I 

114TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION H. R. 3598 

To amend the Homeland Security Act of 2002 to enhance the partnership 

between the Department of Homeland Security and the National Network 

of Fusion Centers, and for other purposes. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

SEPTEMBER 24, 2015 

Mr. BARLETTA (for himself and Mr. KING of New York) introduced the 

following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Homeland Security 

A BILL 

To amend the Homeland Security Act of 2002 to enhance 

the partnership between the Department of Homeland 

Security and the National Network of Fusion Centers, 

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 ‘‘Fusion Center En5 hancement Act of 2015’’. 


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1 SEC. 2. DEPARTMENT OF HOMELAND SECURITY FUSION 

2 CENTER PARTNERSHIP INITIATIVE. 

3 (a) IN GENERAL.—Section 210A of the Homeland 

4 Security Act of 2002 (6 U.S.C. 124h) is amended— 

5 (1) by amending the section heading to read as 

6 follows: 

7 ‘‘SEC. 210A. DEPARTMENT OF HOMELAND SECURITY FU8 SION CENTER PARTNERSHIP INITIATIVE.’’; 

9 (2) in subsection (a), by adding at the end the 

10 following new sentence: ‘‘Beginning on the date of 

11 the enactment of the Fusion Center Enhancement 

12 Act of 2015, such Initiative shall be known as the 

13 ‘Department of Homeland Security Fusion Center 

14 Partnership Initiative’.’’; 

15 (3) by amending subsection (b) to read as fol16 lows: 

17 ‘‘(b) INTERAGENCY SUPPORT AND COORDINATION.— 

18 Through the Department of Homeland Security Fusion 

19 Center Partnership Initiative, in coordination with prin20 cipal officials of fusion centers in the National Network 

21 of Fusion Centers and the officers designated as the 

22 Homeland Security Advisors of the States, the Secretary 

23 shall— 

24 ‘‘(1) coordinate with the heads of other Federal 

25 departments and agencies to provide operational and 


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1 intelligence advice and assistance to the National 

2 Network of Fusion Centers; 

3 ‘‘(2) support the integration of fusion centers 

4 into the information sharing environment; 

5 ‘‘(3) support the maturation and sustainment 

6 of the National Network of Fusion Centers; 

7 ‘‘(4) reduce inefficiencies and maximize the ef8 fectiveness of Federal resource support to the Na9 tional Network of Fusion Centers; 

10 ‘‘(5) provide analytic and reporting advice and 

11 assistance to the National Network of Fusion Cen12 ters; 

13 ‘‘(6) review information within the scope of the 

14 information sharing environment, including home15 land security information, terrorism information, 

16 and weapons of mass destruction information, that 

17 is gathered by the National Network of Fusion Cen18 ters and incorporate such information, as appro19 priate, into the Department’s own such information; 

20 ‘‘(7) provide for the effective dissemination of 

21 information within the scope of the information 

22 sharing environment to the National Network of Fu23 sion Centers; 

24 ‘‘(8) facilitate close communication and coordi25 nation between the National Network of Fusion 


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1 Centers and the Department and other Federal de2 partments and agencies; 

3 ‘‘(9) provide the National Network of Fusion 

4 Centers with expertise on Department resources and 

5 operations; 

6 ‘‘(10) coordinate the provision of training and 

7 technical assistance to the National Network of Fu8 sion Centers and encourage such fusion centers to 

9 participate in terrorism threat-related exercises con10 ducted by the Department; 

11 ‘‘(11) ensure, to the greatest extent practicable, 

12 that support for the National Network of Fusion 

13 Centers is included as a national priority in applica14 ble homeland security grant guidance; 

15 ‘‘(12) ensure that each fusion center in the Na16 tional Network of Fusion Centers has a privacy pol17 icy approved by the Chief Privacy Officer of the De18 partment and a civil rights and civil liberties policy 

19 approved by the Officer for Civil Rights and Civil 

20 Liberties of the Department; 

21 ‘‘(13) coordinate the nationwide suspicious ac22 tivity report initiative to ensure information gath23 ered by the National Network of Fusion Centers is 

24 incorporated as appropriate; 


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1 ‘‘(14) lead Department efforts to ensure fusion 

2 centers in the National Network of Fusion Centers 

3 are the primary focal points for the sharing of home4 land security information, terrorism information, 

5 and weapons of mass destruction information with 

6 State and local entities to the greatest extent prac7 ticable; 

8 ‘‘(15) develop and disseminate best practices on 

9 the appropriate levels for staffing at fusion centers 

10 in the National Network of Fusion Centers of quali11 fied representatives from State, local, tribal, and ter12 ritorial law enforcement, fire, emergency medical, 

13 and emergency management services, and public 

14 health disciplines, as well as the private sector; and 

15 ‘‘(16) carry out such other duties as the Sec16 retary determines appropriate.’’; 

17 (4) in subsection (c)— 

18 (A) by striking so much as precedes para19 graph (3)(B) and inserting the following: 

20 ‘‘(c) RESOURCE ALLOCATION.— 

21 ‘‘(1) INFORMATION SHARING AND PERSONNEL

22 ASSIGNMENT.— 

23 ‘‘(A) INFORMATION SHARING.—The Under 

24 Secretary for Intelligence and Analysis shall en25 sure that, as appropriate— 


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1 ‘‘(i) fusion centers in the National 

2 Network of Fusion Centers have access to 

3 homeland security information sharing sys4 tems; and 

5 ‘‘(ii) Department personnel are de6 ployed to support fusion centers in the Na7 tional Network of Fusion Centers. 

8 ‘‘(B) PERSONNEL ASSIGNMENT.—Depart9 ment personnel referred to in subparagraph 

10 (A)(ii) may include the following: 

11 ‘‘(i) Intelligence officers. 

12 ‘‘(ii) Intelligence analysts. 

13 ‘‘(iii) Other liaisons from components 

14 and offices of the Department, as appro15 priate. 

16 ‘‘(2) SOURCES OF SUPPORT.— 

17 ‘‘(A) IN GENERAL.—Information shared 

18 and personnel assigned pursuant to paragraph 

19 (1) may be shared or provided, as the case may 

20 be, by the following Department components 

21 and offices, in coordination with the respective 

22 component or office head and in consultation 

23 with the principal officials of fusion centers in 

24 the National Network of Fusion Centers: 


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1 ‘‘(i) The Office of Intelligence and 

2 Analysis. 

3 ‘‘(ii) The Office of Infrastructure Pro4 tection. 

5 ‘‘(iii) The Transportation Security 

6 Administration. 

7 ‘‘(iv) U.S. Customs and Border Pro8 tection. 

9 ‘‘(v) U.S. Immigration and Customs 

10 Enforcement. 

11 ‘‘(vi) The Coast Guard. 

12 ‘‘(vii) Other components or offices of 

13 the Department, as determined by the Sec14 retary. 

15 ‘‘(B) COORDINATION WITH OTHER FED16 ERAL AGENCIES.—The Under Secretary for In17 telligence and Analysis shall coordinate with ap18 propriate officials throughout the Federal Gov19 ernment to ensure the deployment to fusion 

20 centers in the National Network of Fusion Cen21 ters of representatives with relevant expertise of 

22 other Federal departments and agencies. 

23 ‘‘(3) RESOURCE ALLOCATION CRITERIA.— 

24 ‘‘(A) IN GENERAL.—The Secretary shall 

25 make available criteria for sharing information 


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1 and deploying personnel to support a fusion 

2 center in the National Network of Fusion Cen3 ters pursuant to paragraph (1).’’; and 

4 (B) in paragraph (4)(B), in the matter 

5 preceding clause (i), by inserting ‘‘in which 

6 such fusion center is located’’ after ‘‘region’’; 

7 (5) in subsection (d)— 

8 (A) in paragraph (3), by striking ‘‘and’’ at 

9 the end; 

10 (B) in paragraph (4)— 

11 (i) by striking ‘‘government’’ and in12 serting ‘‘governments’’; and 

13 (ii) by striking the period at the end 

14 and inserting ‘‘; and’’; and 

15 (C) by adding at the end the following new 

16 paragraph: 

17 ‘‘(5) utilize Department information, including 

18 information held by components and offices, to de19 velop analysis focused on the mission of the Depart20 ment under section 101(b).’’; 

21 (6) in subsection (e)— 

22 (A) by amending paragraph (1) to read as 

23 follows: 

24 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—To the greatest extent 

25 practicable, the Secretary shall make it a priority to 


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1 allocate resources, including deployed personnel, 

2 under this section from U.S. Customs and Border 

3 Protection, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforce4 ment, and the Coast Guard to support fusion centers 

5 in the National Network of Fusion Centers located 

6 in jurisdictions along land or maritime borders of 

7 the United States in order to enhance the integrity 

8 of and security at such borders by helping Federal, 

9 State, local, tribal, and territorial law enforcement 

10 authorities to identify, investigate, and otherwise 

11 interdict persons, weapons, and related contraband 

12 that pose a threat to homeland security.’’; and 

13 (B) in paragraph (2), in the matter pre14 ceding subparagraph (A), by striking ‘‘partici15 pating State, local, and regional’’; 

16 (7) in subsection (j)— 

17 (A) in paragraph (4), by striking ‘‘and’’ at 

18 the end; 

19 (B) by redesignating paragraph (5) as 

20 paragraph (6); and 

21 (C) by inserting after paragraph (4) the 

22 following new paragraph: 

23 ‘‘(5) the term ‘National Network of Fusion 

24 Centers’ means a decentralized arrangement of fu25 sion centers intended to enhance individual State 


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1 and urban area fusion centers’ ability to leverage the 

2 capabilities and expertise of all fusion centers for the 

3 purpose of enhancing analysis and homeland secu4 rity information sharing nationally; and’’; and 

5 (8) by striking subsection (k). 

6 (b) ACCOUNTABILITY REPORT.—Not later than one 

7 year after the date of the enactment of this Act and annu8 ally thereafter through 2022, the Under Secretary for In9 telligence and Analysis of the Department of Homeland 

10 Security shall report to the Committee on Homeland Secu11 rity of the House of Representatives and the Committee 

12 on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs of the 

13 Senate on the efforts of the Office of Intelligence and 

14 Analysis of the Department and other relevant compo15 nents and offices of the Department to enhance support 

16 provided to fusion centers in the National Network of Fu17 sion Centers, including meeting the requirements specified 

18 in section 210A of the Homeland Security Act of 2002 

19 (6 U.S.C. 124h), as amended by subsection (a) of this sec20 tion. 

21 (c) CLERICAL AMENDMENT.—The table of contents 

22 in section 1(b) of such Act is amended by striking the 

23 item relating to section 210A and inserting the following 

24 new item: 

‘‘Sec. 210A. Department of Homeland Security Fusion Centers Initiative.’’. 


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1 (d) REFERENCE.—Any reference in any law, rule, or 

2 regulation to the ‘‘Department of Homeland Security 

3 State, Local, and Regional Fusion Center Initiative’’ shall 

4 be deemed to be a reference to the ‘‘Department of Home5 land Security Fusion Center Initiative’’. 

Æ 


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