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Fusion: Fear, Fiction, Fact and Freedom
Tucked away in a rented room at the Collin County Sheriff's office is a computer operation called the North Central Texas Fusion System.
According to its website, "The Fusion System is a data sharing and analysis system primarily focused on the prevention and early warning of natural, accidental and intentional disasters. The Fusion System is also used to support emergency responses, field operations, and investigations."
One of about 58 Fusion Centers nationwide, the NTFC is envisioned as a response to the call for better sharing of information and communications between different law enforcement agencies and first responders in the wake of the 911 terrorist attack.
The computers at the NCTFS are designed to not only share law enforcement and weather data, but to merge thousands of public, government and commercial databases into a tool that can, "detect and graphically display relationships between people, places, and events". In other words, to connect the dots on both demographic trends as well as on an individual's movements and communications.
The NCTFS publishes a weekly newsletter, the "Prevention Awareness Bulletin". According to the Fusion Center, it is distributed to over 1,500 individuals from over 200 different agencies.
Last week's Prevention Awareness Bulletin included a story titled, "Middle Eastern Terrorist groups and their supporting organizations have been successful in gaining support for Islamic goals in the United States and providing an environment for terrorist organizations to flourish."
The article warned law enforcement agencies to be "aware of and report" the legal activities of legal Muslim organizations under the pretext that these groups are lobbying to turn, "public and political support towards radical goals such as Shariah law and support of terrorist military action against Western nations."
It's unbelievable that a government financed intelligence operation is asking the police to report perfectly legal political activities of American citizens.
The article weaves together a few facts and internet rumors to paint a picture of a American Muslim goal to replace Christianity with Islam. In one case it quotes Omar Ahmad, a founder of The Council on American Islamic Relations (CAIR) as telling a San Ramon Valley Herald reporter, "Islam isn't in America to be equal to any other faith, but to become dominant. The Koran should be the highest authority in America, and Islam the only accepted religion on Earth."
CAIR and Ahmad deny he ever made the statement.
The newsletter article then uses that quote to infer a conspiracy to dominate American culture with, "Taken in that context, pushing an aggressive, pro-Islam agenda that's been increasingly successful in recent years takes on a new light". There follows such Islamic "agenda items" as foot baths in the cab drivers break room at an airport in Indiana.
In one paragraph the Fusion Center even accuses the United States Treasury Department with complicity by hosting a conference on the use of Shariah economic doctrine.
The article makes no real charge of terrorist activity by any mainstream Muslim organization, instead it fans the flames of Islamophobia by casting a very wide net of innuendo over the legitimate political activities of Americans who practice Islam. Terrorism is not a Christian vs Muslim battle, and attempts to fuel such fears lead only to prejudice, hate and fear.
Is the Fusion Center using huge computer systems teamed up with an intelligence network that has no real oversight to monitor protected political lobbying? It would seem so.
The implications for our American freedoms are chilling. Americans rightly cherish their liberty and their rights of religion, speech and to petition their government.
The article ends with a list of hyperlinked footnotes. Almost all links lead to far right wing anti-Muslim or neo-con activist sites. None are to official government agencies, which casts a real doubt on the validity of the intelligence gathering abilities of not only the newsletter, but the Fusion Center itself.
Bill
Notes:
The Prevention Awareness Bulletin, NCTFS Feb. 19, 2009
North Central Texas Fusion System homepage
Fusion Center Guidelines, US Justice Department, Aug. 2006
Fusion Centers: Issues and Options for Congress, Congressional Research Service, Jan. 2008
Centers Tap Into Personal Databases, Apr. 2008, The Washington Post
Narrowing the Focus, Texas Technology, Sept. 2007
Information Fusion Centers and Privacy, EPIC, Jun. 2008
What's wrong with Fusion Centers, ACLU, Dec. 2007
Fusion Centers in Texas: "What we have here is a failure to communicate", Grits for Breakfast, Jul, 2007
Fusion centers' might be scary if they actually work, Grits for Breakfast, Apr. 2008
Four potential risks to intelligence fusion centers, Homeland Stupidity, Jul. 2007
CCO Coverage of Fusion Center:
County pays ADB over $1.1 million in no-bid Fusion Center contracts, CCO, Dec. 2008Commissioners to consider "no bid" contract for Fusion Center, CCO, Dec. 2008
While Plano was watching TV, what was the Fusion Center doing?,CCO, May 2008
Code Red: better late than never - or is it?, CCO, Apr. 2008
The Prevention Awareness Bulletin is edited by Anita Johnson - the Anita in "Anita and Dr. Bob" or ADB Consulting which has earned over a million dollars in federal grant money building the NCTFS. Anita and Dr. Bob (James R. Johnson) are the daughter-in-law and son of US Congressman Sam Johnson.
Since the newsletter is distributed in MS Word, it is possible to get information about the computer used to create the document. This last issue shows the newsletter was written on a computer owned by James R Johnson, Sony Electronics, Inc.
6 comments
That being said, I am a firm believer that when it comes to choosing between potential safety and liberty, that liberty should always prevail. I am concerned that it seems the idea of reasonable suspicion and probable cause have yielded to whims and guesses.
It further disturbs me that, yet again, Congressman Johnson's fammily is affecting not only our tax dollars, but also the way in which our local law enforcement conducts its affairs.
I personally would much rather sleep at night knowing the police won't come barging in unless I call them than wondering if I'm on their 'list' and they are watching out for me whether I know it or not.
It is a fact
I would hope that those who comment here would offer some argument or evidence to back up their assertions.
"Its a fact" adds nothing to bolster what amounts to just name calling.
Bill
http://www.texasobserver.org/blog/index.php/2009/02/26/memo-keep-an-eye-on-those-muslims
In a follow-up note to their article the Texas Observer noted:
"Update II: Tim Wyatt, a spokesman for Collin County, which runs the Fusion System, downplayed the bulletin to the Observer today while admitting that it wasn’t terribly well-informed.
Wyatt described the weekly bulletin as a “clipping service” that goes out to 2,900 public health and safety personnel in North Texas, including fire marshals, police officers, firefighters, and health departments.
“The bulletin didn’t direct any agency to investigate or target anybody,” he said. “I don’t think fire marshals in North Texas are out hunting for radical terrorists.”
What about that line at the end that says “it is imperative for law enforcement officers to report these types of activities”?
“I think it’s a bad editing job,” said Wyatt. “What we’re going to do is advise that next time someone take a little closer read of how they’re phrasing the thing because nobody intended it to be a call to investigate or target anybody. The bulletin is nothing other than what it says – a prevention awareness bulletin.”
Apparently, James Johnson - son of Congressman Samuel Johnson, the Republican who represents Collin County - did write the bulletin. Wyatt could not immediately say what qualified Johnson to opine on terror threats to North Texas or why he relied exclusively on Web sites promoting right-wing conspiracy theories.
Wyatt did say that Collin County’s Department of Homeland Security - does everyone have a DHS now?! - will take a closer look at the sources and how Johnson crafted the document.
Absurd, funny, or scary, the larger lesson in all this is that Fusion Centers have had very little public scrutiny. They operate with a considerable amount of autonomy and some clearly have a Keystone Kop element to them."
Bill
Ben Franklin is rolling in his grave.
"Anyone who would sacrifice a little liberty for safety, deserves neither liberty nor safety."
· http://www.best-way-2-invest.com/things-you-should-know-about-investing-in-bonds Moreover, many economist todays has started to consider Sharia Economics as an alternative esp after the recession. Let's take a look at its bright side as a way to recover from the recession.
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