It is the only member of the IC tasked with providing intelligence to state, local, tribal and territorial (SLTT) governments, and private sector entities, and developing national intelligence products from information collected by SLTT entities.

[1] I&A leads the Department of Homeland Security Intelligence Enterprise (DHS-IE), an activity which includes seven centers, more than 75 fusion centers across the United States, and intelligence units from DHS field and headquarters components.

DHS and I&A were established in the wake of the September 11th attacks to address some of the fundamental national security challenges and information sharing gaps identified by the 9/11 Commission.

I&A was originally established by the Homeland Security Act of 2002[3] as the Directorate for Information Analysis and Infrastructure Protection.

It was not until the Implementing Recommendations of the 9/11 Commission Act of 2007[4] that I&A was formally created as the first federal agency statutorily mandated to share information at the state and local level.