I 

114TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION H. R. 3503 

To require an assessment of fusion center personnel needs, and for other 

purposes. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

SEPTEMBER 11, 2015 

Ms. MCSALLY (for herself, Mr. MCCAUL, Mr. KING of New York, Mr. 

LOUDERMILK, and Mr. BARLETTA) introduced the following bill; which 

was referred to the Committee on Homeland Security 

A BILL 

To require an assessment of fusion center personnel needs, 

and for other purposes. 

1 Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa2 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 

3 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 

4 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Department of Home5 land Security Support to Fusion Centers Act of 2015’’. 

6 SEC. 2. FUSION CENTER PERSONNEL NEEDS ASSESSMENT. 

7 (a) IN GENERAL.—Not later than 120 days after the 

8 date of the enactment of this Act, the Under Secretary 

9 of Intelligence and Analysis of the Department of Home10 land Security, in coordination with the appropriate compoVerDate Sep 11 2014 03:40 Sep 15, 2015 Jkt 049200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H3503.IH H3503

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1 nents and offices of the Department and the Homeland 

2 Security Advisors of the States, shall, in consultation with 

3 the principal officials of the fusion centers in the National 

4 Network of Fusion Centers, conduct a needs assessment 

5 of Department personnel assigned to fusion centers pursu6 ant to subsection (c) of section 210A of the Homeland 

7 Security Act of 2002 (6 U.S.C. 124h), including an assess8 ment of whether deploying additional Department per9 sonnel to such fusion centers would enhance the Depart10 ment’s mission under section 101(b) of such Act and the 

11 National Network of Fusion Centers. The assessment re12 quired under this subsection shall include the following: 

13 (1) Information on the current deployment of 

14 the Department’s personnel to each fusion center. 

15 (2) Information on the roles and responsibilities 

16 of the Office of Intelligence and Analysis’ intel17 ligence officers, intelligence analysts, senior reports 

18 officers, reports officers, and regional directors de19 ployed to fusion centers. 

20 (3) Information on Federal resources, in addi21 tion to personnel, provided to each fusion center. 

22 (4) An assessment of whether deploying addi23 tional personnel, as described in paragraph (2), 

24 would enhance intelligence and information sharing 


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1 between the Department and Federal, State, local, 

2 tribal, and territorial partners. 

3 (5) An assessment of fusion centers located in 

4 jurisdictions along land and maritime borders of the 

5 United States, and the degree to which deploying 

6 personnel, as appropriate, from the U.S. Customs 

7 and Border Protection, U.S. Immigration and Cus8 toms Enforcement, and the Coast Guard to such fu9 sion centers would enhance the integrity and secu10 rity at such borders by helping Federal, State, local, 

11 and tribal law enforcement authorities to identify, 

12 investigate, and interdict persons, weapons, and re13 lated contraband that pose a threat to homeland se14 curity. 

15 (6) An assessment of fusion centers located in 

16 jurisdictions with large and medium hub airports, 

17 and the degree to which deploying, as appropriate, 

18 personnel from the Transportation Security Admin19 istration to such fusion centers would enhance the 

20 integrity and security of aviation security. 

21 (b) REPORT.—Not later than 60 days after the com22 pletion of the assessment required under subsection (a), 

23 the Under Secretary of Intelligence and Analysis of the 

24 Department of Homeland Security, in coordination with 

25 the appropriate components and offices of the Department 


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1 of Homeland Security shall submit to the Committee on 

2 Homeland Security of the House of Representatives and 

3 the Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental 

4 Affairs of the Senate such assessment, together with a re5 port on the following: 

6 (1) The number of personnel assigned to fusion 

7 centers from the Office of Intelligence and Analysis 

8 of the Department of Homeland Security, including 

9 a breakdown of the types of positions assigned and 

10 the methodology for determining the fusion centers 

11 to which such personnel are assigned. 

12 (2) The number of personnel assigned to the 

13 National Network of Fusion Centers from compo14 nents and offices of the Department of Homeland 

15 Security and the methodology for determining the 

16 fusion centers to which such personnel are assigned. 

17 (3) An implementation plan for determining 

18 how the Department’s personnel resources will be al19 located to fusion centers in the future. 

20 SEC. 3. PROGRAM FOR STATE AND LOCAL ANALYST CLEAR21 ANCES. 

22 (a) IN GENERAL.—The Under Secretary of Intel23 ligence and Analysis of the Department of Homeland Se24 curity, in collaboration with the Chief Security Officer of 

25 the Department, shall establish a program to provide eligiVerDate Sep 11 2014 03:40 Sep 15, 2015 Jkt 049200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H3503.IH H3503

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1 bility for access to information classified as Top Secret 

2 pursuant to Executive Order 13526 (50 U.S.C. 3161 note) 

3 for State and local analysts located in fusion centers. 

4 (b) REPORT.—Not later than two years after the es5 tablishment of the program required under subsection (a), 

6 the Under Secretary of Intelligence and Analysis of the 

7 Department of Homeland Security shall submit to the 

8 Committee on Homeland Security of the House of Rep9 resentatives and the Committee on Homeland Security 

10 and Governmental Affairs of the Senate a report on the 

11 following: 

12 (1) The effects of such program on the Depart13 ment’s ability to sponsor such Top Secret clearances 

14 for State and local analysts located in designated fu15 sion centers. 

16 (2) The effects of such program on enhancing 

17 information sharing with State, local, tribal, and ter18 ritorial partners. 

19 (3) The cost for providing additional training 

20 and providing such Top Secret clearances for State 

21 and local analysts. 

22 (4) The effect of such program on increasing 

23 the situational awareness of key stakeholders of the 

24 fusion centers, including Federal, State, local, tribal, 


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1 and territorial law enforcement and emergency re2 sponse providers. 

3 SEC. 4. DEFINITIONS. 

4 In this Act: 

5 (1) FUSION CENTER.—The term ‘‘fusion cen6 ter’’ has the meaning given such term in subsection 

7 (j) of section 210A of the Homeland Security Act of 

8 2002 (6 U.S.C. 124h). 

9 (2) NATIONAL NETWORK OF FUSION CEN10 TERS.—The term ‘‘National Network of Fusion Cen11 ters’’ means a decentralized arrangement of fusion 

12 centers intended to enhance individual State and 

13 urban area fusion centers’ ability to leverage the ca14 pabilities and expertise of all such fusion centers for 

15 the purpose of enhancing analysis and homeland se16 curity information sharing nationally. 

Æ 


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