Executive Order

Executive Order  No. 476: Designating the Commonwealth Fusion Center as the Commonwealth's principal center for information collection and dissemination

Date: 01/03/2007
Issuer: Mitt Romney
Mass Register: No. 1070

Table of Contents

WHEREAS, a principal responsibility of the executive department is to expend maximum effort to detect, protect against, prevent, respond to, and recover from terrorist attacks and other critical incidents;

WHEREAS, it is a central tenet of the Commonwealth's homeland security strategy that all levels and agencies of government must develop and constantly seek to improve their capacity to gather, process, analyze, and share critical information;

WHEREAS, the United States Department of Homeland Security's Homeland Security Advisory Council, and specifically the Intelligence and Information Sharing Working Group, chaired by the Governor, recommended that our nation's homeland security efforts be driven by the collection, analysis, timely dissemination, and reevaluation of critical data and information, and that in order to produce meaningful, actionable information, all levels of government and the private sector must be able to exchange information rapidly;

WHEREAS, to ensure that this "fusion process" was utilized within and for the Commonwealth, in October 2004, the Governor created the Commonwealth Fusion Center;

WHEREAS, in the Intelligence Reform and Terrorism Prevention Act of 2004, the President and the Congress of the United States directed that an Information Sharing Environment be established within the Federal government, and between Federal, state, local, and private-sector entities, to allow for the seamless exchange of homeland security information, terrorism information, and law enforcement information related to terrorism;

WHEREAS, on November 16, 2006, the President of the United States, through the Office of the Director of National Intelligence, submitted to the Congress an implementation plan for creating an Information Sharing Environment, which in part calls for the establishment of an integrated network of state and major urban area fusion centers; and

WHEREAS, the Information Sharing Environment implementation plan directs Federal agencies to provide homeland security information, terrorism information, and law enforcement information to state and major urban area fusion centers; envisions that fusion centers will analyze, interpret, and disseminate this information to appropriate state and local officials; and envisions that fusion centers will gather, process, analyze, and interpret relevant regional, state, and local information, and forward that information to appropriate Federal agencies;

NOW, THEREFORE, I, Mitt Romney, Governor of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, by virtue of the authority vested in me as Supreme Executive Magistrate, do hereby order as follows:

Section 1: Consistent with the efforts of the United States government to establish a national network of fusion centers, the Commonwealth Fusion Center will serve as the "central hub" of the Commonwealth's fusion process and serve as the primary interface between the Commonwealth and the Federal government for information collection, analysis, and dissemination.

Section 2: The Commonwealth Fusion Center shall be a multi-disciplinary, multi- agency organization dedicated to gathering, processing, analyzing and sharing critical information with Federal, state, local, and private sector partners. The Massachusetts State Police is charged with general oversight responsibilities for the effective operation and administration of the Commonwealth Fusion Center.

Section 3: The Commonwealth Fusion Center shall use information collected from multiple sources and a variety of disciplines, including but not limited to law enforcement, emergency management, fire services, health care, emergency medical services, public health, transportation, public utilities, social services, and the private sector, to develop and maintain an up-to-date statewide assessment of the threats, vulnerabilities, and risks facing the Commonwealth.

Section 4: The Commonwealth Fusion Center shall employ an "all hazards," "all threats," and "all crimes" approach to homeland security, which recognizes that terrorists often commit traditional crimes to support their activities and frequently collaborate with individuals involved in traditional criminal activity.

Section 5: The Commonwealth Fusion Center shall work with appropriate Federal entities to gather, process, analyze, and disseminate homeland security information, terrorism information, and law enforcement information to appropriate state and local officials.

Section 6: The Commonwealth Fusion Center shall also gather, process, analyze, and interpret relevant regional, state, and local information and shall forward that information to appropriate Federal agencies.

Section 7: In order to guarantee that the Commonwealth Fusion Center functions with maximum effectiveness, methods of collecting, analyzing, and disseminating information must be constantly reviewed and updated. Accordingly, the Secretary of Public Safety shall regularly review the policies, procedures, guidelines, and organizational structure of, as well as the resources allocated to, the Commonwealth Fusion Center. The Secretary of Public Safety shall identify areas where efforts by the Commonwealth Fusion Center to gather, analyze, and share information can be strengthened.

Section 8: Whenever the Secretary of Public Safety deems appropriate, he shall confer with representatives from Federal, state, local, and private sector entities that contribute information to, or receive product or analysis from, the Commonwealth Fusion Center. In this way, agencies that are contributors to, and consumers of information from, the Commonwealth Fusion Center can provide input regarding the strategic planning for center operations and future enhancements, assist in identifying obstacles to the efficient exchange of information between stakeholders, and propose solutions to remove those obstacles.

Section 9: The Secretary of Public Safety shall regularly report his findings to the Governor.

Given at the Executive Chamber in Boston this 3rd day of January in the year of our Lord two thousand and seven and of the Independence of the United States, two hundred and thirty.

Mitt Romney, Governor

Commonwealth of Massachusetts

William Francis Galvin

Secretary of the Commonwealth

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