What is a Fusion Center? Fusion Centers circumvent the traditional "stovepipe" approach to intelligence collection and dissemination where information used to be highly compartmentalized and rarely, if ever, shared with the law enforcement community. State and local Fusion Centers seek to create what is known as a "Common Operational Picture" (also known as "Situational Awareness") so that officials at the local, state, and federal level can better understand and respond to threats across jurisdictions.

What do Fusion Intelligence Analysts do? DHS intelligence analysts work alongside law enforcement intelligence analysts in the Intelligence Fusion Centers to facilitate more efficient sharing of information, which has spawned a new breed of intelligence professional known as the Fusion Intelligence Analyst.

These analysts are responsible for providing support to decision makers by fusing information from local and federal law enforcement criminal databases with national-level intelligence from the Department of Homeland Security, for example, to create relevant intelligence products (finished reports about salient issues) to leaders (also known as "intelligence customers") at all levels of government.

What Types of Intelligence do Fusion Analysts Provide to Decision Makers? Fusion intelligence analysts coalesce, research, process, and analyze a wide range of incoming information including suspicious activity reports from local police departments and human intelligence (HUMINT) collected from undercover Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) agents stationed abroad.

In the end, fusion intelligence analysts must work together with those in the law enforcement and intelligence communities to collaboratively build a paradigm of proactive engagement and information sharing. Furthermore, fusion analysts must develop a better understanding of proactive strategies to effectively work with local, state, and even national leaders to detect and prevent emerging local threats from becoming national security risks.

What Makes a Successful Fusion Intelligence Analyst? To become a successful Fusion Intelligence Analyst, you need to acquire a deep understanding of the issues facing local communities from a law enforcement perspective in addition to global threats to national security posed by transnational criminal networks and terrorist groups.

If you are interested in becoming a fusion intelligence analyst, then you need a solid education that will deliver you high-quality courses on subjects relevant to keeping you one step ahead of those that seek to disrupt and harm our way of life.