For Immediate Release
Office of the Press Secretary
Contact: 202-282-8010
PHOENIX - Secretary of Homeland Security Janet Napolitano today traveled to Phoenix to meet with state and major urban area fusion center leaders and deliver remarks on information sharing and analysis, and collaboration with federal, state, local, tribal and territorial partners at the 2012 National Fusion Center Training Event.
"Homeland security begins with hometown security, and fusion centers play a vital role in keeping communities safe all across America," said Secretary Napolitano. "Fusion centers enhance hometown security in many ways - as they are uniquely well-positioned to help local officials better protect their communities from all threats, whether it is terrorism or other criminal activities."
During her remarks, Secretary Napolitano underscored the importance of collaborating with federal, state, local, tribal and territorial partners to improve information sharing and analysis, and enhance our nation’s ability to identify, mitigate and respond to emerging threats. Secretary Napolitano also emphasized the importance of working jointly with fusion centers to further develop their grassroots analytic capabilities, so that national intelligence can be placed in a local context.
Secretary Napolitano also highlighted the Nationwide Suspicious Activity Reporting Initiative-an administration effort to train state and local law enforcement to recognize behaviors and indicators related to terrorism and terrorism-related crime; standardize how those observations are documented and analyzed; and ensure the sharing of those reports with the Federal Bureau of Investigation-led Joint Terrorism Task Forces for further investigation.
In addition, Secretary Napolitano reiterated the importance of increasing community awareness and encouraging the public to report suspicious activity to law enforcement—including through the Department’s "If You See Something, Say Something™" public awareness campaign. The "If You See Something, Say Something™" campaign - originally implemented by New York City’s Metropolitan Transportation Authority and now licensed to DHS for a nationwide campaign - is a simple and effective program to engage the public and key frontline employees to identify and report indicators of terrorism and terrorism-related crime to the proper local law enforcement authorities.
Recent expansions of the "If You See Something, Say Something™" campaign include partnerships with numerous sports teams and leagues, transportation agencies, private sector partners, states, municipalities, and colleges and universities. DHS also unveiled new Public Service Announcements which have been distributed to television and radio stations across the country.
For more information, visit www.dhs.gov.
###