§124i Homeland Security Information Sharing Fellows Program

Summary

The Secretary of Homeland Security must create the "Homeland Security Information Sharing Fellows Program" through the Under Secretary for Intelligence and Analysis, with help from the Chief Human Capital Officer. The program brings State, local, and tribal law enforcement officers and intelligence analysts into the Department for short details under federal personnel rules. Fellows learn how the Department and other federal agencies work and how the Office of Intelligence and Analysis operates. They also help share information by acting as points of contact, spotting homeland security, terrorism, and weapons-of-mass-destruction information that local agencies need, and helping Department analysts prepare and share products for law enforcement and emergency responders. To be a fellow, a person must have homeland-security duties, be able to get a security clearance, need access to classified information as approved by the Under Secretary, work for an eligible entity, and complete privacy and civil liberties training set up by the Department’s Privacy Officer and the Officer for Civil Rights and Civil Liberties with input from the Privacy and Civil Liberties Oversight Board. Eligible entities include fusion centers, state or local agencies (including those serving big cities, suburbs, rural areas, ports, or borders), tribal authorities, or others the Secretary approves. No State, local, or tribal agency has to join. The Under Secretary must set nomination and selection rules, pick fellows from a wide range of agencies, and limit the number so the Office of Intelligence and Analysis can keep doing its work.