The role of state fusion centers in preventing terrorist acts - Term Paper Example

Furthermore, most of the security agencies were not on a very high alert for any foreign attacks on the United States because such threats were considered nonexistent. Instead, security agencies concentrated on the potential from within and this was a huge flaw on their part. The American military had bases all over the world in allied countries and these had been put in place to protect American interests in these respective regions. The military had not seen much active service since the 1991 Gulf war and its presence in allied countries functioned as a deterrent to those who would wish to harm American interests.

All these, however, changed after the attacks and the need for cooperation between the different security agencies in the country was realized. The origin of state fusion centers creation provide a means through which information can be gathered and shared between different law enforcement agencies, ensuring that the terrorist threat to the United States is recognized early and dealt with swiftly. State fusion centers are facilities that have come to allow investigators to pool data from local, state and federal sources to ensure that the terrorist threat to the country is averted. . The system was created to ensure that investigators had all the information they needed in order to perform their tasks effectively, and it allows local investigators to access the federal Homeland Secure Data Network.

The system has been designed to provide individuals in security agencies access to classified reports from federal agencies like the Department of Homeland Security and the Federal Bureau of Investigation. This has made up for the previous lack of information sharing between security agencies and has created a situation where it has become easier for terrorist threats to the nation to be detected and whenever there has been any danger, it has been swiftly countered so that the nation has remained secure (Desai, 2005).

State fusion centers have become indispensable in the fight against terrorism on American soil and this has justified their continued existence of this system. The state fusion centers help security agencies to look for connections among potential terrorist suspects so that they can find more information concerning them and the danger that they may pose to the people of America. They do this by looking through hundreds of law enforcement sources around the region and these carry a large amount of information concerning individual suspects and their associates.

The information that is often investigated ranges from traffic violations, to jail records and criminal histories. Furthermore, this also includes information concerning public records such as property records. As the investigation widens, and investigators identify suspects, the system can help lead authorities to known associated of the suspects who may be involved in further terrorist plots against the country or its interests elsewhere (Ratcliffe and Guidetti, 2008).