Section 15A-12-1 - West Virginia Fusion Center Established(a) The Governor shall establish, organize, equip, staff, and maintain a multiagency information fusion center ("Fusion Center") to receive, analyze, and disseminate all hazard, crime, and threat information. The Department of Homeland Security shall operate the facility, as directed by the Governor, with oversight auditing and accountability to the select committee of the Legislature as set forth herein, and in collaboration among federal, state, and local agencies, as well as private sector persons, organizations, entities, or agencies, including, but not limited to, those with the primary purposes of homeland security, counter-terrorism, public safety, public protection, and critical infrastructure: Provided, That the Fusion Center shall not knowingly participate in activity, or knowingly cooperate, with any federal agency, or a contractor for any federal agency, when that participation or cooperation involves illegal or improper actions. Further, the Fusion Center shall not allow a federal agency or contractor for a federal agency to work inside the Fusion Center when it knows or has reason to know that such federal agency or federal contractor is presently engaged or intends to engage in unlawful intelligence-gathering activity against a citizen of West Virginia.(b) The Fusion Center shall collect, integrate, analyze, disseminate, and maintain such information to support local, state, and federal law-enforcement agencies, other governmental agencies, and private persons, organizations, entities, or agencies in detecting, preventing, investigating, preparing for, responding to, and recovering from any possible or actual criminal or terrorist activity, as well as any hazard, including to the state's critical infrastructure, in compliance with applicable state and federal laws and regulations, including 28 CFR 23: Provided, That as used in this article, "terrorism" shall mean only foreign or international terrorist groups or individuals, or domestic groups or individuals involved in transnational or domestic terrorism as defined in 6 U.S.C. § 485 : Provided, however, That under no circumstance shall the Fusion Center or its officers, directors, agents, or employees engage in, or be ordered or directed to engage in prohibited non-law enforcement intelligence gathering activities on citizens of the United States as set forth in any federal or state law or in contravention of the Constitution of the United States, nor shall the Fusion Center engage in any information or intelligence gathering for any political purpose nor be solicited for, or cooperate in, any investigation of a public official or candidate for elected office, unless reasonable grounds exist to suspect the subject of the investigation is, or may be, involved in criminal conduct. This provision shall not prohibit the Fusion Center from participating in matters dealing with election fraud, election tampering, or other issues designed to provide the citizens of the state with tamper-free elections, and shall not restrict the Fusion Center from assisting in security matters involving political or dignitary visits to or within the State of West Virginia.(c) The West Virginia Fusion Center shall be housed within secure facilities in order to access sensitive information, as permitted by state and federal law. Within the secure facilities, the Fusion Center shall house a Homeland Secure Data Network (HSDN) in order to access classified information as permitted by state and federal law and ensure that appropriate security measures are in place for: (1) the secure facilities; (2) data collected or stored at the secure facilities; and (3) personnel working at the secure facilities.(d) The West Virginia Fusion Center shall do all acts necessary and proper to carry out the powers granted to the board of the State Resiliency Office.Added by 2020 Acts, ch. 296 (HB 4176), eff. 6/5/2020.