A recently formed “fusion cell” of government and airline industry security analysts helped guide the U.S. response to the Ebola crisis, according to the Office of the Director of National Intelligence (ODNI). The office, which coordinates the activities of 17 intelligence agencies and organizations, plans to continue the aviation security-focused effort.
“The cell has been invaluable in helping to sort information on the current Ebola crisis, and we think it will continue to get stronger and better as it integrates with other government and private-sector participants,” James Clapper, director of national intelligence, said on October 27. Clapper gave the keynote address at an International Air Transport Association (IATA) aviation security conference in Washington, D.C.
The U.S. effort to stop the spread of the Ebola virus from West Africa is still evolving. In a joint announcement earlier this month, the Department of Homeland Security and the Centers for Disease Control said travelers from West Africa arriving at five major U.S. airports will be screened for the virus. Those airports—New York JFK, Washington Dulles, Newark Liberty, Chicago O’Hare and Atlanta Hartsfield-Jackson—receive 94 percent of the travelers from Ebola-affected nations.
The ODNI created the so-called “air domain intelligence integration and analysis cell” in September. It provides a forum “where analysts and security professionals from both the public and private sector, including manufacturers, airlines and airports, can voluntarily share threat information and intelligence,” said Clapper. In another presentation at the IATA event, Tina Gabbrielli of the ODNI said the cell is “already proving its worth. It’s helped us provide support to the global efforts to deal with the Ebola crisis and to address other aviation threat issues.”
Plans call for making the cell a permanent entity, based at the Transportation Security Administration facility in Annapolis Junction, Md., said Gabbrielli, whose job title is director of the ODNI air domain intelligence integration element. “It is a first-of-its-kind venture,” she said. “It’s where public- and private-sector aviation analysts and security personnel come together to share aviation related information, threat information and intelligence in as real time as possible at all classification levels.”
