R. David Paulison
Director, FEMA
National Fusion Center Conference
Destin, Florida
Tuesday, March 6, 2007

It is a pleasure to be with you today.  I am always pleased to speak to new audiences about the past, present and future of FEMA.

With the lessons of 9-11 and Hurricane Katrina in mind, we have been changing and evolving.  In January, DHS and FEMA announced a reorganization that will better align our offices and functions so that we are better prepared to respond.

The New FEMA will be better, strong, more nimble than before.  We will be stronger nationally, and on the ground in the Regions.  And we will listen to experts in the field as we develop a robust organization that will remain dedicated to helping our nation prepare for, respond to and recover from disasters.

This New FEMA is dedicated to listening to New Voices – and especially to building stronger ties with the law enforcement community.  It is for this reason that I am some pleased to share a stage with Domingo Herraiz and to strengthening our partnership with BJA in support of state and local fusion centers across the country.

Stronger Partnerships are a key component of our New FEMA.  The worst time to try to build relationships is after a disaster strikes.  That is why we are committed to building these ties and opening the lines of communication with our federal, tribal, state and local partners.  Across the Department of Homeland Security and especially throughout FEMA, we are committed to closer collaboration – and establishing a network of Fusion Centers to facilitate information sharing is a key element in building this future.

We have taken advantage of the reorganization to ensure that our new stakeholders have a seat at the table and a voice in the organization.  The New FEMA will have a Disability Coordinator, a Rural and Small State Coordinator and – of greatest interest to you – a Senior Law Enforcement Advisor to the Administrator.  The Law Enforcement Advisor will serve directly in the Administrator’s office and will report directly to me.  He or she will ensure that the community’s insights are included in all of FEMA’s programs.  As we flesh out this role, I would welcome your input in to how best to utilize the position – and I have already received some advice from the National Sheriff’s Association, The International Chiefs of Police and the FBI Officers Association.  As we execute the search for the right person, rest assured that they will be someone with years of law enforcement experience and with ties across the community.  And this will not be the only person we bring in from law enforcement.  I plan to hire experience people in each of our divisions to make sure we include this important perspective in our planning and our actions.

The reorganization does move the Office of Grants and Training under FEMA.  I want to assure you that this realignment will not detract from our work in support of the fusion centers.  While we are still finalizing the details of this transition, G & T will move to the new Preparedness Directorate in FEMA.  Preparedness will not just stand alone by itself.  All of FEMA will focus not only on being better prepared to do our own jobs, but to better preparing our federal, tribal, state and local partners to perform their roles during times of crisis.  Preparedness will be integrated throughout FEMA and the whole organization will work closer with preparedness stakeholders.

Let me take a few minutes to speak specifically about the fusion centers.  As G&T transitions into FEMA, support for state and local fusion centers will continue to be a priority.  The programs that currently support state and local fusion centers will actually expand in scope this year.  Our goal is to build upon the foundation of grant programs, technical assistance, training, exercises, universal adversary and other efforts as we expand fusion centers throughout the country.

There are four main elements through which Grants & Training will continue to support fusion center expansion.

First: Grants.  In FY2007, fusion centers are a priority and we’ll award almost $1.7 Billion in related grants this year.  This includes $364 million under the Law Enforcement Terrorism Prevention Program, which targets funding for state and local fusion centers and similar activities.  These funds will nearly double the $280 million that has already been used to support fusion centers since 2001.  We’ve improved the flexibility of these funds under the FY07 LETPP to enable state and local jurisdictions to use these funds to help their fusion centers achieve a baseline level of capability.  And we worked to make the FY07 grant application process more user-friendly.  I believe one of your breakout sessions today will go into greater detail on grant funding for fusion centers.

The second element of support is through Technical Assistance.  DHS and DOJ have partnered to develop a series of technical assistance services to facilitate the development of fusion centers.  This is a true example of the expanded partnership mentality that I mentioned earlier.  DHS, DoJ, the Office of the Director of National Intelligence, the FBI, tribal, state and local government experts all participated in the development of this program.  Other groups, such as the Global Justice Information Sharing Initiative, the Global Intelligence Working Group and the Criminal Intelligence Coordinating Council, contributed as well.  I want to offer my thanks to all of our partners, with a special thanks to Colonel Bart Johnson for his leadership in establishing these relationships that support the fusion centers.  The technical assistant programs will provide subject matter experts to work with fusion center personnel to facilitate sessions on: Strategic Planning, Governance, CONOP’s development, Privacy Issues, and a variety of other topics.

We are also developing the Fusion Process Resource Center.  This on-line system will enable fusion center personnel around the country to share best practices and lessons learned; and to exchange templates, sample documents and other material and information.  All in support of improving the national network of fusion centers.

The third element is Training and Education.  Our Training Division is working with the Federal Law Enforcement Training Center, DEA, Michigan State University and the White Collar Crime Center to provide intelligence training that supports the creation and sustainment of the information-sharing environment required under the Intelligence Reform and Terrorism Prevention Act.  Notice: here’s another example of us relying on our partnerships.  We’re also sponsoring a pilot Information and Intelligence Sharing Fellowship Program.  This fellowship will give mid- and senior-level state and local homeland security and law enforcement officials the opportunity to serve as an advisor to a DHS component, such as I&A or the Operations Directorate.  Its goal is to include them in the development of our policies and programs – for both your benefit and for ours.

The fourth and final element of our support is in Exercises.  We will support realistic, field-validated, intelligence fusion exercise through our Terrorism Prevention Exercises Program – known as T-PEP.  Again based upon working with our partners, T-PEP uses the Homeland Security Exercise and Evaluation Program framework to develop exercised that support the DNI Information Sharing Plan, the Fusion Center Initiative and other, similar programs.  Last year, T-PEP conducted the first-of-its-kind, full-scale exercise with the state of New York.  This first run will serve as the standard for prevention exercises around the nation.  Currently, T-PEP is working with 11 states to host pilot prevention exercise.  These include 4 statewide exercises, a regional exercise in the south-east and an unprecedented national-level fusion exercise component to TOPOFF 4.  

We also have a unique effort that complements our exercise initiative.  In cooperation with fusion centers in Georgia, Illinois and California we are testing a Universal Adversary program.  This program aims to bridge the gap between the national intel community and state & local analysts.  It provides an additional resource to help intelligence and law enforcement personnel better understand the adversary by enabling them to “train as they fight.”  The program provides: A fictional, yet highly realistic, adversary for use in exercises at all levels; A unique war-gaming capability for table-top, command post, and full-scale exercises; Threat assessment services for states, regions, or localities; An information-sharing analysis to identify critical nodes of information flow; And analytical Red Teaming to role-play the most likely adversary course of action.

With all of these details in mind, let me conclude by re-emphasizing our commitment to working with the fusion centers and the law enforcement community within the framework of the New FEMA.  You play a critical role in our nation’s capacity to share critical information and intelligence.  We hope to continue to build upon our relationships from the past, and expand our opportunities for tomorrow.  I hope you will help us keep open the lines of communication and move forward with us in building the type of emergency management system that this nation will be proud.

Let us move forward together.