LA Fusion Spy Center Locks Down in Face of Community Demands!
Over a hundred community members surrounded the Los Angeles Area Fusion Spy Center on Thursday December 13th in Norwalk demanding an end to invasion of privacy, assault on civil liberties, and waste of public resources. Several people were surrounded by LA sheriffs and private security, and threatened with arrest as people marched inside chanting “What are you Hiding!” At one point the whole building literally locked down.
The Call to Action organized by the Stop LAPD Spying Coalition exposed the local area Fusion Center, which is part of a larger network around the country of approximately 77 such spy centers.
On October 3rd, a United States Senate Permanent Subcommittee released a highly critical report on Fusion Centers. The senate report said that almost $1.4 Billion have been spent by the government on fusion centers. The subcommittee investigation found that Fusion centers intelligence reporting was often:
• Flawed, irrelevant or useless; inappropriate or unrelated to terrorism;
• Had nothing of value; could have violated privacy act protections;
• Often outdated, duplicative and uninformative;
• Lack adequate financial oversight;
• Failure to hold officials accountable who reportedly violated guidelines.
The Washington Post reported “DHS fusion centers portrayed as pools of ineptitude, civil liberties intrusions.” The Los Angeles Times reported “Local analysts had written inappropriate and potentially illegal reports about constitutionally protected activity.”
The coalition continues to build a diverse grassroots campaign to build public awareness, participation, mobilization and action to rescind policies such as LAPD Special Order 1 and the iWATCH program.
Will We Sleep or Will We Fight?
MAKE THE INVISIBLE VISIBLE!