DHS group to coordinate info-sharing

The Homeland Security Department will establish a new coordinating group this week to manage information-sharing with state, local and tribal fusion centers, Lora Becker, the group's new director, said today.

The group of about 15 personnel will begin work Thursday in the Liberty Crossing Building at the National Counterterrorism Center in McLean, Va., said Becker. She made the announcement at a conference sponsored by the Armed Forces Communications and Electronics Association in Washington.

The coordinating group will not provide initial crisis reporting, but once such information is disseminated the group will provide "analytic content and context" from federal sources to state, local and tribal fusion centers, Becker said. About 43 such centers are currently operating or are expected to open soon.

The coordinating group will complement and supplement other federal antiterrorism information sources, she said.

"There is a need for a unified federal voice, and that is what this is all about," Becker said. "We will not fuse information; we will fuse perspectives."

DHS also plans to establish an advisory group of state and local officials to provide advice and ideas to the coordinating group, she said.