scholarly journals The Rise of the Fusion-Intelligence Complex: A critique of political surveillance after 9/11

2010 ◽  
Vol 8 (1) ◽  
pp. 43-60 ◽  
Author(s):  
Anthony Bolton Newkirk
Keyword(s):  
World War Ii ◽  
Social History ◽  
Homeland Security ◽  
Civil Liberties ◽  
The United States ◽  
Special Focus ◽  
Department Of Homeland Security ◽  
Fusion Centers ◽  
State Surveillance ◽  
Private Sector Organizations

This paper argues that 'fusion centers' are byproducts of the privatization of state surveillance and assaults on civil liberties, at least in the United States, the nation on which the research is based, with special focus on the recent case of the Maryland State Police spying scandal. In fusion centers, members of local, state, and federal police and intelligence units, as well as private-sector organizations, share information with each other by means of computerized technology and store it in databases. While the official purpose is to protect public safety, the practice of 'data-mining' and unclear lines of authority lead to fusion centers being unaccountable to the public and, hence, a threat to the democratic process. These conditions are encapsulated in the case of official espionage in the state of Maryland at least between 2004 and 2006. Drawing on official documents, the history of 'homeland security' since World War II and the characteristics of fusion centers, the Department of Homeland Security, and events in Maryland are surveyed. Working within the contexts of social history, surveillance theory, and political economy, this paper is grounded in the work of Beck, Churchill and Wall, Donner, Fuchs, Graham, Lyon, McCulloch and Pickering, and Monahan.

Compromised Trust: DHS Fusion Centers’ Policing of the Occupy Wall Street Movement

2015 ◽  
Vol 20 (3) ◽  
pp. 1-14
Author(s):  
Krista Craven ◽  
Torin Monahan ◽  
Priscilla Regan
Keyword(s):  
Homeland Security ◽  
Public Awareness ◽  
Civil Liberties ◽  
The United States ◽  
Occupy Wall Street ◽  
Direct Tension ◽  
Wall Street ◽  
Fusion Centers ◽  
State Surveillance ◽  
Surveillance Programs

State surveillance programs often operate in direct tension with ideals of democratic governance and accountability. The fraught history of surveillance programs in the United States, for instance, illustrates that government agencies mobilize discourses of exceptional circumstances to engage in domestic and foreign spying operations without public awareness or oversight. While many scholars, civil society groups, and media pundits have drawn attention to the propensity of state surveillance programs to violate civil liberties, less attention has been given to the complex trust dynamics of state surveillance. On one hand, in justifying state surveillance, government representatives claim that the public should trust police and intelligence communities not to violate their rights; on the other hand, the very act of engaging in secretive surveillance operations erodes public trust in government, especially when revelations about such programs come to light without any advance notice or consent. In order to better understand such trust dynamics, this paper will analyze some of the competing trust relationships of Department of Homeland Security (DHS) ‘fusion centers,’ with a focus on the role of these organizations in policing the Occupy Wall Street movement of 2011 and 2012.

Beyond Counterterrorism

2013 ◽  
Vol 4 (3) ◽  
pp. 1-14 ◽  
Author(s):  
Priscilla M. Regan ◽  
Torin Monahan
Keyword(s):  
Qualitative Research ◽  
Information Sharing ◽  
Homeland Security ◽  
Civil Liberties ◽  
Fusion Center ◽  
Department Of Homeland Security ◽  
Fusion Centers ◽  
Mission Creep ◽  
New Challenges

Decentralized organizational approaches to security provision introduce new challenges for controlling information-sharing practices, safeguarding civil liberties, and ensuring accountability. Department of Homeland Security “fusion centers,” and the multiple organizations and databases that are part of fusion centers, engender an environment in which information is migrating beyond original purposes of counterterrorism. Indeed, based on intensive qualitative research, the authors have found that fusion centers that were originally oriented toward “counterterrorism” have quickly broadened their scope to include all crimes, and those that began as “all crimes” have migrated only marginally to terrorism. This is the result of three quite predictable factors: fusion centers have to be valuable to their states, there is too little activity that is clearly terrorism related, and fusion center personnel have to use their time and skills constructively. Nonetheless, even if local policing needs are met through fusion-center funding and support, many of the activities of fusion-center analysts lend themselves to mission creep and violations of civil liberties.

scholarly journals Mapping Interfacial Regimes of Control: A Qualitative Analysis of America’s Post-9/11 Security Technology Infrastructure

2020 ◽  
Vol 18 (2) ◽  
pp. 231-243
Author(s):  
Emma Knight ◽  
Alex Gekker
Keyword(s):  
Data Analysis ◽  
Private Sector ◽  
Homeland Security ◽  
Civil Liberties ◽  
The United States ◽  
Privacy Rights ◽  
Analysis Software ◽  
Security Technology ◽  
Department Of Homeland Security ◽  
Data Analysis Software

Recent technological advancements in surveillance and data analysis software have drastically transformed how the United States manages its immigration and national security systems. In particular, an increased emphasis on information sharing and predictive threat modeling following the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001, has prompted agencies such as the Department of Homeland Security to acquire powerful data analysis software from private sector vendors, including those in Silicon Valley. However, the impacts of these private sector technologies, especially in the context of privacy rights and civil liberties, are not yet fully understood. This article interrogates those potential impacts, particularly on the lives of immigrants, by analyzing the relational database system Investigative Case Management (ICM), which is used extensively by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) to track, manage, and enforce federal immigration policy. As a theoretical framework, the we use Benjamin Bratton’s concept of the “interfacial regime,” or the layered assemblages of interfaces that exist in modern networked ICT infrastructures. By conducting a document analysis, we attempt to visually situate ICM within the federal government’s larger interfacial regime that is composed by various intertwined databases both within and outside the government’s realm of management. Furthermore, we question and critique the role ICM plays in surveilling and governing the lives of immigrants and citizens alike.

Surveillance and Public Space

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Rachel Hall
Keyword(s):  
Science Fiction ◽  
Public Space ◽  
Homeland Security ◽  
The United States ◽  
Consumer Market ◽  
Department Of Homeland Security ◽  
Ethical Problems ◽  
Fusion Centers ◽  
Peer Monitoring ◽  
Monitoring Applications

Current communications research takes up the political and ethical problems posed by new surveillance technologies in public space, ranging from biometric technologies adopted by state security apparatuses to self- and peer-monitoring applications for the consumer market. In addition to studies that examine new surveillance technologies, scholars are tracking intensive and extensive expansions of surveillance in the name of risk management. Much of the scholarship produced in the last 15 years looks at how the establishment and expansion of the Department of Homeland Security within the United States and its international counterparts have dramatically altered security, military, and legal practices and cultures. Within this context what were once science fiction dystopias have become funded research and development projects and institutionalized practices aimed at remote data collection and processing, including facial recognition technology and a variety of remote sensing devices. Private-public partnerships between companies like Google and Homeland Security fusion centers have made it possible to use GPS technology to network data that promises to help manage a variety of natural and man-made disasters.

scholarly journals In Defence of the Homeland

2020 ◽  
Vol 5 (1) ◽  
pp. 39-64
Author(s):  
Olusola Adegbite
Keyword(s):  
World War Ii ◽  
Homeland Security ◽  
The United States ◽  
Legal Regime ◽  
Major Step ◽  
Patriot Act ◽  
Department Of Homeland Security ◽  
Prevention Act ◽  
The Us ◽  
Terrorism Prevention

Terrorism is perhaps the greatest global security challenge post-World War II and, like several countries, Nigeria is also grappling with this scourge. The remarkable thing is that following pressure from the United States (US) and Western nations, Nigeria took a major step towards counterterrorism with the enactment of the Terrorism (Prevention) Act, 2011. The Act was later replaced by the Terrorism Prevention (Amendment) Act, 2013. Certainly, so far, this legislation remains the nation’s boldest effort in combatting terrorism. However, the Nigerian counterterrorism legal regime still falls short in some material respect, given the absence of a robust strategy and complementary institutional support system. This is not the same case in a country such as the US, where the principal counterterrorism legislation, the Patriot Act, is well complemented by the US National Counterterrorism Strategy and the Department of Homeland Security. Against this background, this Article examines the legal regime governing counterterrorism in Nigeria and the US, with the view of highlighting areas where Nigeria could gain useful insights from the US experience. The expectation is that given the robustness of the US counterterrorism regime, the experience to be gained cannot but further enrich the existing counterterrorism legal regime in Nigeria.

Refuge in the National Security State

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
María Cristina García
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
National Security ◽  
Homeland Security ◽  
The United States ◽  
State Policies ◽  
Us Foreign Policy ◽  
Terrorist Attacks ◽  
Department Of Homeland Security ◽  
The World ◽  
National Security State

In response to the terrorist attacks of 1993 and 2001, the Clinton and Bush administrations restructured the immigration bureaucracy, placed it within the new Department of Homeland Security, and tried to convey to Americans a greater sense of safety. Refugees, especially those from Iraq, Afghanistan, and Syria, suffered the consequences of the new national security state policies, and found it increasingly difficult to find refuge in the United States. In the post-9/11 era, refugee advocates became even more important to the admission of refugees, reminding Americans of their humanitarian obligations, especially to those refugees who came from areas of the world where US foreign policy had played a role in displacing populations.

Impact of Ventilation on Fire Behavior in Legacy and Contemporary Residential Construction

2010 ◽  
Author(s):  
Steve Kerber ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Homeland Security ◽  
Fire Behavior ◽  
The United States ◽  
Fire Service ◽  
United States Department ◽  
Department Of Homeland Security ◽  
Front Door ◽  
Fire Environment ◽  
Open Floor ◽  
The Impact

Under the United States Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Assistance to Firefighter Grant Program, Underwriters Laboratories examined fire service ventilation practices as well as the impact of changes in modern house geometries. There has been a steady change in the residential fire environment over the past several decades. These changes include larger homes, more open floor plans and volumes and increased synthetic fuel loads. This series of experiments examine this change in fire behavior and the impact on firefighter ventilation tactics. This fire research project developed the empirical data that is needed to quantify the fire behavior associated with these scenarios and result in immediately developing the necessary firefighting ventilation practices to reduce firefighter death and injury. Two houses were constructed in the large fire facility of Underwriters Laboratories in Northbrook, IL. The first of two houses constructed was a one-story, 1200 ft, 3 bedroom, 
bathroom house with 8 total rooms. The second house was a two-story 3200 ft, 4 bedroom, 2.5 bathroom house with 12 total rooms. The second house featured a modern open floor plan, two- story great room and open foyer. Fifteen experiments were conducted varying the ventilation locations and the number of ventilation openings. Ventilation scenarios included ventilating the front door only, opening the front door and a window near and remote from the seat of the fire, opening a window only and ventilating a higher opening in the two-story house. One scenario in each house was conducted in triplicate to examine repeatability. The results of these experiments provide knowledge for the fire service for them to examine their thought processes, standard operating procedures and training content. Several tactical considerations were developed utilizing the data from the experiments to provide specific examples of changes that can be adopted based on a departments current strategies and tactics.

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