IIB 

114TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION H. R. 3598 

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 

NOVEMBER 3, 2015 

Received; read twice and referred to the Committee on Homeland Security and 

Governmental Affairs 

AN ACT 

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, 


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1 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 

2 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Fusion Center En3 hancement Act of 2015’’. 

4 SEC. 2. DEPARTMENT OF HOMELAND SECURITY FUSION 

5 CENTER PARTNERSHIP INITIATIVE. 

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

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

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

9 follows: 

10 ‘‘SEC. 210A. DEPARTMENT OF HOMELAND SECURITY FU11 SION CENTER PARTNERSHIP INITIATIVE.’’; 

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

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

14 the enactment of the Fusion Center Enhancement 

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

16 ‘Department of Homeland Security Fusion Center 

17 Partnership Initiative’.’’; 

18 (3) by amending subsection (b) to read as fol19 lows: 

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

21 Through the Department of Homeland Security Fusion 

22 Center Partnership Initiative, in coordination with prin23 cipal officials of fusion centers in the National Network 

24 of Fusion Centers and the officers designated as the 

25 Homeland Security Advisors of the States, the Secretary 

26 shall— 


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

2 departments and agencies to provide operational and 

3 intelligence advice and assistance to the National 

4 Network of Fusion Centers; 

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

6 into the information sharing environment; 

7 ‘‘(3) support the maturation and sustainment 

8 of the National Network of Fusion Centers; 

9 ‘‘(4) reduce inefficiencies and maximize the ef10 fectiveness of Federal resource support to the Na11 tional Network of Fusion Centers; 

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

13 assistance to the National Network of Fusion Cen14 ters; 

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

16 information sharing environment, including home17 land security information, terrorism information, 

18 and weapons of mass destruction information, that 

19 is gathered by the National Network of Fusion Cen20 ters and incorporate such information, as appro21 priate, into the Department’s own such information; 

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

23 information within the scope of the information 

24 sharing environment to the National Network of Fu25 sion Centers; 


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1 ‘‘(8) facilitate close communication and coordi2 nation between the National Network of Fusion 

3 Centers and the Department and other Federal de4 partments and agencies; 

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

6 Centers with expertise on Department resources and 

7 operations; 

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

9 technical assistance to the National Network of Fu10 sion Centers and encourage such fusion centers to 

11 participate in terrorism threat-related exercises con12 ducted by the Department; 

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

14 that support for the National Network of Fusion 

15 Centers is included as a national priority in applica16 ble homeland security grant guidance; 

17 ‘‘(12) ensure that each fusion center in the Na18 tional Network of Fusion Centers has a privacy pol19 icy approved by the Chief Privacy Officer of the De20 partment and a civil rights and civil liberties policy 

21 approved by the Officer for Civil Rights and Civil 

22 Liberties of the Department; 

23 ‘‘(13) coordinate the nationwide suspicious ac24 tivity report initiative to ensure information gathVerDate Sep 11 2014 23:13 Nov 03, 2015 Jkt 059200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H3598.RFS H3598

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1 ered by the National Network of Fusion Centers is 

2 incorporated as appropriate; 

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

4 centers in the National Network of Fusion Centers 

5 are the primary focal points for the sharing of home6 land security information, terrorism information, 

7 and weapons of mass destruction information with 

8 State and local entities to the greatest extent prac9 ticable; 

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

11 the appropriate levels for staffing at fusion centers 

12 in the National Network of Fusion Centers of quali13 fied representatives from State, local, tribal, and ter14 ritorial law enforcement, fire, emergency medical, 

15 and emergency management services, and public 

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

17 ‘‘(16) carry out such other duties as the Sec18 retary determines appropriate.’’; 

19 (4) in subsection (c)— 

20 (A) by striking so much as precedes para21 graph (3)(B) and inserting the following: 

22 ‘‘(c) RESOURCE ALLOCATION.— 

23 ‘‘(1) INFORMATION SHARING AND PERSONNEL

24 ASSIGNMENT.— 


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

2 Secretary for Intelligence and Analysis shall en3 sure that, as appropriate— 

4 ‘‘(i) fusion centers in the National 

5 Network of Fusion Centers have access to 

6 homeland security information sharing sys7 tems; and 

8 ‘‘(ii) Department personnel are de9 ployed to support fusion centers in the Na10 tional Network of Fusion Centers in a 

11 manner consistent with the Department’s 

12 mission and existing statutory limits. 

13 ‘‘(B) PERSONNEL ASSIGNMENT.—Depart14 ment personnel referred to in subparagraph 

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

16 ‘‘(i) Intelligence officers. 

17 ‘‘(ii) Intelligence analysts. 

18 ‘‘(iii) Other liaisons from components 

19 and offices of the Department, as appro20 priate. 

21 ‘‘(C) MEMORANDA OF UNDERSTANDING.— 

22 The Under Secretary for Intelligence and Anal23 ysis shall negotiate memoranda of under24 standing between the Department and a State 

25 or local government, in coordination with the 


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1 appropriate representatives from fusion centers 

2 in the National Network of Fusion Centers, re3 garding the exchange of information between 

4 the Department and such fusion centers. Such 

5 memoranda shall include the following: 

6 ‘‘(i) The categories of information to 

7 be provided by each entity to the other en8 tity that are parties to any such memo9 randa. 

10 ‘‘(ii) The contemplated uses of the ex11 changed information that is the subject of 

12 any such memoranda. 

13 ‘‘(iii) The procedures for developing 

14 joint products. 

15 ‘‘(iv) The information sharing dispute 

16 resolution processes. 

17 ‘‘(v) Any protections necessary to en18 sure the exchange of information accords 

19 with applicable law and policies. 

20 ‘‘(2) SOURCES OF SUPPORT.— 

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

22 and personnel assigned pursuant to paragraph 

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

24 be, by the following Department components 

25 and offices, in coordination with the respective 


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1 component or office head and in consultation 

2 with the principal officials of fusion centers in 

3 the National Network of Fusion Centers: 

4 ‘‘(i) The Office of Intelligence and 

5 Analysis. 

6 ‘‘(ii) The Office of Infrastructure Pro7 tection. 

8 ‘‘(iii) The Transportation Security 

9 Administration. 

10 ‘‘(iv) U.S. Customs and Border Pro11 tection. 

12 ‘‘(v) U.S. Immigration and Customs 

13 Enforcement. 

14 ‘‘(vi) The Coast Guard. 

15 ‘‘(vii) Other components or offices of 

16 the Department, as determined by the Sec17 retary. 

18 ‘‘(B) COORDINATION WITH OTHER FED19 ERAL AGENCIES.—The Under Secretary for In20 telligence and Analysis shall coordinate with ap21 propriate officials throughout the Federal Gov22 ernment to ensure the deployment to fusion 

23 centers in the National Network of Fusion Cen24 ters of representatives with relevant expertise of 

25 other Federal departments and agencies. 


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1 ‘‘(3) RESOURCE ALLOCATION CRITERIA.— 

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

3 make available criteria for sharing information 

4 and deploying personnel to support a fusion 

5 center in the National Network of Fusion Cen6 ters in a manner consistent with the Depart7 ment’s mission and existing statutory limits.’’; 

8 and 

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

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

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

12 (5) in subsection (d)— 

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

14 the end; 

15 (B) in paragraph (4)— 

16 (i) by striking ‘‘government’’ and in17 serting ‘‘governments’’; and 

18 (ii) by striking the period at the end 

19 and inserting ‘‘; and’’; and 

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

21 paragraph: 

22 ‘‘(5) utilize Department information, including 

23 information held by components and offices, to de24 velop analysis focused on the mission of the Depart25 ment under section 101(b).’’; 


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1 (6) in subsection (e)— 

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

3 follows: 

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

5 practicable, the Secretary shall make it a priority to 

6 allocate resources, including deployed personnel, 

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

8 Protection, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforce9 ment, and the Coast Guard to support fusion centers 

10 in the National Network of Fusion Centers located 

11 in jurisdictions along land or maritime borders of 

12 the United States in order to enhance the integrity 

13 of and security at such borders by helping Federal, 

14 State, local, tribal, and territorial law enforcement 

15 authorities to identify, investigate, and otherwise 

16 interdict persons, weapons, and related contraband 

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

18 (B) in paragraph (2), in the matter pre19 ceding subparagraph (A), by striking ‘‘partici20 pating State, local, and regional’’; 

21 (7) in subsection (j)— 

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

23 the end; 

24 (B) by redesignating paragraph (5) as 

25 paragraph (6); and 


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

2 following new paragraph: 

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

4 Centers’ means a decentralized arrangement of fu5 sion centers intended to enhance individual State 

6 and urban area fusion centers’ ability to leverage the 

7 capabilities and expertise of all fusion centers for the 

8 purpose of enhancing analysis and homeland secu9 rity information sharing nationally; and’’; and 

10 (8) by striking subsection (k). 

11 (b) ACCOUNTABILITY REPORT.—Not later than 1 

12 year after the date of the enactment of this Act and annu13 ally thereafter through 2022, the Under Secretary for In14 telligence and Analysis of the Department of Homeland 

15 Security shall report to the Committee on Homeland Secu16 rity and the Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence 

17 of the House of Representatives and the Committee on 

18 Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs and the Se19 lect Committee on Intelligence of the Senate on the efforts 

20 of the Office of Intelligence and Analysis of the Depart21 ment and other relevant components and offices of the De22 partment to enhance support provided to fusion centers 

23 in the National Network of Fusion Centers, including 

24 meeting the requirements specified in section 210A of the 


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1 Homeland Security Act of 2002 (6 U.S.C. 124h), as 

2 amended by subsection (a) of this section. 

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

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

5 item relating to section 210A and inserting the following 

6 new item: 

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

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

8 regulation to the ‘‘Department of Homeland Security 

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

10 be deemed to be a reference to the ‘‘Department of Home11 land Security Fusion Center Initiative’’. 

Passed the House of Representatives November 2, 

2015. 

Attest: KAREN L. HAAS, 

Clerk. 


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