Describe some pros and cons related to how State and Local Law Enforcement and security agencies utilize intelligence fusion centers for homeland security within their jurisdictions.
Discussion: Describe some pros and cons related to how State and Local Law Enforcement and security agencies utilize intelligence fusion centers for homeland security within their jurisdictions. Do you think state and local police should be involved in domestic intelligence operations as it relates to citizens within their jurisdiction? Do you think that the FBI or the Department of Homeland Security should be the primary provider of Federal level domestic intelligence to state and local agencies?
Response #1 (Daley/ Kevin): Good evening class,
Some of the pros that state and local law enforcement and security agencies encounter while utilizing fusion centers are the amount of information they receive and share through those fusion centers. When the information comes to the fusion center from local entities it allows the staff at fusion centers to collaborate and decipher information to ensure that it is analyzed correctly before setting up missions. While this is a good thing, I do believe that a con would be the amount of time that it would take to apprehend dangerous individuals because of all the steps of sharing and analyzing of information that happens.
I do believe that local agencies should be involved with intelligence operations within their jurisdiction. I believe this, because they are the first line of defense when it comes to their community and jurisdiction and would easily be able to spot an outsider coming into their area. This allows the information to be deciphered and analyzed quickly before any movement is made when it comes to protecting the local population and sharing information that was found or given to them to incriminate other individuals at a much higher level in the organized crime world.
I think that having FBI and homeland security providing assistance to local law enforcement to develop situations and missions based on the information that they have analyzed from the federal side and through the fusion centers where the intelligence subject matter experts are located. This will give the local agency the best chance to solve high level crime organizations and shut down their abilities to cause havoc on the local population.
Kevin
Global Justice Information Sharing Initiative (2008). Baseline Capabilities for State and Major Urban Area Fusion Centers. U.S. Department of Justice. Retrieved from https://www.it.ojp.gov/documents/d/baseline%20capabilities%20for%20state%20and%20major%20urban%20area%20fusion%20centers.pdf
Keithly, D. (2010). Intelligence Fundamentals. Homeland security and intelligence. Logan, K., ed. Santa Barbara, CA: Praeger Security International.
Response #2 (Abby): Class,
I am a firm believer that local operations should be conducted at the local level. If the need for resources exceeds the capabilities that the local jurisdiction has, then resources should be requested. Fusion centers, although a great tool for State and Local law enforcement partners to share information, can get bogged down with potentially irrelevant information to the local jurisdiction. Information overload can happen, and key details can be overlooked. The best way to share important information is building key relationships and whole community approach. As pointed out in prior lessons, this isn’t always the case, for instance the article Dr. Gardner shared in his replies on week 1 regarding the CIA and FBI being worlds apart and operator mentality vs. the intelligence community on the organizational barriers that do not foster an information sharing environment. This could be the case with law enforcement agencies to, but I feel like this is less prevalent because they are on the front lines. Information sharing between these organizations can be the difference between life and death. I believe the stakeholders in this instance are at too much risk to not share information freely between local law enforcement agencies.
Fusion Center Pros:
Enhanced information sharing
Collection Hub for sharing information furthering collaboration.
Getting the right people in the room to analyze the data before being sent out to the masses.
Fusion centers also offer training to enhance local law enforcement efforts.
Cons:
Privacy issues – This is a huge one with the domestic intelligence field. Collecting information on U.S. persons requires very stringent policies to ensure those civil liberties are not violated.
Ensuring fusion centers are receiving accurate data to disperse – This could cause a whirlwind if the source isn’t verified – I also point back to my first con, PRIVACY ISSUES, if the source isn’t valid, then someone’s civil liberties could be violated.
Organizational barriers – everyone has their own rules, procedures and organizational cultures, this can lead to challenges in information sharing.
Do I believe that the FBI or Department of Homeland Security should be the primary provider of Federal level domestic intelligence to state agencies? I feel like this one is a loaded question. FBI should be the primary provider of domestic intelligence to state agencies due to the nature of collection information on U.S. persons for law enforcement purposes. The Department of Homeland Security only has certain “arenas” in which they can conduct business, where the FBI should be getting the proper “approval stamp” for probable cause to protect citizens 4th Amendment rights. The Department of Homeland Security is a collective of organizations, some law enforcement entities, such as ICE or CBP also do not possess the proper authority to collect intelligence on the U.S. population. DHS I&A does not possess the proper authority to collect intelligence on U.S. persons either, they receive their information from law enforcement agencies (such as the FBI) and put the information together. The 4th Amendment makes things very tricky on conducting intelligence operations on U.S. persons – there has to absolutely be probable cause associated and it has to stand up in court to charge the bad guys.
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