As our Nation's first "preventers and responders," State, local, and tribal governments are critical to our efforts to prevent future terrorist attacks and to respond if an attack occurs. They must have access to the information that enables them to protect our local communities. In addition, these State, local, and tribal officials are often best able to identify potential threats that exist within their jurisdictions. They are full and trusted partners with the Federal Government in our Nation's efforts to combat terrorism, and therefore they must be a part of the information sharing framework that supports an effective and efficient multi-directional flow of information enabling officials at all levels of government to counter and respond to threats.

Guideline 2 of the President's December 16, 2005, Memorandum to Heads of Executive Departments and Agencies directed that a common framework be developed governing the roles and responsibilities of federal agencies relating to the sharing of terrorism information, homeland security information, and law enforcement information related to terrorism between and among federal departments and agencies, State, local, and tribal governments, and private sector entities. That framework has been codified in the Administration's National Strategy for Information Sharing.

The attacks of September 11 illustrate that foreign terrorists might live in our local communities and be engaged in criminal or other suspicious activity as they plan attacks on targets within the United States or its territories. At the same time, there is increasing concern about the potential threat posed by homegrown terrorists. While lacking formal ties to al-Qaida, these disaffected, radicalized, violent extremists often draw inspiration from al-Qaida and other global terrorist organizations. Whether a plan is homegrown or originated overseas, important knowledge that forewarns of a future attack may be derived from information gathered by State, local, and tribal government personnel in the course of routine law enforcement and other activities.

State, local, and tribal governments carry out their counterterrorism responsibilities within the broader context of their core mission to protect the public's health and safety and to provide emergency and non-emergency services. While State and local officials work to prevent future terrorist attacks, they still must arrest criminals, put out fires, respond to traffic accidents, and deal with a host of public health and safety issues. Success in these endeavors depends on a strong partnership with the public, built on a foundation of communication and trust between local officials and the members of their community. These same partnerships protect these communities from future terrorist attacks.

Needs of State, Local, and Tribal Governments

The informational needs of State, local, and tribal entities continue to grow as they incorporate counterterrorism and homeland security activities into their day-to-day missions. Specifically, they require access to timely, credible, and actionable information and intelligence about individuals and groups intending to carry out attacks within the United States, their organizations and their financing, potential targets, pre-attack indicators, and major events or circumstances that might influence State, local, and tribal preventive and protective postures. To implement the National Strategy, and as key participants in the information sharing mission, State, local, and tribal entities are encouraged to undertake the following activities, in appropriate consultation and coordination with federal departments and agencies:

• Foster a culture that recognizes the importance of fusing all-crimes information with national security implications, with other security-related information (e.g., criminal investigations, terrorism, public health and safety, and natural hazard emergency response);
• Support efforts to detect and prevent terrorist attacks by maintaining situational awareness of threats, alerts, and warnings, and develop critical infrastructure protection plans to ensure the security and resilience of infrastructure operations (e.g., electric power, transportation, telecommunications) within a region, State, or locality; and
• Develop training, awareness, and exercise programs to ensure that State, local, and tribal personnel are prepared to deal with terrorist strategies, tactics, capabilities, and intentions, and to test plans for preventing, preparing for, mitigating the effects of, and responding to events.

Authorities at all levels of our federal system must share a common understanding of the information needed to prevent, deter, and respond to terrorist attacks. The common understanding will be achieved through a framework that enables:

• Federal entities to work together to provide information in ways that better meet the needs of State, local, and tribal partners; and
• Information gathered at the State and local level to be processed, analyzed, disseminated, and integrated with information gathered at the Federal level.

This integrated approach allows federal agencies to work together to produce and disseminate a federally-validated perspective on available threat information and relies on the efforts of the fusion environments at the State and regional levels. These goals are accomplished through:

• The establishment of an Integrated National Network of Fusion Centers. Since 2001, the Federal Government has provided significant grant funding to support the establishment of fusion centers owned and operated by States and major urban areas. 66 such centers have either been established or are being established. The National Strategy for Information Sharing requires a Federal Government-wide approach to supporting and collaborating with these centers.
• The Interagency Threat Assessment and Coordination Group (ITACG) within the National Counterterrorism Center (NCTC) facilitates the production of federally-coordinated terrorism information products intended for dissemination to State, local, tribal, and private sector partners.