Los Angeles strengthens its intelligence fusion center
The Los Angeles Times writes today about the LA’s decision to enhance its intelligence analysis capabilities:
Warning that Los Angeles remains a prime target for terrorists, Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa announced an initiative Thursday to permanently fund expanded counter-terrorism and disaster response units in the police and fire departments.
The proposal would assign four LAPD anti-terrorism officers to a new “intelligence fusion center,” to be staffed by federal, state and local law enforcement officers in Norwalk in the next few weeks, according to Police Chief William J. Bratton.
In the facility, called the Joint Regional Intelligence Center, LAPD officers would coordinate intelligence-gathering and analysis with their counterparts in the FBI and other agencies.
This intelligence fusion center actually isn’t new – it’s mentioned in this LAPD fact sheet from 2004 – but the announcement yesterday signals new resource commitments to it.
The creation of state and local “intelligence fusion centers” seems to be a growing trend. I wrote last week about the state of Ohio’s decision to create a similar intelligence fusion center. I noted in that post that these types of centers are good investments if they can be stood up cheaply, but that they’re no substitute for an effective national system to share intelligence among federal, state and local officials.
The article also discusses other counterterrorism initiatives in the city of Los Angeles, such as increased funding for Operation Archangel, which assesses risk and develops response plans for critical infrastructure assets. It’s good to see the city taking what seems like a thoughtful and strategic approach to its homeland security and counterterrorism challenges.
