Domestic spying ‘fusion centers’ start with Clinton

Again, I’m not downplaying the much more egregious illegal domestic spying by the Bush Administration. But, pages 4-5 of a special ACLU report (PDF) on so-called “fusion centers,” putting elements of local, state and national police surveillance under one roof, show this started WELL before 2001.

The San Diego Union-Tribune recently exposed a scandal linking a police task force called the Los Angeles County Terrorism Early Warning Center (LACTEW) to an intelligence fiasco that can only be described as a “perfect storm” of the problems identified in the ACLU’s November 2007 fusion center report.

This one has it all:
• Spying on religious groups in violation of the First Amendment
• Military involvement in domestic spying in violation of the Posse Comitatus Act
• Police officers and military personnel engaged in illegal activity to further their
perceived intelligence mission
• A lack of security over classified material and a lack of oversight over the activities
of “trusted” insiders
• The reported involvement of private defense contractors
• Excessive secrecy that shields all the other problems from public view

LACTEW, established in 1996, has often been described as the first fusion center. It has also been recommended as a model for others to emulate.

Would that emulation include theft of documents by Marines, for monetary purposes?

Would that include, as the second Union-Trib article noted, confirmed by the ACLU, the use of the military for domestic spying, contra Posse Comitatus Act?

Again, Bush has raised this to a whole new level, but Clinton opened the door.

It gives more background to the FISA vote of Passive Pelosi™ and the Democratic 45 percenters now, doesn’t it?