Please Join Us in New Orleans to Protest the National Fusion Center Conference!
via OPERATION: DE-FUSE / Please Join Us in New Orleans to Protest the National Fusion Center Conference!.
I am pleased to announce that the Liberty Restoration Project has partnered with Texans for Accountable Government to literally take the police state head on.
After attending the Continental Congress of 2009 John Bush, executive director of TAG, and myself realized that our movement is not aware of the intrusive and destructive relationship between DHS and our local/state law enforcement.
You see, DHS has found a back door way to both militarize and federalize every level of law enforcement, and through these “fusion centers”, all levels of law enforcement basically become pledged to the war on terror.
If 2009 was the year of the Federal Reserve, we intend to make sure 2010 is the year of the Fusion Center – educating every activist in our movement and exposing their fraud against the American people.
Learn more about our initiative here: www.operationdefuse.com
This project will involve:
1. Visit every fusion center in the nation, interviewing staff for our new radio show Rise Up Radio (on micro broadcasts in cities all across the midwest including Stl, OKC, and Austin starting January 1!!!!!!).
2. Coordinate simultaneous open records requests to every fusion center in the country during National Sunshine week in March.
3. Conduct community forums in each state to educate the public while building harmonious relationships with local law enforcement (humanize) - these will be live streamed.
4. Provide a central location for each state to display their open records documents… a Patriot Fusion Center of our own 
www.libertyrestorationproject.org/wiki
5. Filming for a documentary on fusion centers.
How you can help!
If you want to help out in anyway please consider becoming an Operation Defused sponsor or even the coordinator for your state .
The dollars and cents:
Our biggest expense will be gas and food – So far we have arranged free housing accommodations at every location we have pursued (thank you)! We know how to stretch a dollar, every penny will help. (You can donate to our chipin @ http://operationdefuse.com/) Thank you Cissy for being the first to sponsor us!
We’re also in need of a donated or loaned scanner we can take on the trip to immediately upload any documents we get, a Verizon Wireless air-card so we can live stream our events and our radio show, and a donated or loaned GPS so we don’t get lost on the road! The full estimated cost break down will be posted shortly only our website.
Save the Date Kansas City: December Tuesday 22nd, 2009
We will be kicking off “Operation Defuse” with our annual LRP Christmas Party to be held on Tuesday December 22nd from 6pm-8pm at http://thegustolounge.com/. Big thanks to Sergio and Steven for donating the space to us and supporting our cause! A local friend of the movement is also providing DJ services for the event!
Your $10 donation is appreciated at the door! (if you cannot donate, please come anyway!)
Come ready to hear what LRP has in store for 2010 – we will be making waves bigger than you’ve ever seen!
We are still looking for a donor to provide finger foods and a few kegs so our supporters can mingle and learn while having some fun Let me know if you are willing to sponsor us in that way (we can get you down as an ODF sponsor)!
RSVP here: http://www.facebook.com/notifications.php#/event.php?eid=229388609971&index=1
Save the Date Austin: December
Our second event will be held in Austin, TX on December 28th. TAG will be holding their annual Christmas party at Bagpipes Pub and Brewery where we will kick off the Southern tour of “Operation Defuse”.
“Operation Defuse” Southern Tour
During the week between Christmas and New years, Catherine Bleish and John Bush plan to visit every fusion center in Texas. On January 4the we will be testifying in the Austin City Council hearing on fusion centers and then we will take off for our next stop, Phoenix. We will be driving through the south hitting fusion centers in AZ, OK, LA, GA, AL, MS, TX and, of course, MO.
Keep an eye on www.operationdefuse.com for the official dates/event locations as they develop.
“Operation Defuse” Missouri
Kevin Kobe, KC Area Director for LRP will be coordinating the Missouri components of Operation Defuse. In February we plan to hold mirror MIAC hearings in the same cities our legislature held theirs. Because LRP feels their report was nothing more than a whitewash, we intend to take liberty loving state rep candidates across the state of Missouri so they may listen to the public and develop a strategy to combat the intrusive nature of fusion centers once in office. We will be inviting law enforcement, the media and the general public to contribute. The goal is to live stream these events on the web.
I can guarantee you the report out of this liberty-candidate committee will NOT be a white wash.
You can learn more by visiting www.operationdefuse.com
Thank you all for your support – I can’t wait to experience liberty in OUR lifetime!
Shoulder to shoulder we stand,
Catherine
Catherine Bleish
executive director
Liberty Restoration Project
http://www.LibertyRestorationProject.org/
blog: http://www.donttreadoncat.com/
facebook: http://www.facebook.com/DontTreadOnMe
Freedom reaches across party lines.
I have not seen the actual report (has not been released to date) but according to a Springfield, Missouri news article about the conference call the committee recently held, below are the MIAC oversight committee’s recommendations to the general assembly.
I would like to put together a “grassroots report” on the issue and hand deliver to every state rep. Please email your suggestions to Catherine@libertyrestorationproject.org
Recommendations by the Committee:
- Enact legislation defining MIAC’s mission and scope in statute. In response to the federal government creating the Department of Homeland Security, MIAC was established in 2005 as a central repository for police agencies to share crime trends. Until the militia report controversy, very few state lawmakers even knew the 30-person agency existed.
- Define and limit the types of intelligence information gathering or sharing in which MIAC can engage.
- Establish a legislative committee to provide oversight of MIAC to review its activities.
- Require MIAC to present an annual report to the legislature on its activities.
- Strengthen personal privacy, civil rights and liberties laws to ensure they can’t be compromised by MIAC’s intelligence-gathering and sharing operations.
- Establish a formal, independent oversight board to provide policy direction and overall leadership to MIAC. Currently, there is an informal committee of advisers.
Looks like we’re NOT alone in the fight against the MIAC! I just got off the phone with Nathan from Americans for Limited Government. They sunshine the MIAC and were told NO DOCUMENTS were retained regarding the research they conducted. That’s funny, I caught them plagiarizing straight off the ADL website. We have shared our documents with each other – he has seen the same connections with the SPLC and DHS. We will be talking strategy in the next few days.
Oh, and I have emails that talk about where they come from. I have the employee sending the report to his boss for approval.
You can find the article on their blog here: http://www.getliberty.org/
“According to the Missouri State Highway Patrol’s response to ALG’s Sunshine Law Request, “[b]ackground material was not retained by the author during drafting” and “[t]here is no record listing the individual who wrote the report.” In fact, the only record the state of Missouri apparently claims it has of the report was its single draft version.”
http://www.splcenter.org/intel/intelreport/article.jsp?aid=1092
I have pasted the important parts below for your convenience. My comments are in red.
THIS IS WHY THE FIGHT AGAINST THE FUSION CENTERS AND THE MIAC IS SO IMPORTANT.
I spoke with the woman who wrote this report last week – I was very clear that non of this was about race. VERY. I gave her facts about the government and she obviously had an agenda….
Blaming anti-government sentiments on racism, again.
One big difference from the militia movement of the 1990s is that the face of the federal government — the enemy that almost all parts of the extreme right see as the primary threat to freedom — is now black. And the fact that the president is an African American has injected a strong racial element into even those parts of the radical right, like the militias, that in the past were not primarily motivated by race hate. Contributing to the racial animus have been fears on the far right about the consequences of Latino immigration.
Quoting the RETRACTED MIAC report implying we are racist
The situation has many authorities worried. Militiamen, white supremacists, anti-Semites, nativists, tax protesters and a range of other activists of the radical right are cross-pollinating and may even be coalescing. In the words of a February report from law enforcement officials in Missouri, a variety of factors have combined recently to create “a lush environment for militia activity.”
Defending the DHS Report?
That same pugnacious attitude was on display after conservatives attacked an April report from the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) that suggested a resurgence of radical right-wing activity was under way.
Linking in Ron Paul, as always these days, implicated Oath Keepers and Stewart Rhodes (I interviewed Stewart on my old internet radio show earlier this year GREAT intelligent guy)
In April, Oath Keepers founder Stewart Rhodes — a Yale Law School graduate and former aide to U.S. Rep. Ron Paul (a Texas Republican and hard-line libertarian) — worried about a coming dictatorship. “We know that if the day should come where a full-blown dictatorship would come, or tyranny … it can only happen if those men, our brothers in arms, go along and comply with unconstitutional, unlawful orders,” Rhodes told conspiracy-minded radio host Alex Jones. “Imagine if we focus on the police and military. Game over for the New World Order.”
Jack McLamb Implicated (was a speaker at the Revolution March in DC last year that I helped plan)
He’s not the first to think so. In the 1990s, retired Phoenix cop and conspiracy enthusiast Jack McLamb created an outfit called Police Against the New World Order and produced a 75-page document entitled Operation Vampire Killer 2000: American Police Action Plan for Stopping World Government Rule.
Sheriff Mack and Oath Keepers Implicated (Mack is a SPEAKER at MWLF)
One Oath Keeper is longtime militia hero Richard Mack, a former sheriff of a rural Arizona county who collaborated with white supremacist Randy Weaver on a book and who, along with others, won a U.S. Supreme Court decision that weakened the Brady Bill gun control law in the 1990s. “The greatest threat we face today is not terrorists; it is our federal government,” Mack says on his website. “One of the best and easiest solutions is to depend on local officials, especially the sheriff, to stand against federal intervention and federal criminality.” Mack’s views echo those of the Posse Comitatus, which believed that sheriffs are the highest law enforcement authorities in America. “I pray for the day that a sheriff in this country will arrest an IRS agent for trespassing or attempting to victimize citizens in that particular sheriff’s county,” Mack said in a video he made for Oath Keepers.
10th amendment movement
remarkable aspect of the current antigovernment movement is the extent to which it has gained support from elected officials and mainstream media outlets. Lawmakers complaining about the intrusiveness of the federal government have introduced 10th Amendment resolutions (reasserting that those powers not granted to the federal government remain with the states) in about three dozen states.
Tea Parties Implicated
Patriot ideology also has crept into the anti-tax “tea parties” that were staged by conservatives around the country in April and July. In addition to protesting government spending and taxation, some demonstrators called for the sovereignty of the states, abolition of the Federal Reserve (a long-time bogeyman of the radical right), and an end to “socialism” in Washington.
We must protect the internet
The recent Department of Homeland Security report also pointed to the role of the Internet in the current movement: “Unlike the earlier period, the advent of the Internet and other information-age technologies since the 1990s has given domestic extremists greater access to information related to bomb-making, weapons training and tactics, as well as targeting of individuals, organizations and facilities, potentially making … the consequences of their violence more severe.”
Catherine Bleish
executive director
Liberty Restoration Project
http://www.LibertyRestorationProject.org/
Midwest Liberty Fest: Showcase of the skills, talent and creativity found within the grassroots: Documentary premiers, Freedom concerts, Workshops, Speakers, and FUN. http://www.midwestlibertyfest.com/
blog: http://www.donttreadonact.com/
facebook: http://www.facebook.com/DontTreadOnMe
Freedom reaches across party lines.
Wednesday is Veto Session. We would like to see you outside the capitol building in a peaceful rally.
For details and rsvp, please click here:
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A film is being compiled about the MIAC issue, and due to scheduling conflicts, I will not be able to attend the Springfield hearing tomorrow.
I am urging everyone who can to please take any camera with video capabilities that you have access to, as your footage could probably be included in this full-length documentary.
If you have a tripod and good camera, brilliant, however this video is a grassroots effort and we’ve been going by the rule of content first, quality second, so don’t be too discouraged if your footage is not immaculate.
Please contact me at kevin@libertyrestorationproject.org when you have the footage available.
Everyone with footage in the film will get credit and I will try to make sure any groups or causes associated with those who help with the film also get mention.
MIAC Hearing, Grandview, MO August 31, 2009
These are the unedited notes of Tracy Ward of Liberty Restoration Project. Thanks, Tracy
Mike Ferguson starts off the discussion. Not speaking on behalf of state government. This was first state who’s report was released. We’re being watched by other states, etc. Are we going to sweep this under the rug or really address situation. Report profiled about half the people in the state. Those on political left who’s not in report, it could have easily been you. If this is not dealt with, it will be you. Indirect attack on 1st amendment right. Speaking out putting you on a list, is a deterrent to people being involved with politics. Very close to politicizing our police with this report. Undermines those who make up law enforcement. We need to keep an eye out for the real bad guys, but this report is not the way to go about doing so. We are safest and law enforcement is safest when we go along with out 1st amendment freedoms. Prevent MIAC to be used politically. Clarify that political actions will not be used against people. Permanent oversight of MIAC. Somebody elected by voters for oversight of MIAC. Would you say that people profiled in this report be somebody who would mess with public water or going into a power plant? I was profiled by this report. It targets the wrong people. Neo-nazi’s and white supremist are dangerous. However, it lumps them with 3rd party candidate supporters, etc. There was no specific mention of what a possible threat would be, waterway, food supply, etc. Focused far too much on conspiracy theories and bumper stickers. Set specific goals to what the MIAC will achieve with their oversight.
Sissy Spragens – Representing libertarian party and self. 1st, report misrepresents libertarians. We support 2nd amendment, oppose income taxes, but we’re not anti- semitic or neo nazis. Our view of ultimate majority is self. Libertarian party is not left or right. We’re pretty much center and don’t blame problems of society on race, color, creed. government shouldn’t use political ideology for any reason or profiling. Freedom of expression is preserved un MO constitution and US constitution. Participation in politics is important and we shouldn’t disuede people from being active. End the Fed rally’s etc. Group of leftist anarchist were at end the fed rally. trying to get others to do things like jaywalk and were frustrated because we were being law abiding. low level terrorists is an abomination, consider political ideology low level terrorism. fusion centers why are they here? 200x’s more likely to get in car accident before terrorist attack. quote you gave about protesters are low level terrorists, came from (aclu filed report) would health care protesters fall in that category, yes
Darrel castle, vp constitution party. by reference im targeted by this report. some look like to be his age, when he was 22 yo he took oath to protect country from enemies foreign and domestic. when coming from far east, nixon had allegation of enemies list, he was forced to resign. people on enemies list were political left. now enemies list contains both left and right. these things are caused by the rush for power. power corrupts minds and morals of person. how can reports like this be prevented… this report is still out there 72 fusion centers in use now. power is controlled through decentralization. 60’s and 70’s terrorist was a very strong word. who is the real threat, who granted this report, did they have goodwill and inteent, or did they want to politicize law enforcement? airports peope get searched for differnt propoganda items, people are worried about coming through missouri for fear of getting stopped and searched. decentralize yourself from federal government and let mo law enforcement do what it does. these fusion centers shoudl be disbanded. whats the difference if the damage is done and still continues. questions. jones from stl county. you talked about how you get stopped at airports, if you think fusion centers should be disbanded, what is your solution for information sharing? constitution sets out powers . they say lack of information, but mroe like lack of communication between different departments. hard for her to difficult for her to take back to community where she’s from, because of being targeted by color of skin.. law abiding citizens, where’s the balancing voice.. so you’re saying since you’ve been targeted it’s only fair to target someone else? the disenfranchised shoudl be outraged, go out and create ourrage. dwb profiling. i get it. we’re all in this together, when we realize this, we’ll effect real change. we’re all americans, somebody’s out there targeting all of us, will effect real change. i’ll go out and create outrage with you!
funderberk – agree fed tenticals cut at every turn, but we have to stop terrorism at every turn as well. would you consider it being a part of state government to collect information about potential threats? woudl that level of data assimilation be alright? yes, it’s the states responsibility to protect the right of people. our reasoning is flawed, many of these problems can be fixed by getting fed gov out. constituion is supreme law of land, when severed, problems arise. government has severed itself from the law and that’s where these parts of problems occur. back then left was profiled, now we are, there’s not much difference except for who’s in power. worldwide gihad is here, but the report profiles those who are against jihad. How would oversight work for you? report wouldnt exsist at all. whoever came up with idea to draft report shoudl be fired. what should have been in place to prevent this from being generated? we have to elect people who are responsible not to do this, now this is here they need to be back in a regular job, fired. prevention of future MIACreports like this coming out? mindset of people, government processes should be in line to protect peoples rights. no access to democratic process causes two parties to be hard to distingush. How do we assure this wont happen again? Some legislative committee may work, but may only come down to one person and everybody else along for ride, perhaps if right person was in charge things may change, just unsure. I would vote Law Enforment professional would work? if right mindset but anybody can be a tyrant. position of authority can abuse authority.
Sheriff of Clinton County – MIAC is a valuable resource to have for local law enforcement. deconflict when doing drug buys. when were’ out doing our jobs, in bad neighborhoods, if we call MIAC and deconflict an address, we can save officers lives if we have others in neighborhood. MIAC helps us to keep from stepping on somebody else’s toes, DEA, ATF, etc. Homicide cases, helps. Local law enformemnt information diseminated. make available to all local enforccement. i read this report. i dont disuade helping people because of their political feelings. 41,000 people in his county that he represents and he has to listen to those people as they are his bosses. guest, you read report, what was your reaction? i didn’t take it as picking on a political party. i beoleive person who wrote it wasn’t either in the way i read it. you can read inot anything. two people reading somethingwill take different views of something. after reading report, who did you think you should be on the lookout for? i dont believe ron paul is a terrorist, i didn’t take it in that report that he was terrorist. jones – when reading report that places most of population of your county in that report, what value is it to you? very minimal.
fallert – those reports when the come out for law enforcement, those are generally based on criminal activity – this report didn’t mean much
Paul Hamby – C4L – c4l was mentioned in this report as well as ron paul. major issue, audit the fed, im profiled as potential terrorist, im not terrorist, im an american. political profiling discourages free speech. 2008 campaign was first election involved in a mom of two hoemschooling kids, im scared to go to meeting because of fear what govt will do to me. what was purpose of report? shut down debate on issues now? how will we find best solutions for our country if you try to shut down those who are opposed to others political views? MIAC report put black eye on mo highway patrol. one of our deputies laughed at this report because everyone of them were profiled. they shredded the profile. if they laughed at this because of them being targeted, what happens when a real threat comes about and they don’t trust these reports and take them serioiusly. great missourian, john ashcroft, wrote book, never again, never again should MIAC put a report out profiling people on political ideals.
Deborah Wells -C4L- audit found online, follow up terrorist screening center. september 2007; terrorist screening center, developed 2003. previous audit done 2005, this is follow up. all terrorists watch lists are converged into this screening center. audit report states that TSE is unable to ensure complete acurate information to call cxenters in timely fashion. over 20,000 new names go into database every month. 20,000 names a month, 700 names a day. if that holds true, from 2–7, there would be 1.2 million names in database right now. duplications, etc, are problems. TSC 99,000 encounters when call center was contacted. oficer stops somebody name hits database, calls call center, center confirms yes or no. 44.3% of calls that were hits, did not match watch list identity. less than 57% of them were on list 3.2% couldnt definitivly determine if hit was correct or not. if you get hit by mistake, you can issue redress, in 2005 – 2007, they recieved 248 redress complaints. state levels complaints aren’t going away, sounds like it would be a mess. redress complaints take average of 68 days to address. i dont want to happen to get put in jail for 68 days waiting to get released.
Funderberk, you won’t know if your name is in there. period.
Amanda Teagart – anti real id, biometrics, powerpoint from OKSAFE – Ispy for the intelligence enterprise. Going over power point that is online. Kissinger, those who are terrorists are those that do not fall in line with international enterprise. (look up) She’s going over the report on OKSAFE for the committee. No computer access to see the document. Awaiting finish testimony for questioning. Read vision 2015 document, customer driven, who’s customer? Reason for 2015 is decision advantage for cusotmers. open ended project, no end to it. launching of gps created by dhs, satelitte systems global system. Do we have a constitutional issue here or corporate considerations here? Which one is God? Sunshine law request all memorandums of understanding . Guest – Who controls fusion centers? Federal government has grant program to mandate and fund centers. Fed govt is in control of fusion centers. What specifically recomendations are you here to give to committee? full disclosure of memorandums of understanding, unless all those are disclosed, you dont have al information to make assesement. No further action taken by fusion centers until everything is disclosed to impartial panel. must have IT professional not paid by govt, on panel. fusion centers do not do ONE MORE THING until all information is out in open.
Larry Finchpaw – Appauled by target for political action in report. Listed not paying taxes, needs to be expanded. We don’t want taxed on slavery. Zeitgeist, documentary, shared with friends of mine. Sound monetary policies, respect sovereignty of states, sound like terrorist or founding father and supporter of America? Report is trying to discredit those of us that are trying to speak the truth about this country. We need to stop meddling in foreign affairs and we possibly wouldn’t be here where we are today dealing with this report,
Richard Hoxsy – 1st he was appauled. most of us fit report to t. go to church, right to life, terrorist. person who let that one part in there, just might be more like devil. im a constitutinal party, still possible terrorist. Our country is starting to go in the wrong direction, most of us are now terrorists now?
Richard Fry – report is shocking, dangerous, outright assertions to vilify individuals, silence opinions. mccarthy and 1950’s. attack on foundation of our country. None of reports offer facts or figures to uphold their allegations. those who oppose immigration are racists. over 50% of illegal population is hispanic. Dixon asked for copy of report instead of reading through report. Additional supervision needs to be in place to make sure another report like this doesn’t come out.
Todd Paulson – KCPD – Midwest HIDA high intesidy drug …. event side, target side of puts two sides together and in touch with each other. knock and talks! buy busts, address is put in to make sure somebody else isn’t working case. deconfliction, support 136 agencies in kcpd. stl new one just came one. major metro areas. talk about how they interact with MIAC. some intelligence is used thorugh MIAC. we use them 24 watch center. smaller sheriffs who don’t have large databases, helps to make sure deconfliction doesn’t happen. confidential informants were going to buy from each other and deconflicted it through miac. national vertual pointer system. deconflictions throughout country. is there another officer in the house at the time? officer safety issue. doesn’t know much about the report that did come out. this is paramount though for officer safety. miac provides that for us. avoiding blue on blue busts.
say we remove federal component, would just borders of state of missouri still work to avoid blue blue? local yes, country wide, no. NDIC. I-80 corridor project, tied state and fed agencies on specific drug. federal part is needed.
typical investigation, state protection intact, would a fed agent imbedded under cover not be known about? correct,
im getting more worried about fed being the oversight to what we’re doing in our state and telling us how to run our agencies. it seems to me that if fed is imbedded that deeply, they may be resistant to telling YOU that they’re there? i dont know. can we restrain the fed, would that still enable you to go through day to day functions? not necessarily, when going from state to state with drugs and money, you’re goingt o have to deal with feds. this is dealing with terrorists,. help me make connection between threats of terrorism and drug enforcementt? provide for smaller agencies and ensure that officers are safe
any colliation and need to protect state of MO in regards to terrorism? we don’t focus on terrorism aspect. we do get some MIAC bulletins, not readily available.
Mike Corwin – KCPD – Captain – commander of dhs dept. co chair of early terrorism task force. intelligence is anylitical. criminal phenomenon to scientific. info gathering and usage is used everyday, even high school principals. intelligence is needed to solve crimes. what’s changed is technology intel is gathered, collected, shared. stay abreast current tech to protect. a rise in crime is likely due to climate in country today. terrorist is not used once in that report. not an accurate rendition. KCTW started wtihout state telling. wants state and feds out of their agencies in telling them what to do. guidelines are not mandatory. fusion centers are not fed government. sharing information is just like building relationships. stove pipe = black hole. national suspicious activity report, gather and maintain information and share it across boundries. similar occurances? white van going to different water treatment facilitys can find out if other agencies have seen pattern. crime analysis, patterns for use if possible crime will be committed. fed govt is NOT in control of fusion centers. read all directives of they are guidelines, not mandatory. we started fusion centers, would be travisty if we shut them down. can flip switch at any time. report wasn’t meant to go out, therefore it is being read incorrectly by those that did read it.
dixon, buying down risks? water treatment no fencing, we buy down risk by putting fence, cameras up, etc
guest – you’re in part with various agencies, do you think kc is a terrorism location? yes. cannot go into details. end the fed rallies, do you monitor those? no, based only on criminal predicate. one individual possibly but not the group as a whole
mievers – fed govt worries, in legislature we hear term fed mandate, we realize that 10th amendment can’t allow certain mandates, but they will attach funding, if we thumb nose at all guidelines, fed would we lose funding? no. KCTEW not fed mandated, no purse strings. im sick of fed govt. fear the door can be opened. two years from now, we continue at trough of fed $$ all while fed gets us accustomed to the $$ … 10 years ago if somebody shared those fears with me, i would say no, 5 years ago, maybe not. 5 months ago, id say same way. how much are we opening the door to more fed involvement? door’s always possible for being openeed. right now, no mandates. ACAMS critical infastructure. asset protection response system. we have our own system. if i dont use this tool will i lose money? our sysytem is much better, provides first responders with response to all hazards all the way through. ACAMS doesn’t do that.
funderbunk – we don’t take orders, we can flip switch, we dont want state telling us what to do either… who should you take orders from? stucture of MIAC is seperate entity. we take orders from our constituents. report wasn’t written for a lay person, only for law enforcement view. lay person can’t read it the way law enforcement does. You start creating this profile, you’re creating a potential profile for terrorists, I dont blame people for being worried.
Fallert – fusion centers, what they were origianlly set up for, are they providing a good service in protecting citizens? yes, used to just be for terrorism now takes an all crimes approach. – I want to know process your department goes through when receieving these reports? not very often that we recieve reports. typically recieved by my unit and then review, if needed to be passed on, we do that. we did analysis on it and we didn’t have a chance to go over all of it due to released to public. what was so importatnt on it to pass it on to analysis? runs so much deeper than possible. know somebody is robbing places, don’t have finger on him, see him showing up in various parts of city, mom and pop call in suspicious activity, try to link it together. when looking at all these links, you’d have to search everybody.. I have problem with people profiling those who are in disagreement with country. Under Constitution, we’re protected. Never want to see law enforcement interfere with people exercising their rights in speaking out. We need to not profile people like that. Officer agrees.
You said MIAC report was appropriate? Yes for the eyes it was intended for. When passing it on, were analysis going to see if there was legitamacy to it? yes
Mark O’Jour – law enforcement is getting flack for report and having to answer for it. MIAC should be answering for it. I see the report as listing a large group of people and being lumped together and that they’re the worst of it. That they’re violent, gun toting, rasicts. Why are white people calling white people racists? How is this happening? Disaster of last administration and new administration is dealing with clean up. economic woes. who asked for this report? this is not unquie information, on splc website. format looked cut and pasted at 2am. john d podessta/janeine garafello. 2, 26, 09, olberman show, jeanine is stating that right wing people and women are nut jobs. rhetoric keeps up. tie in with media matters, with this administration, parental control over this political manor this report is being used for.
Christina McKennis – how to prevent future miac reports… holding these reps at this table accoutable and pull their bonds. get a backbone, or lose your job. backbone, holy bible, write to nixon, tell him to come arrest johnson county library for having ftf.
Catherine Bleish – clarify that dhs report came out and it did state terrorists. dhs fed fusion center. went to adl website, splc website, highlighted instances of plagiarism. counted 8 where text is verbatim from adl website. no citations in documents. she has 11 of the reports, 2 are classified. black separatism report uses wikipedia, splc, and verbiage is same from. would be kicked out a grad school if she turned in reports like these. every report except one gives reasons for aggitation. every one of the reports groups have problem with fed govt. only makes sense that they would write reports on those who don’t like fed govt. reports show groups non violent, why are they being profiled. harbor resentments on fed govt. sovereign citizens movement report, distrust of govt, changing justice dept, why would it change, should be consistant. they’re not looking at the federal govt when they’re the ones that people have most problems with, instead they’re looking at the people. fema was training enforcement officers that founding fathers were the first terrorists. HR 645 FEMA bases on military bases, for emergency. fed def of emergency, very broad. dhs oversees fema and legislation stating they want detention centers, red flags. Camp FEMA goes into how we’re being profiled, marginalized. was the retraction disseminated through all the same channels as the report was sent through? if went to OK, did OK get retraction as well? 72 fusion centers, who is accesing what, where are lines drawn? their not in all of them, so no dhs security analysis in any of them. fusion centers are stuck in the middle, one information channel through fbi, one through dhs. boeing to staff two fusion centers. analyst involved with fusion center? why are corp involved with fusion center, private sector businesses, needs to have real time access to information from fusion centers. speaking about how at our rallies we were training our own marshalls, we notified all local enforcement agencies as well to let them know that we were holding these rallies, etc.
Kevin Kobe – where does fine line lie and how can we prevent extremist behavior from happening? Common beleive that 2nd amendment wasn’t for hunting, but for protection of our selves. Those who make peaceful revolutionj impossible make a violent revolution probable. people created states and states created fed govt. those here are those who still believe in the process of getting things changed and not in a slow change.
This piece was written for the Missouri Record.
by Catherine Bleish
September 6, 2009 The Missouri Informational Analysis Center (MIAC) is an organization that had relatively little name recognition before the public became aware of the since retracted “MIAC Strategic Report on the Modern Militia Movement” that was leaked in March of this year. The report was issued to Missouri law enforcement personnel and identified many conservative and libertarian viewpoints as indicators of a “potential threat” to law enforcement officials.
The report specifically mentioned supporters of 2008 presidential candidates Ron Paul (Republican), Bob Barr (Libertarian), and Chuck Baldwin (Constitution Party). Issues ranging from concerns about the Federal Reserve Banking System, to illegal immigration, to NAFTA, to RFID tracking technology were also listed as identifiers of a potential “dangerous militia member” for law enforcement.
(View a copy of the report here: http://www.scribd.com/doc/17782513/MIAC-Report-Modern-Militia-Movement)
The public outcry was both immediate and overwhelming. Missouri State Representative Brian Nieves was quoted as saying, “My office received more phone calls on this issue than any other issue EVER”. In response to this reaction, the Missouri Legislature put together the Interim Committee on State Intelligence Analysis Oversight, chaired by Representative Bob Dixon.
The committee has held three public hearings in Jefferson City, St. Charles and Grandview, Missouri. A fourth and final hearing will be held this September 9th in Springfield, Missouri. The hearings have been an excellent opportunity for the public and our elected officials to learn about the current mindset our law enforcement community.
As one of seventy-two Department of Homeland Security sanctioned “fusion centers”, the MIAC integrates intelligence data from local, state, national, and private intelligence gathering agencies with the goal of identifying and preventing terror threats before they happen. The MIAC has been in existence since 2005, receiving its DHS fusion center designation in 2007. The fusion center falls under the jurisdiction of the Missouri Department of Public Safety and employs two part time FBI analysts and one full time DHS analyst in addition to twenty-seven other employees. Twenty-eight percent of the MIAC is funded through the Department of Homeland Security.
During the first hearing held in Jefferson City, Missouri, the MIAC presented a PowerPoint presentation that highlighted the organization’s mission and current activities. What was revealed during this presentation is the fact that the MIAC center in function serves as an efficiency tool for Missouri law enforcement at traffic stops and while conducting warrant checks, but in function is not serving in an anti-terror capacity other than the authoring of such reports. In fact, according to their presentation, of the hundreds of examples of requests made to the fusion center, only Saint Louis Country requested any information related to terrorism.
One of the great concerns that developed from this hearing is the mindset of our law enforcement community. Greg White, Cole County Sheriff, came to the defense of the Strategic Report in question, “to think that we would not do strategic work within the fusion center is as if to say it is OK to commit certain acts of violence”. Citizen testimony came from three individuals and was all in opposition to strategic report in question.
Before the second hearing the Liberty Restoration Project obtained documents from the Missouri Department of Public Safety that underscore the concerning mentality currently found within our law enforcement community.
A March 14th email between two DPS employees refers to the MIAC as, “Fort MIAC”, and yet an even more concerning email from the same date states, “ ..Cindy is manning the M60 nest on the roof of the building… haha.”. The same email defends the MIAC Strategic Report on the Modern Militia Movement stating, “There was nothing wrong or illegal about publishing this piece. There is nothing we can do about the distortion of the information by citizens wanting to twist the meaning of information to conform to their ‘view’ of the world.”. The same email highlights the fusion center’s direct tie to the Department of Homeland Security by stating, “DHS analytic components believed it to be a good piece”.
It was during the second hearing in St. Charles, Missouri, while over a dozen citizens testified their displeasure with the report and the fusion center, that the State Legislators began to express deep concern about the role of the federal government in our state law enforcement practices. Missouri State Representative Jason Smith commented that the report appears to be an attempt protect the government form citizens rebelling and Missouri State Representative Shane Schoeller also commented that legislators have been part of the problem and one solution is the let them know they won’t be reelected.
During the third hearing in Grandview, Missouri an officer from the Kansas City Police Department stated that his drug crime task force uses the fusion center, but the terror related components are completely irrelevant to his success. Representative Brian Nieves commented, “I am one of those people becoming more and more uncomfortable with federal government telling states how to do things” and asked if removing the federal government from the fusion center would impede local or state crime fighting, the KCPD officer responded that removing the federal government from their operations would in no way impede the local or state crime fight.
There are eleven such reports that are unclassified and address various social and political movements with one theme in common; they are all upset with the role of the Federal Government. Interestingly enough, the federal government, through the Department of Homeland Security, seems to have their hands in the development of these reports which profile such groups and people as “threats” all across the nation. At least eight instances of plagiarism have been found between these documents and the Anti Defamation League’s website. The committee will present suggestions to the Missouri Legislature when it is back in session.
Related documents can be found here: http://www.scribd.com/CatherineBleish
