State Coordinating Structures

State and Major Urban Area Fusion Centers
Fusion centers serve as focal points within the state and local environment for the receipt, analysis, gathering, and sharing of threat-related information between the Federal Government and local, state, tribal, territorial, and private sector partners.15 Fusion centers empower front-line law enforcement; public safety; fire service; emergency response; animal, environmental, and public health; critical infrastructure protection; and private sector security personnel to understand local implications of national intelligence, thus enabling officials to better protect their communities. Fusion centers provide interdisciplinary expertise and situational awareness to inform decision making at all levels of government. They conduct analysis and facilitate information sharing to assist law enforcement and homeland security partners in preventing, protecting against, and responding to crime and terrorism. Fusion centers are owned and operated by state and local entities with support from Federal partners in the form of deployed personnel, training, technical assistance, exercise support, security clearances, and connectivity to Federal systems, technology, and grant funding.
Fusion centers contribute to the Information Sharing Environment through their role in receiving threat information from the Federal Government; analyzing information in the context of their local environments; disseminating that information to tribal and local agencies; and gathering tips, leads, and SAR from tribal and local agencies and the public. Fusion center products assist homeland security partners at all levels of government in identifying and addressing imminent and emerging threats. With timely, accurate information on potential terrorist threats, fusion centers can directly contribute to and inform investigations initiated and conducted by Federal entities, such as the FBI JTTFs.
 Core Capabilities: Intelligence and Information Sharing; Screening, Search, and Detection; Public Information and Warning.

State and Local Intelligence and Analytic Entities16
State and local intelligence and analytic entities strengthen and coordinate the intelligence and information sharing capabilities and operations of local, state, tribal, territorial, and Federal law enforcement agencies to prevent and disrupt terrorism and criminal activities while protecting privacy, civil rights, and civil liberties. Complementing the national network of fusion centers and FBI JTTFs, these entities represent and support locally led counterterrorism, intelligence, and information sharing efforts. This may include supporting Federal investigations, intelligence collection and analysis activities, intelligence-led policing efforts, and community engagement for 15 State and local partners are encouraged to refer to the Baseline Capabilities for State and Major Urban Area Fusion Centers (September 2008) for additional information on fusion center capabilities.
16 These intelligence and analytic entities include state and local intelligence units, real-time crime analysis centers, and other law enforcement or homeland security investigative and analytic centers that have not been designated as fusion centers by state governments.

The purpose of countering violent extremism. While locally led, these efforts are designed to support the prevention of terrorism threats and incidents in the homeland, as well as national and transnational crime.
 Core Capabilities: Intelligence and Information Sharing; Screening, Search, and Detection; Interdiction and Disruption.