Terrorist Surveillance—Joint Regional Intelligence Center

Norwalk, California has been chosen as the site for the Joint Regional Intelligence Center [hereinafter JRIC].^[1] The LA-centric JRIC “will analyze and investigate terrorist threats in Los Angeles, Orange, Riverside, San Luis Obispo, Santa Barbara, San Bernardino and Ventura counties.”^[2]

The goal of the JRIC “is to reduce the time it takes agents from various agencies to share leads.”^[3] While there are “other such ‘fusion centers’ in California and around the country,”^[4] the LA JRIC is different because, unlike a center in New York which is staffed primarily with police officers, it will be comprised of 200 federal, state, and local law enforcement officers from the Los Angeles Police Department, the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department, the FBI and the state Office of Homeland Security.^[5]

Memex, Inc., has been chosen to “provide the intelligence management system to support the [LA JRIC].”^[6] According to Memex’s press release, the Memex system “facilitates the management and sharing of intelligence information among federal, state and local law enforcement agencies,” and “will allow the JRIC to gather, collate, track, analyze and disseminate intelligence information in real time, including counterterrorism tips and leads.”^[7] Some of the technology that will be involved in the Memex system include data mining, and “analysis and visualization tools across intelligence databases.”^[8]

Memex also provides intelligence systems for the LAPD,^[9] the New Hampshire State Police,^[10] and its technology has been used “to identify suspected war criminals in the Balkans; to track the proliferation of chemical, biological, and nuclear weapons around the world; and to assist in planning and executing countless operations in the current War on Terrorism.”^[11]

It is estimated that approximately $6 million has been spent on the facility, which is located on the seventh floor of an office building in Norwalk, so far.^[12]

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[1] ”24” Realized: SoCal Counter-Terrorism Unit Opens, CBS News, Jul. 27, 2006.
[2] Id.
[3] Joint Command Center to Track Terrorist Activity in Southern California, AP (via Boston Herald), Jul. 27, 2006.
[4] Jeremiah Marquez, Center to Track Terror Activity in Calif., AP (via Minneapolis Star-Tribune), Jul. 27, 2006.
[5] CBS supra note 1.
[6] Press Release: Memex Chosen to Provide Intelligence System to Los Angeles Joint Regional Intelligence Center, Business Wire (via Yahoo!), Jul. 27, 2006.
[7] Id.
[8] Id.
[9] See Press Release: Memex Chosen to Provide Intelligence System for LAPD, memex.com, Jan. 9, 2006.
[10] See Press Release: New Hampshire State Police Selects Memex to Aid in the Sharing of Terrorism Intelligence Across the State, memex.com, Jun. 26, 2006.
[11] Military Intelligence, memex.com, last visited Jul. 27, 2006.
[12] Marquez, supra note 4.