, goals, performance measures, and effectiveness measures; create a representative governance structure that includes law enforcement officers, other emergency response providers, and, as appropriate, the private sector; create a collaborative environment for sharing intelligence and information among federal, state, local, and tribal agencies, the private sector, and the public, consistent with the information sharing environment's policies; leverage available public and private sector databases, systems, and networks lawfully to maximize information sharing; develop, publish, and adhere to a privacy and civil liberties policy consistent with federal, state, and local law; provide privacy and civil liberties training for all state, local, tribal, and private-sector representatives at the center, coordinating with the Department's Privacy Officer and Officer for Civil Rights and Civil Liberties; ensure appropriate security measures for the facility, data, and personnel; select and train personnel based on the center's needs, mission, goals, and functions; offer a variety of intelligence and information services and products; and incorporate law enforcement officers, other emergency response providers, and, as appropriate, the private sector, into all relevant phases of the intelligence and fusion process — either through full-time representatives or liaison relationships. (j) Fusion center information sharing strategy. Not later than 1 year after March 2, 2020, and at least every 5 years after that, the Secretary must develop or update a strategy for Department engagement with fusion centers. This strategy must be developed in consultation with the heads of the Department's intelligence units, the Chief Privacy Officer, the Officer for Civil Rights and Civil Liberties, fusion center officials, officers designated as Homeland Security Advisors, and other relevant agency heads. It must include: specific goals and objectives for sharing information and engaging with fusion centers — through direct deployment of Department personnel, through Department information sharing systems like the Homeland Security Information Network and the Homeland Secure Data Network (or successor systems), and through any additional means; the performance metrics used to measure success in achieving those goals; and a 5-year plan for continued engagement with fusion centers. (k) Definitions. This section defines five terms. A "fusion center" is a collaborative effort of 2 or more federal, state, local, or tribal government agencies that combines resources, expertise, or information to maximize the ability to detect, prevent, investigate, apprehend, and respond to criminal or terrorist activity. The "information sharing environment" is the one established under section 485 of this title. An "intelligence analyst" is an individual who regularly advises, administers, supervises, or performs work in collecting, gathering, analyzing, evaluating, reporting, producing, or disseminating information on political, economic, social, cultural, physical, geographical, scientific, or military conditions, trends, or forces — foreign or domestic — that affect national security. "Intelligence-led policing" means collecting and analyzing information to produce an intelligence product designed to inform law enforcement decision-making at the tactical and strategic levels. "Terrorism information" has the meaning given in section 485 of this title. (l) Authorization of appropriations. Congress authorized $10,000,000 for each fiscal year from 2008 through 2012 to carry out this section — except for subsection (i) — including for hiring officers and intelligence analysts to replace those assigned to fusion centers under this section.