In the name of national security, the government has created a comprehensive, unchecked information-sharing network that lacks accountability. This network is composed of many components, including fusion centers and suspicious activity reporting.
WHAT’S WRONG WITH UNCHECKED INFORMATION SHARING?
Many individuals have been harmed by the excesses of surveillance policies. As noted in this report from Lawyer’s Committee for Civil Rights, excessive reporting and information sharing creates numerous unintended consequences for law-abiding people.
FUSION CENTERS
A Fusion Center is an intelligence hub that analyzes, maintains, and distributes information collected from state, federal and local law enforcement; the military; various government agencies; and the private sector. These information-sharing entities operate secretly and without public accountability. Further, Fusion Centers hire private contractors to gather and review intelligence. It is unclear if any law governs these contractors. See the ACLU report, “What’s Wrong With Fusion Centers?”
Fusion Centers are ground zero for pattern profiling and data mining. Pattern profiling creates profiles of protestors, activists, and radicals in an effort to predict criminal behavior. Data mining occurs when analysts sift through fusion center data to find individuals that match these profiles. Those with matching profiles are flagged for follow up. The National Academy of Sciences noted that “Automated terrorist identification through data mining (or any other known methodology) is neither feasible as an objective nor desirable as a goal.” View the Executive Summary of the NAS Report.
Massive federal and state databases store a wealth of information. Without civil liberties safeguards, surveillance programs swamp law enforcement with useless data, making proper analysis impossible. Mining endless data diverts attention from real security threats, wasting precious law enforcement resources. These efforts are driven in part by companies which stand to reap substantial profits, as detailed in the ACLU report, The Surveillance Industrial Complex.
SUSPICIOUS ACTIVITY REPORTING
Seattle is one of 12 cities in which “Suspicious Activity Reporting” (SAR) is being tested. SAR is program supported by the Office of the Director of National Intelligence to enlist local law enforcement and civilians in collecting and reporting information about suspected terrorist activity. Learn more about Suspicious Activity Reporting.
