National Criminal Intelligence Fusion Capability Implementation Update July 2011
The Fusion Capability was formally launched on 13 July 2010 by the Minister for Home Affairs and Justice, Brendan O’Connor, and the Attorney-General, Robert McClelland, with the official opening of the National Criminal Intelligence Fusion Centre in the Australian Crime Commission’s (ACC) Canberra Office.
A large proportion of the effort over the past year has been focused on implementation, including acquiring and developing the people, systems and operating processes that underpin the capability. This is being made possible through the provision of $14.5 million by the Government, spread over four years.
This implementation update focuses on some of the achievements of the Fusion Capability in its first year of operation.
What is Fusion?
The Fusion Capability is a key plank of the Government’s assault on organised crime. It is a critical element of the Commonwealth Organised Crime Strategic Framework, providing the means to identify patterns of crime and the flows of money associated with them. From this information, Fusion is able to identify the individuals, businesses and corporate structures involved in criminal enterprises in Australia.
The ACC-led Fusion Capability is about integrating or ‘fusing’ the national criminal intelligence picture. It represents a significant step towards delivery of a real-time national picture of the threat being posed to Australia by organised crime. It brings together people from a range of Government agencies, who work collaboratively to provide a more comprehensive picture of the targets, risks, threats and vulnerabilities associated with organised crime. These people have a variety of expertise and unique skills, as well as access to their own agencies’ information holdings.
Acheivements
The implementation and establishment of Fusion is progressing well. The ACC is working with a range of partner agencies who are providing secondees, access to data, and specialist capabilities. Many other agencies, in both the public and private sectors, are indirectly involved through providing Fusion with access to their information.
Building on the success of the multi-agency, multi-disciplinary teams now working in the Fusion Centre, the next step is to establish Regional Fusion Hubs in ACC offices in Adelaide, Brisbane, Melbourne, Sydney and Perth over the next 12 months. This will provide the Fusion Capability with national reach through the close interaction between the Fusion Hubs and the ACC’s state and territory partners.
Delivery of Actionable Intelligence
Over its first 12 months, Fusion has produced 974 intelligence reports, which have been disseminated to 53 partner agencies. These range from information reports in support of ACC and partner agency tactical operations through to a more strategically focused report, which is disseminated fortnightly to 57 senior clients.
A large and increasing proportion of intelligence products result from proactive data mining projects, taking advantage of Fusion’s increasing access to data feeds and its enhanced ability to manipulate and exploit this data. Fusion also generates actionable intelligence on individuals and criminal groups previously unknown to law enforcement. Since its inception, Fusion has generated over 2300 actionable leads and has identified and built significant intelligence profiles against 53 new targets suspected of involvement in serious and organised crime.
...Fusion has identified 53 new targets suspected of involvement in serious and organised crime...
Several of these targets have been identified as laundering suspected criminal proceeds in excess of $100 million annually.
Ongoing Work
Implementation of the Fusion Capability is on schedule and is expected to be fully operational by July 2012. A fully operational National Criminal Intelligence Fusion Capability will contribute to the reduction of the organised crime threat to Australia by:
- providing a national monitoring capability on the highest risk serious and organised crime targets
- increasing the ability of law enforcement to identify previously unknown targets
- increasing understanding of the nexus between serious criminal activity and other national security threats.
The next 12 months will see further implementation of technologies that will enhance capability towards real-time intelligence analysis and response.
...Fusion has generated over 2300 actionable leads...
Case Study 1
Comparing the details of over 28 000 casino high-rollers Australia-wide against the known nationally significant criminal targets and their close associates revealed 78 potential matches. Some of the losses were recorded in the millions of dollars. Further investigation revealed that for many of these individuals there is no apparent legitimate source of income to explain these large sums of money. Intelligence summaries were provided to relevant partner agencies, leading to a better understanding of the financial picture surrounding these individuals. Cases of apparent fraud involving the welfare system were forwarded to Centrelink. Instances of unexplained wealth were provided to the Australian Federal Police-led Criminal Assets Confiscation Task Force for ongoing action.
Case Study 2
Using filtering techniques to identify anomalous money movement among the many millions of overseas financial transactions reported to the Australian Transaction Reporting and Analysis Centre (AUSTRAC) each day, Fusion has identified individuals that are sending large amounts of drug-related profits offshore. One remittance agency operating from two small city shop fronts was found to be moving relatively large amounts of funds offshore— approximately $20 million in a single month—most of which was suspected of being the proceeds of criminal activity. Further investigation identified several customers with apparent links to criminal syndicates involved in the importation, manufacture and distribution of illicit drugs. These customers are now subject to law enforcement and regulatory attention.
Fusion Capability partners
- Attorney-General’s Department
- Australian Competition and Consumer Commission
- Australian Customs and Border Protection Service
- Australian Federal Police
- Australian Securities and Investment Commission
- Australian Security Intelligence Organisation
- Australian Taxation Office
- Australian Transaction Reporting and Analysis Centre
- Centrelink
- Department of Defence
- Department of Finance and Deregulation
- Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade
- Department of Immigration and Citizenship
- Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet
- Department of the Treasury
- New South Wales
- Police Force
- Northern Territory Police
- Queensland Police Service
- South Australia Police
- Tasmanian Police
- Victoria Police
- Western Australia Police
More Information
For more information about the Fusion Capability contact Australian Crime Commission Media on (02) 6243 6843
© Commonwealth of Australia 2011