Fusion Centers and JTTFs

Fusion Centers and JTTFs

The prevalence of domestic crime and international terrorism pushes governments to form mitigatory teams and organizations. In the U.S., the government continually takes a significant number of measures to reduce violence and insecurity. Two of these measures are the fusion centers and the Joint Terrorism Task Forces (JTTFs). These organizations play unique but complementary roles in preventing criminal activity in the country. This paper evaluates the tasks of both teams and analyses the demerits of lacking fire marshals in JTTF task forces.

Fusion centers are state-owned, and serve as the divergence point for the receipt, gathering, analysis, and sharing of national and international threat information. The cyber enters have different bases in states and major urban centers and receive information from private and federal sectors as well as state, local, tribal, and territorial (SLTT) regions. Although fusion centers are state-owned, they are directed by the Department of Homeland Security (DHS). The National Network of Fusion Centers focuses on gathering critical information relevant to DHS functions, thus playing a critical role in the success of DHS (Department of Homeland Security, 2020)

The Joint Terrorism Task Forces are groups of highly trained special agents from different U.S. departments and intelligence agencies. The task force is FBI-owned and contains professionals with a diverse set of skills such as linguists, investigators, analysts, and military-trained soldiers. JTTFs investigate and make arrests in all matters of international and domestic terrorism by collecting and sharing intelligence information with other U.S. departments and international safety organizations (FBI, 2020).

Both Fusion Centers and JTTFs are vital in the country’s wellbeing. While fusion centers deal with a variety of factors such as public safety matters, terrorism, and domestic crime. On the other hand, JTTFs focus primarily on terrorism. Another difference between these two organizations is that Fusion Centers disseminate clusters of information received from different channels and distribute it to the relevant security organizations while JTTFs conduct investigations and take part in the field work (Department of Homeland Security, 2020). Both organizations parallel in their duty to protect society against harm. They also work together by exchanging intelligence on each other’s jurisdiction.

Fusion Centers counter violent extremism through the creation of grassroot intelligence capabilities in local environments. Fusion centers encourage local authorities to investigate on local threats and provide information on all matters of national intelligence (Department of Homeland Security, 2020). In addition, fusion centers provide state and local partners with viable, timely, and relevant information on possible threats. These centers provide trends on criminal activities and, therefore, provide a guideline to mitigatory measures. Apart from finding information on threats, Fusion centers also provide recommendations on measures that ought to be implemented to prevent criminal actions or minimize their effects on the nation.

Fusion centers also educates and informs state and local authorities on behavioral indicators of criminal activity in their regions. Moreover, these cyber centers facilitate the training of state and local authorities in more efficient measures against criminal action. Through training, authorities can identify vulnerabilities in their jurisdiction and focus on neutralizing these threats. Experts in fusion centers also need to ensure smooth information sharing systems by advocating for peace and friendships among federal, state, local, private, and international sectors (Department of Homeland Security, 2020). Since fusion centers increase rapidly, DHS created a post for the Fusion Liaison Officer (FLO), whose task is ensuring continuous flow of information between the different fusion centers and their stakeholders. Fusion centers receive their resources from DHS and the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA).

JTTFs play an essential role in reducing terrorism. They link different experts from various organizations thus increase the skill set available in terrorist detection. Also, JTTFs conduct frequent training to maintain and improve their employees specialized skills. Since JTTFs aims in relieving the world of terrorist attacks, it works with international security teams and creates global peaceful relations. The organization also pools international talents and expertise, hence creating a competent rival for terrorists.

JTTF task forces work from FBI headquarters to ensure free flow of information from sources. The organization engages in extensive source investigations, electronic monitoring of potential terrorists. Also, the organization trains its operatives to infiltrate terrorist territories to acquire information on their plans and financiers. Through its well-coordinated task forces, the JTTFs prevent numerous terrorist attacks and disrupts terrorist activities. It also acts as a prosecutor to all criminals involved in terrorism. Moreover, JTTFs work with fusion centers and other agencies to completely dismantle terrorist activities (FBI, 2020).

The JTTF consists of agents from many U.S. security departments except the fire department. Dowdell states that fire marshals are an imperative part of all task forces (2018). However, he blames the lack of fire marshals in JTTFs on the ignorance of the fire department. He states that the fire department has not made an effort in coordinating their operations in a way that creates response patterns that address terrorism. Therefore, Dowdell suggests that all fire departments should step up in involving itself deeper in terrorist-related activities and increasing its relations with the FBI. Furthermore, the fire department has an obligation to save lives and protect property and hence deserve a part in JTTFs.

Fusion centers and JTTFs are core organizations in the safety of Americans and many other nations. While fusion centers provide criminal and terrorist activities and their locations, JTTFs ensure the eradication of these security risks. JTTTs need to integrate all U.S. security departments in its functions to provide better services to the nation.

References

Department of Homeland Security. (2020). Fusion centers and Joint Terrorism task forces. https://www.dhs.gov/fusion-centers-and-joint-terrorism-task-forces.