Qualia : a prescription for developing a quality health threat assessment

Abstract

The 9/11 Commission Report called for consolidation of intelligence assets in order to unify the knowledge base of the intelligence community agencies. This concept gave rise to the fusion center as a place for the fusion of multiple information sources from local, state, and federal levels of government. Although the need for inclusion of health and medical information in fusion centers has been documented, relatively few have done so, and a product designed specifically toward health and medical intelligence currently does not exist at the state and local level. The purpose of this paper is to document a methodology for development of a health threat assessment as a means for the intelligence community to maintain a decision advantage, particularly at the state and local level where the intelligence developed will provide the most benefit to first responders and the local community. This model demonstrates the need for the public health and medical community to improve collaboration across sectors to produce a more integrated product that enhances the understanding of the entire community, thus developing qualia. This can only be accomplished through trust, complete transparency, and clarification of expectations in order to establish the consummate information sharing community.