WASHINGTON, D.C. — It may have an innocuous sounding name and a low public profile, but to law enforcement officials around the state say the Washington Joint Analytical Center is key to tracking international and homegrown terrorists who could be planning attacks.

The center in a downtown Seattle office building involves about 20 local, state and federal police officials along with a team of analysts to review intelligence gathered statewide.

"We think it has prevented things," said Washington State Patrol Chief John Batiste. He said the state is potentially a target-rich environment for terrorists, with everything from jumbo ferries to massive dams to the Tacoma Narrows Bridge.

But now the federal Department of Homeland Security wants to cut funding for such centers and slough the costs off on states, said Batiste and members of Washington's congressional delegation.

The Seattle center is funded through about $2 million in federal homeland security grants. Batiste and others said the Homeland Security Department has decided the grant money no longer can be used to pay for existing intelligence analysts in the 58 intelligence centers, or fusion centers, nationwide.

The grants can be used to hire new analysts, but will only pay for them for several years.

Batiste and the Washington state congressional delegation said that could force the Seattle center to close as state and local law enforcement agencies already have tight budgets. The state has asked for a waiver to the new homeland security grant rules.

"For them to walk away is ludicrous," Don Pierce, executive director of the Washington Association of Sheriffs and Police Chiefs and a former Bellingham police chief, said of the Department of Homeland Security. "We believe this is one of the most important things we are doing, if not the most important thing when it comes to homeland security. They are pulling the rug out from under us."

Batiste agreed.

"We're already running on bailing wire and duct tape," he said. "They asked us to do something. We did. And now, they don't help us. It's an oxymoron I am struggling with."

Department of Homeland Security officials said there has been a "general misunderstanding" with the state over the new rules. The department wants more of the grant money nationwide spent on building up capabilities to deal with improvised explosive devices than in the past. But they also admit to a fundamental "philosophic difference."

"We planned to get these centers up and running, not sustain them forever," said Russ Knocke, a department spokesman. "Congress said these grants were for counterterrorism and natural disaster preparedness, not local law enforcement."

Copyright 2008 Tri-City Herald