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1 Michael German, et al., DHS at 20: An Agenda for Reform: Ending Fusion Center Abuses: A Roadmap for Robust Federal Oversight 1 (2022)

handle is hein.brennan/dsaagda0001 and id is 1 raw text is: DHS AT 20: AN AGENDA FOR REFORM Ending Fusion Center Abuses A Roadmap for Robust Federal Oversight By Michael German, Rachel Levinson-Waldman, and Kaylana Mueller-Hsia PUBLISHED DECEMBER 15. 2022 For almost two decades, the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) has supported the development of a national network of 80 fusion centers. Operated by states and localities, fusion centers incorporate federal, state, and local law enforcement personnel, first responders, and select private-sector representatives to collect, analyze, and distribute intelli- gence. While the federal government initially promoted them as hubs for sharing counterterrorism information, fusion centers quickly expanded their missions to include any crimes or hazards. DHS provides these centers with funding, personnel, and access to federal intelligence, but it has failed to ensure that they have used these resources appropriately. As a result, fusion centers have long produced flawed analysis, abused their authorities to monitor people engaged in First Amendment-protected activities, and leaked sensitive law enforcement information. This domestic intelligence model has undermined Americans' privacy, civil rights, and civil liberties. Fusion centers have repeatedly targeted minority communities and protest movements under the guise of counterterrorism or public safety. In their early years, they often singled out American Muslims for unwarranted scrutiny. Their bulletins have regularly painted racial and environmental justice activists as menacing threats. Fusion center reports are widely disseminated to local police and federal law enforcement, likely contributing to their heavy-handed responses to these protests in recent years. The participation of private companies, including some that have been the subjects of protests, in fusion centers raises the possibility that these operations some- times serve private interests rather than public safety. Fusion centers continue to be susceptible to abuse as protest movements react to events, creating new targets for unwarranted scrutiny. For example, fusion centers have amplified FBI and DHS threat warnings that falsely lump pro-choice activists together with abortion foes as potential abortion-related violent extremists, even though only anti-abortion militants have a history of engaging in deadly violence. As states criminalize abor- tion, investigations of those seeking, providing, or even just supporting access to reproductive services will fit within fusion centers' all crimes remit,2 making it likely that fusion centers will heed law enforcement requests for assistance. Brennan Center for Justice at New York University School of Law 1

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