'Fusion Centers' Gather Terrorism Intelligence – And Much More -- L.A. Times
Designed to share data and head off attacks, the 72 offices in the U.S. are starting to worry civil libertarians.
About a year ago, a police officer in Maryland noticed a truck loaded with plastic pallets driving down a main road in the early morning. He normally wouldn't have given it a second look, but the officer had seen a bulletin from the state's "coordination and analysis center" advising that such thefts were costing bakeries and grocers hundreds of thousands of dollars.
Sure enough, the pallets were stolen.
Cracking down on pallet thieves wasn't quite the mission envisioned for "fusion centers," 72 facilities across the country that were started after the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorism attacks to improve information-sharing and threat analysis among local law enforcement.
Read more ....
My Comment: Technology makes these 'fusion centers' not only possible .... but also indispensable in gathering intelligence on criminal/terrorist activities. Will there be a loss of freedom and privacy .... definitely. Do we have a choice .... at the moment most people are not bothered by what these centers do, and (in fact) regard such intelligence operations as necessary.
What is my take .... it is remarkable how people's perception of domestic intelligence has changed in the past decade. 9/11, wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, the war against terrorism .... I guess when we are clobbered every day on these issues .... operations centers like "fusion centers" seem mild in comparison.