Fusion Centers? Our Freedom is Lost!

[hisea]

State and Local Fusion Centers

Many states and larger cities have created state and local fusion centers to share information and intelligence within their jurisdictions as well as with the federal government. The Department, through the Office of Intelligence and Analysis, provides personnel with operational and intelligence skills to the fusion centers. This support is tailored to the unique needs of the locality and serves to:
help the classified and unclassified information flow,
provide expertise,
coordinate with local law enforcement and other agencies, and
provide local awareness and access.
As of July 2009, there were 72 designated fusion centers around the country with 36 field representatives deployed. The Department has provided more than $254 million from FY 2004-2007 to state and local governments to support the centers.
The Homeland Security Data Network (HSDN), which allows the federal government to move information and intelligence to the states at the Secret level, is deployed at 27 fusion centers. Through HSDN, fusion center staff can access the National Counterterrorism Center (NCTC), a classified portal of the most current terrorism-related information.

www.dhs.gov/files/programs/gc_1156877184684.shtm

[Deleted]

Is this a bad thing? If so, why? Sharing of information should be a good thing.

[emsguru]

Nov 20, 2010 0:38:20 GMT -4 @mj70cj428 said:

Is this a bad thing? If so, why? Sharing of information should be a good thing.

No it is probably one of the best things that came out of the 9/11 commission report. Without them the FBI, State, and local governments would not have a open line of communications sharing intelligence.

[bchevy]

Fusions Center:

What government creates to talk to itself because it doesn't know how...

Making government bigger, will not make government better.

[bchevy]

Nov 20, 2010 4:28:00 GMT -4 emsguru said:

Nov 20, 2010 0:38:20 GMT -4 @mj70cj428 said:

Is this a bad thing? If so, why? Sharing of information should be a good thing.

No it is probably one of the best things that came out of the 9/11 commission report. Without them the FBI, State, and local governments would not have a open line of communications sharing intelligence.

While I agree with the concept, this form of implimentation will just balloon gov't waste.

Eliminate the duplication that most of these departments have between each other, and then eliminate some of the departments. It's stupid to have multiple agencies doing the same job, watching the same people. This will turn into big brother watching US instead of THEM.

Yeah, I said THEM.

[hisea]

Policein Maryland appear tohave followed practices similar to those authorized in the Massachusetts
standardoperating procedures. According to documents released in response to an ACLU lawsuit, the
Maryland State Police (MSP) used undercover officers to spy on non-violent peace activists and anti-
FUSION CENTER UPDATE 7
death penalty groups. The undercover agents consistently reported that the activists acted legally at all
times, yet the investigations continued for over 14 months. Information about the groups’ political activi-
ties gathered during the investigations “was shared with seven different agencies, including the National
Security Agency and an un-named military intelligence official.”37 Alongtime peace activist who was an
apparent target of the surveillance, Max Obuszewski, had his identifying information entered into a feder-
aldatabase under the “primary crime” heading of “Terrorism—anti-government,” even though absolutely
no violent activity was even alleged in the reports.38 The information was uploaded into a federal drug
task force database that is accessible by the Maryland fusion center, the Maryland Coordination and
Analysis Center (MCAC).39

www.aclu.org/pdfs/privacy/fusion_update_20080729.pdf

[hisea]

Spying uncovered
Documents show state police monitored peace and anti-death penalty groups

Undercover Maryland State Police officers repeatedly spied on peace activists and anti-death penalty groups in recent years and entered the names of some in a law-enforcement database of people thought to be terrorists or drug traffickers, newly released documents show.

The files, made public yesterday by the American Civil Liberties Union of Maryland, depict a pattern of infiltration of the activists' organizations in 2005 and 2006. The activists contend that the authorities were trying to determine whether they posed a security threat to the United States. But none of the 43 pages of summaries and computer logs - some with agents' names and whole paragraphs blacked out - mention criminal or even potentially criminal acts, the legal standard for initiating such surveillance.

www.baltimoresun.com/news/maryland/bal-te.md.spy18jul18,0,5659230.story