Public Intelligence

The Silicon Valley High Technology Task Force, also known as the Rapid Enforcement Allied Computer Team (REACT), is a partnership of 17 local, state, and federal agencies, with the Santa Clara County District Attorney’s Office designated as the lead agency. The REACT Task Force is one of five in the State of California and authorized under California Penal Code 13848. All Agents of the React Task Force are either California Peace Officers and/or U.S. Federal Agents.

The National Counterterrorism Center (NCTC) was established by Presidential Executive Order 13354 in August 2004, and codified by the Intelligence Reform and Terrorism Prevention Act of 2004 (IRTPA). NCTC implements a key recommendation of the 9/11 Commission: “Breaking the older mold of national government organizations, this NCTC should be a center for joint operational planning and joint intelligence, staffed by personnel from the various agencies.”

The Term Auction Facility (TAF) is a “credit facility” which allows depository institutions to bid upon collateralized loans from their local Federal Reserve Bank. Under the program, depository institutions determined to be in good standing with their local Federal Reserve Bank can participate in auctions of short-term loans with varying terms. The facility was created in December of 2007 following a series of similar actions from the European Central Bank, the Bank of Canada, the Swiss National Bank, and the Bank of England. These actions involved opening “discount windows” through which centralized banking institutions may provide short-term loans to banks to improve liquidity.

“Fusion center” is a generic term for entities which are designed to integrate federal intelligence efforts with the state and local authorities. As of July 2009, there are 72 fusion centers around the country and one in nearly every state. These entities work under the auspices of local law enforcement, often integrating with the state’s police force, Department of Justice, or Office of Emergency Management.

The Office of Intelligence and Analysis (I&A) is a member of the national Intelligence Community (IC) and ensures that information related to homeland security threats is collected, analyzed, and disseminated to the full spectrum of homeland security customers in the Department, at state, local, and tribal levels, in the private sector, and in the IC. I&A works closely with Department component intelligence organizations as well as state, local, tribal, and private-sector entities to ensure non-traditional streams of information are fused with traditional IC sources to provide a complete assessment of threats to the nation.

There is a very small amount of information that is publicly available regarding the Maryland Procurement Office. All non-military domains and subdomains associated with the National Security Agency are registered to the Maryland Procurement Office with the notable exception of www.nsa.gov, which is registered to AT&T Wordnet Services.

Semiannual Report to Congress: October 1, 2008–March 31, 2009