The Emerging Politics of DHS Fusion Centers

Abstract This article explores public concerns about the US Department of Homeland Security’s data ‘fusion centers’. These centers, which are proliferating across all US states, coordinate data-sharing among state and local police, intelligence agencies, and private companies. The primary goal of fusion centers is to engage in intelligence-sharing for counter-terrorism purposes. However, they have been used for a variety of other purposes, such as basic policing, spying on social movement organizations, or restricting legal public activities such as taking photographs. Drawing upon a comprehensive analysis of media publications from 2002 to 2008, we identify and discuss three primary categories of concern with fusion centers: (1) their ineffectiveness, particularly given the financial expense, the statistical unlikelihood of terrorist attacks, and the pressing need for other law enforcement support; (2) the potential for mission creep, where the functions of fusion centers expand beyond their originally intended purposes to encompass things like all-hazards preparedness; and (3) the violation of civil liberties, especially through racial profiling or First Amendment violations.