Local and federal officials on Monday announced the opening of a law enforcement center in downtown Washington that is designed to better prepare law enforcement for the next public health emergency or Jan. 6-style attack.

“We have learned a lot from the past three years,” D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser said at a ribbon-cutting for the Emergency Operations Center, in Southeast Washington. “Be prepared for anything and everything, whether that’s a global pandemic or an emergency at the U.S. Capitol.”

More than two dozen law enforcement agencies, including staff from the FBI, Secret Service, the U.S. Park Police, U.S. Capitol Police and D.C.’s Metropolitan Police Department, will occupy the 42,000 square-foot space.

Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas said the Emergency Operation Center will enable DHS to “work seamlessly with our key partners.”

It is not the first time the United States’ capital region has attempted to eliminate obstacles in information sharing by putting all the law enforcement bodies that protect it under one roof.

A previous iteration, known as D.C.’s “fusion center,” shared open sourced data in December 2020 with DHS and D.C.’s Metropolitan Police Department about threats to the region on Jan. 6, 2021, according to a Government Accountability Office report.

Chris Rodriguez, director of the Homeland Security and Emergency Management Agency for the District of Columbia, said the new space is larger, allowing for more federal law enforcement officers to be permanently stationed there and it is better equipped for real-time intelligence sharing.

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