Comments on: FBI nudges state 'fusion centers' into the shadows

Document obtained by a privacy group shows states are pressured to limit public and congressional oversight of data-sharing with the FBI.

[ewelch]

Freedom? Where's it gone?

As senator Huey Lone once said, "When fascism comes to America,
it will be wrapped in an American flag."

Well, the FBI is certainly doing its part.

[Freiheit13]

We live in a police state. What's new?

Gee, you mean our government of, by and for the people wants to limit access to information which could potentially show they're not playing by the rules? I don't believe it.

[nethead12]

Torch Walk - Great showing of the Police State we are

I thought it was cool to show the World the "Police State" we are, while watching the Torch walk in SanFran.

[placertogo]

The Policeman is NOT your Friend.

We all need to remember this from the rookie cop on the beat all the way up to J. Edgar Hoover's current prodigy: Cops are not your friends. If enough of these cops and their families are shunned by the community, perhaps some of this garbage will stop.

[Dr_Zinj]

FBI is absolutely in the wrong here

The damages caused by this obsessive secrecy of this government organization far outweigh any good done by them.

Carte blanche access with no oversight means constant abuse of power with no means of correction. Who will watch the guardians indeed! All you need to do is look at the FBI under Hoover, and more recently, their behavior over the Winter Hill Gang in Boston and the murder of Roger Wheeler to see that they still abuse their power in harrassing and allowing the deaths of innocent Americans.

Finally, no federal government agency should be allowed to propose ANY law. That is a strict violation of the seperation of powers. That's not to say that an employee can't privately propose a law through his or her elected representative, just that the agency itself cannot.

[Len Bullard]

Read the MOU: This Isn't Shadowy

Reading the Virginia/FBI MOU, this seems to apply to FBI intelligence and operations information provided to the center. NIEM provides guidance and White House Memoranda lay out the core principles. What the policy said is that requests for classified or protected information are handled jointly by the agencies.

That's good policy. Otherwise, they will never share information and the failure to share information is precisely what made 9/11 possible.

I understand the concerns, Declan, but do get a sense of how the US agencies have to coordinate to secure us. It isn't all big brother. It can become that, assuredly, but that is more likely to come from electing bad public officials than from some secret cabal of civil servants. They aren't that good at caballing or being civil. :-)

Google knows more about your private lives than these centers do, and there are very few working policies or laws restricting what they do about it. If you need to worry, that is what you should worry about. The Federal, State and Local law enforcement databases already operate under strict regulations and guidelines.

Good article, though. Part of keeping our freedoms is oversight but don't lash out needlessly unless and until you have good evidence of malfeasance. Paranoia is like fungus; it spreads far from the source of origin and chokes what would otherwise be healthy activities.

[DrDredd]

The Truth is Out There

I bet Mulder and Scully wouldn't have put up with this nonsense.

[eng.dan]

all very disturbing