Is intelligence central to everything DHS does? Is there a good example to drive this point home?

The Department of Homeland Security both maintains an intelligence unit and combines forces with other intelligence services, both within the United States and internationally. The intelligence information obtained by these multiple units and organizations is the bases of investigations and the DHS mission to keep the United States secure.
HSIN-Intel is the abbreviation for Homeland Security Information Network–Intelligence, a community of interest located on HSIN. Its stated purpose is “to provide intelligence stakeholders across the Homeland Security Enterprise with a secure platform for effective, efficient, and timely collaboration and sharing of Sensitive But Unclassified (SBU) information, data, products, analytic exchange, and situational awareness.” This community of intelligence professionals are part of homeland security, intelligence, and law enforcement communities at every level of government. Their work fuses governance with comprehensive security and collaboration technologies, which aids in protecting sensitive information and privacy, according to law and federal and other agency policies.
One area in which these collaborative efforts have succeeded is international drug trafficking. In concert with DHS, state and local “fusion centers” aid information sharing and analysis within appropriate jurisdictions. Many cases each year are solved through these combined efforts. In 2014, for example, the Alabama Fusion Center participated in the successful national Project Synergy led by the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA). Through AFC intelligence and research support, and the work of the Alabama Narcotics Task Force agents, Project Synergy’s investigations of transnational drug networks, including money supply and flow, led to the arrest of more than 38 individuals suspected involved with transnational drug networks and the seizure weapons, hundreds of pounds of synthetic drugs, and a half million dollars.
https://www.dhs.gov/2014-fusion-center-success-stories

https://www.dhs.gov/intelligence