HOMELAND
SECURITY
INFORMATION
NETWORK:
SHARING TIMELY INFORMATION AMONG GEORGIA AGENCIES
I
Story by: Brandy Mai
n the homeland security world,
sharing information among
agencies is critical to keeping
citizens safe. In addition, the
timeliness of that information di-
rectly impacts the efficiency of safety
operations. The network for shar-
ing timely information in Georgia
is the Homeland Security Informa-
tion Network. HSIN brings together
people, processes and technology
to make the state safer by bridging
information gaps.
“The events of 9/11 highlighted
the need for first responders to better
coordinate and communicate with
law enforcement and intelligence
partners at all levels of government in
a centralized and secure manner,” said
Andrew Sloan, Acting Director of
HSIN Mission Integration and Out-
reach for Department of Homeland
Security. “The information exchange
systems that grew out of this need
evolved into HSIN.”
The HSIN network has more than
40,000 users across federal, state,
local, tribal, territorial, interna-
tional and private sector organiza-
tions. Threat-related information
is received, analyzed, gathered and
shared with 79 fusion centers across
the nation, which operate as focal
points for the receipt, analysis, gath-
ering and sharing of threat-related
information, typically operating in
service of states and major urban
areas.
Only one of the 79 fusion centers
is located in Georgia. The Georgia
Information Sharing and Analysis
Center was formed in 2001 and has a
two-fold mission: to provide investi-
gative support to law enforcement in
Georgia for criminal activity and to
dedicate resources to the protection
of Georgia citizens against the threat
of terrorism. Notably, even with only
HSIN REGISTERED USERS BY STATE
GEORGIA IS 6TH LARGEST HSIN USER
WITH 3,157 REGISTERED USERS
Source: Dept. of Homeland Security