Measuring Effectiveness in the Domestic Intelligence Community: Taking a Configurational Approach to Explain Organizational Outcomes in the National Network of Fusion Centers

Abstract

This dissertation examines organizational level outcomes within a whole network--the national network of fusion centers. Fusion centers are state and local organizations that fuse threat-related intelligence and information by working with federal, state, and local law enforcement as well as other security partners in the public and private sectors. This research will ask why outcomes at the fusion center level vary within the network by exploring unique configurations of conditions at multiple levels of analysis. The results of the research will present evidence that suggests whole network effectiveness cannot be fully comprehended without first examining sub-network level impacts, such as the training or experience of analysts, organizational capacities, and the roles of relationships between network actors. This line of inquiry has ramifications for inter-organizational network theory building because it will demonstrate the individual importance of these factors, and how they interact with other factors at multiple levels within a network to influence outcomes. For practitioners in the domestic intelligence community this research will provide important insights and present paths taken by organizations in a national network to achieve a desired or undesired outcome.