A. Barton Hinkle on DHS "Confusion" Centers
Americans are always asking politicians to "do something" about various problems. Politicians, unfortunately, often oblige with solutions that create other problems. Take, for instance, fusion centers. In the aftermath of 9/11, various government agencies, it was said, had been unable to "connect the dots" because they did not share information. To facilitate such sharing, fusion centers where federal, state and local officials could join forces were created. Yet despite hoovering up hundreds of millions of dollars, writes A. Barton Hinkle, those centers have produced almost nothing of productive use in the fight against terrorism.