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Mr. THOMPSON of Mississippi. I yield myself such time as I may consume.
Mr. Speaker, I rise in support of H.R. 3598, the Fusion Center Enhancement Act of 2015. First of all, let me compliment Mr. Barletta for his bill. Those of us who have been around kind of know the confusion that exists among fusion centers throughout the country, and any effort to streamline that confusion is much appreciated.
Mr. Speaker, this bipartisan bill seeks to update the law to reflect the evolution of the Department of Homeland Security's National Network of Fusion Centers as well as the relationship of the Department's Office of Intelligence and Analysis with the fusion centers in the network.
H.R. 3598, as introduced by the gentleman from Pennsylvania (Mr. Barletta), clarifies that fusion centers are State- and locally owned and operated and requires the Department's Office of Intelligence and Analysis to provide support to centers in its network through the deployment of appropriate personnel and providing access to information.
Importantly, H.R. 3598 also adds several new responsibilities to the Under Secretary of Intelligence and Analysis related to grant guidance, coordinating nationwide suspicious activity reports, and ensuring that fusion centers are the focal points for sharing information.
This bill makes several technical changes to existing statutory language to help ensure increased information-sharing resources are made available to Federal, State, and local law enforcement officials at our National Network of Fusion Centers.
If enacted, H.R. 3598 will go a long way to providing States and localities that have invested significant resources in standing up fusion centers to participate in DHS' National Network with the support they need to keep their communities and, ultimately, the Nation secure.
In closing, Mr. Speaker, I want to express my support again for this bill and commend the leaders of the committee's Counterterrorism and Intelligence Subcommittee, Mr. King and Mr. Higgins, for working together to advance this timely and important piece of legislation.
Again, let me thank Mr. Barletta and talk about the longstanding confusion that has existed with fusion centers around the country. When created, it was Congress' hope that everybody would be singing from the same sheet of music. Hopefully this gets us real close to that performance. I urge the passage of H.R. 3598 and look forward to its passage.
Mr. Speaker, I yield back the balance of my time.
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