ELECTRONIC FREEDOM FOUNDATION --INTERACTIVE TIMELINE FOR NSA SPYING EVENTS(Resource Reference)

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3. Spying is a family affair: If NSA is Big Brother, fusion centers are Little Brother: Fusion Centers

Spying is a family affair: If NSA is Big Brother, fusion centers are Little Brother, and they're just as creepy.
April 7, 2014 | By Nadia Kayyali
Why Fusion Centers Matter: FAQ

While NSA surveillance has been front and center in the news recently, fusion centers are a part of the surveillance state that deserve close scrutiny.

Fusion centers are a local arm of the so-called “intelligence community,” the 17 intelligence agencies coordinated by the National Counterterrorism Center (NCTC). The government documentation around fusion centers is entirely focused on breaking down barriers between the various government agencies that collect and maintain criminal intelligence information.

Barriers between local law enforcement and the NSA are already weak. We know that the Drug Enforcement Agency gets intelligence tips from the NSA which are used in criminal investigations and prosecutions. To make matters worse, the source of these tips is camouflaged using “parallel construction,” meaning that a different source for the intelligence is created to mask its classified source.

This story demonstrates what we called “one of the biggest dangers of the surveillance state: the unquenchable thirst for access to the NSA's trove of information by other law enforcement agencies.” This is particularly concerning when NSA information is used domestically. Fusion centers are no different.

In fact, in early 2012, the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court approved the sharing of raw NSA data with the NCTC. The intelligence community overseen by the NCTC includes the Department of Homeland Security and FBI, the main federal fusion center partners. Thus, fusion centers—and even local law enforcement—could potentially be receiving unminimized NSA data. This runs counter to the distant image many people have of the NSA, and it's why focusing on fusion centers as part of the recently invigorated conversation around surveillance is important.

MORE with list of FUSION CENTERS and LINKS at:

https://www.eff.org//deeplinks/2014/04/why-fusion-centers-matter-faq