On Intelligence Community: What role do Fusion Centers Play?

The Intelligence Community since 9/11
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The Intelligence Community (IC) in the US plays a vital role in ensuring the security and safety of American citizens within and outside the country. It was established in 1981 through an executive order signed by then President Ronald Reagan. The US IC comprises of 17 government intelligence agencies and subordinate organizations including the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA), the National Security Agency (NSA) and the Defense Intelligence Agency (DIA) among others. Over the years the IC has been tasked with collecting and analyzing information towards foreign and domestic intelligence, performing espionage, covert operations, supporting American diplomacy and military operations and economic intelligence to mention but a few. The IC is also heavily involved in counterterrorism efforts and particularly in the identification of threats against American citizens not only within the country but also in facilities abroad. Nonetheless, the IC’s worst failure remains the 9/11 when it was unable to detect and prevent the devastating terrorist attack that left about 3000 innocent people dead and countless others injured. It is noted that the CIA and FBI had more than 23 opportunities to foil the terrorist attempt but missed all of them. As a result of this failure and eventually the 9/11 attack, several changes were instituted at the Intelligence Community.[Dni.gov. "Members Of The IC". Dni.Gov, 2020, /index.php/what-we-do/members-of-the-ic, n.p] [Zegart, Amy. "In The Deepfake Era, Counterterrorism Is Harder". The Atlantic, 2019, /ideas/archive/2019/09/us-intelligence-needs-another-reinvention/597787/, n.p]
To begin with, post 9/11 reforms were characterized by significant organizational changes. Reports and investigations as to what led to the most devastating attack in US history and in US ground showed that lack of effective collaboration between the CIA and FBI was one of the reasons that the terrorists were successful. For one, the CIA failed to disclose information on two al-Qaeda operatives that were operating in the US to the FBI. According to (Zegart), “There was no formal training program or well-honed process for putting potential terrorists on a watch list or notifying other agencies about them once they entered the country”. Although the FBI was eventually notified about the two suspected terrorists about two weeks before the attack, the bureau failed to put in any serious efforts in tracking them down. To make matters worse, the FBI handed the case to an inexperienced rookie because they deemed the search to be “routine”. It has since been highlighted that before the 9/11 attack more than two-thirds of the analysts within the bureau were unqualified and inexperienced. Based on these facts, it was imperative that changes were made to the entire IC after the 9/11 attack. Several organizations were created including the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) and the National Counter Terrorism Center (NCTC). While other agencies and organizations in the IC such as the CIA and the FBI have several other duties, the DHS is a cabinet-level department that is primarily tasked with countering terrorism within the US. The DHS has more than 200000 qualified personnel making it one of the largest departments of the US federal government. Efforts by the DHS and generally the reorganization of the IC have been phenomenal in foiling several terrorist attempts over the years including one that would have seen the New York Stock Exchange and other financial institutions blown up in 2004.[Zegart, Amy, n.p] [Haskovic, Edita. "Us Intelligence Community After The End Of The Cold War: Redefined Priorities". Bezbednost, Beograd, vol 58, no. 1, 2016, pp. 190. ]
Secondly, the Department of Homeland Security also continues to oversee and steer the sharing of information concerning terrorist threats and possible attacks. It coordinates the efforts from the Federal Government agencies such as the FBI and CIA with those of state and local law enforcement. It has ensured that individuals working within the IC have the requisite knowledge and skills to connect the dots on the different materials and information gathered and consequently foiled various terrorist attempts. It has ensured that member agencies and organizations within the community utilize the latest information technologies to share and disseminate crucial data for the fast apprehension of terror suspects within and outside the US. It is through these colla...