counterterrorism

As President of the National Fusion Center Association, I want to tell the nation about the hard work that our fusion centers do every day to protect citizens across the United States. Usually in the background, the dedicated men and women who work in fusion centers are always ready to surge to support a crisis. Last week reminded us all of the continued threats and need for fusion centers.

In the aftermath of the 9/11 attacks, our government not only needed to improve its counterterrorism intelligence, but also share information better, faster, and smarter. We found that our national security relies on our ability to share the right information, with the right people, at the right time – and we must “enlist all of our intelligence, law enforcement, and homeland security capabilities,” as the National Security Strategy states.

Our state and major urban area-led fusion centers have been and continue to be a critical component of our nation’s information sharing capabilities. By design, the national network of fusion centers are a direct reflection of our federated democracy and the sovereignty of state and local governments.

This morning, I testified before the U.S. House of Representatives Committee on Homeland Security’s Subcommittee on Oversight, Investigations, and Management. The hearing was titled “Lessons from Fort Hood: Improving Our Ability to Connect the Dots.”

I testified from my perspective as an information technologist and to present the mission of the PM-ISE, and I appreciated the opportunity to highlight important successes and challenges in information sharing.

Last year, as we commemorated the 10^th anniversary of the tragic events of September 11, 2001, we looked back and examined the work we had done to improve responsible information sharing of counterterrorism information and the progress we had made.

This week, the PM-ISE adds two new white papers to our Document Library.

The PM-ISE proudly releases its 2012 ISE Annual Report to the Congress. The Annual Report serves as a single source for the year’s most valuable information on the accomplishments of our mission partners across federal, state, local, and tribal governments, the private sector, and internationally.