State, local fusion center staff may get seats in NCCIC
Connecting state and local government leaders
A new bill would open DHS' National Cybersecurity and Communications Integration Center to state and local agencies to share cyberthreat info.
To improve cyber threat information sharing among federal, state and local government, the Cyber Preparedness Act of 2016 proposes to physically station state and local government fusion center personnel at the Department of Homeland Security’s National Cybersecurity and Communications Integration Center.
Sponsored by Rep. Dan Donovan (R-N.Y.), the chairman of the House Homeland Security Subcommittee on Emergency Preparedness, Response and Communications, the bill was suggested by panelists in a May cybersecurity hearing, who said physical co-location of the personnel at DHS' NCCIC would improve information sharing, according to a spokesman for Donovan's office.
State and local law enforcement agencies, according to Donovan's statement on the legislation, sometimes don't get sufficiently current information from federal authorities about cyber threats, defensive measures or best practices. In the May hearing, according to Donovan's office, Lt. Col. Daniel Cooney, assistant deputy superintendent for the New York State Police Office of Counterterrorism, suggested federal cybersecurity intelligence isn't shared with state and urban fusion centers as quickly as counterterror information is shared.
The legislation looks for tighter and more efficient relationships among local, state and federal officials to more efficiently distribute cyberthreat information, Donovan's spokesman said. It would also help NCCIC share declassified information with fusion centers more rapidly.
The arrangement echoes a plan to reorganize the Department of Homeland Security's National Protections and Programs Directorate into a new entity called Cyber Infrastructure Protection. That proposed reorganization would place DHS cybersecurity experts in the same offices as the NPPD personnel responsible for monitoring the physical security of federal facilities and critical infrastructure. NPPD officials have said the co-location could provide vital interaction between cyber and physical security experts who could ferret out electronic links to potentially suspicious physical activity more quickly.
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