Fusion Center Foundational Guidance

In 2004 and 2005, when many states began creating fusion centers, there were no standards or guidelines in place to help fusion centers develop common capabilities and processes for information sharing with federal, local, and private sector partners. As a result, centers designed to share information were incapable of consistent and effective information exchange.

To address this issue, members of the U.S. Department of Justice’s (DOJ) Global Justice Information Sharing Initiative’s (Global) and DHS’s Homeland Security Advisory Council (HSAC) collaborated with numerous law enforcement experts and practitioners from local, state, tribal, and federal agencies, as well as representatives of public safety and private sector entities across the country to develop the Fusion Center Guidelines: Developing and Sharing Information and Intelligence in a New Era.

Fusion Center Guidelines Supplemental Documentation:

• Baseline Capabilities for State and Major Urban Area Fusion Centers: A Supplement to the : This addendum to the Global’s Fusion Center Guidelines document identifies the baseline capabilities for fusion centers and the operational standards necessary to achieve each of the capabilities.
• Fusion Centers and Critical Infrastructure Protection (PDF - 30 pages, 2.58 MB): A Baseline Capabilities appendix which identifies the capabilities necessary for fusion centers to establish an analytic capability that supports critical infrastructure and key resources (CIKR) security activities at the state and local levels.
• Fusion Center Integration with Fire Service (PDF - 22 pages, 2.06 MB): A Baseline Capabilities appendix which identifies recommended actions for fusion centers to effectively integrate the fire service into the fusion process.
• Cyber Integration for Fusion Centers (PDF – 32 pages, 1.75 MB): A Baseline Capabilities appendix which identifies recommended actions for fusion centers to integrate information technology, cybersecurity, and cybercrime prevention intelligence and analytic capabilities.
• Health Security: Public Health and Medical Integration for Fusion Centers (PDF – 30 pages, 1.72 MB): A Baseline Capabilities appendix which identifies the recommended actions for fusion centers to integrate the public health and health care (PH/HC) community into the fusion process.
• Considerations for Fusion Center and Emergency Operations Center Coordination (PDF – 86 pages, 4.63 MB): A document which provides recommended actions and guidelines that fusion centers and emergency operations centers (EOCs) can use to better coordinate and share information and intelligence on an ongoing basis.