AUSTIN — Most Texans probably couldn’t tell you what a fusion center is. But a fusion center could tell you a lot about any Texan, including who they are … and what they’ve done.

The extent of what information is made available to these Fusion Centers is what leaders of Texans for Accountable Government (TAG) and Operation Defuse (ODF) had in mind when they met with the director of the North Central Texas Fusion System recently.

In July, TAG officers and ODF Activists met with the Collin County Homeland Security office — which manages the North Central Texas Fusion System (NCTFS)– as the Fusion System was drafting a privacy policy to be submitted for approval to the Institute for Intergovernmental Research, the Department of Homeland Security, and eventually the Collin County Commissioners Court . TAG director John Bush, also the co-founder of the group OperationDefuse.com, said such discussions led to the inclusion of protections for non-criminal information and constitutionally protected rights into the center’s official policy. As a safeguard, a privacy oversight committee is being considered by the center’s executive advisory board, and Collin County ‘s Commissioners and County Judge , Bush said.

For further information on fusion centers, or the possible privacy rights violations they represent, Bush may be contacted at (512)773-6102.

LINKS:

Texans for Accountable Government
http://tagtexas.org

OperationDefuse.com
http://www.operationdefuse.com

Some background on TAG’s victories with the Austin fusion center: http://tagtexas.org/?p=302

ARIC Interlocal Agreement
http://www.ci.austin.tx.us/police/downloads/aric_general_interlocal_with_council_changes_060910.pdf

ARIC Privacy Policy

http://www.ci.austin.tx.us/police/downloads/aric_privacy_policy_without_all_hazards_post_council.pdf

Austin City Council members, Leffingwell, Martinez, Cole and Shade have the set the stage for major rate hikes on our monthly water bills to pay for a water treatment plant that Austin may never need! Our friends at ChangeAustin.org are circulating a petition to send a message to the Austin City Council: Don’t waste our tax dollars and don’t waste our water!

Sign the Petition Now!

You can send it to all your friends in Austin by going here:

We encourage you to show up at Austin City Hall on Thursday, August 26th @4 PM for the public hearing! If you’d like additional information on Water Treatment Plant #4 go HERE and HERE
And if you’d like more information on Austin’s Cost of Growth vist CostofGrowth.com

http://www.ci.austin.tx.us/cityclerk/boards_commissions/boards/bid41.htm

This will allow citizens to review grants that APD seeks to obtain, including
details about the grant, and when the next action is to be taken. This comes
after continual pressure from TAG activists calling on the City to provide more
transparency and accountability in the grant receiving process.  The
change will make it possible for TAG to better understand, and combat the
federalization of our local police.

Thank you to all the TAG activists who continue to work hard to bring about a
more accountable government. Our persistence is paying off, so keep up the good
work!

Interested in getting involved?

Next Event: Public Safety Commission Meeting

Location: City Hall

Time:  Monday, September 6th @ 4pm

AUSTIN — John Bush, director of Texans for Accountable Government and a contributor to the blog Austin Free Press, was arrested Monday afternoon, Aug. 9, after U.S. President Barack Obama gave an address at the University of Texas at Austin campus.

Bush, 26, who was arrested the same day as fellow activists Chandra Seymour (31), Dan McCarthy (22), and the Director of Environment Texas Robin Schneider (50), took to the campus of Texas’ flagship university to ensure Austinite’s civil liberties were not violated, to document the event, and to protest the President’s foreign policy over the last two years of the Administration. The difficulty arose when University of Texas Police Officers began instructing activists to move to what the university deemed a “Free Speech Area” — a distant area dedicated to public addresses — outside the campus’ Gregory Gymnasium.

Bush, noted that he was not only redressing his grievances, but also exercising his freedom of speech, freedom of the press, and his right to peaceably assemble, all of which are enumerated within the First Amendment to the U.S. Constitution.

As Bush was monitoring police and UT staff who were trying to remove an individual who was debating Obama’s policies, Police approached him, asked if he was a student, and then asked him to leave.

“You guys don’t want to do this,” Bush said, while being approached by campus police. “You’re about to violate my civil rights … there’s no violence going on. It’s a peaceful discussion. It may be a little heated, but it’s peaceful.”

Bush continued:

“People are learning from each other — well, maybe not too much from each other. But maybe they’ll learn a lot more from a gentleman who is standing here very calmly, with a press pass, John Bush, exercising … three of my First Amendment rights — my right to free speech, my right to peaceably assemble, and the freedom of the press, that’s three — … which could potentially be violated by the University of Texas Police Department and the Dean’s Office.”

Protesters then began a chant, as Bush was escorted away by police:

Leader: “Tell me what a police state looks like:”
Other protesters: “This is what a police state looks like!”

Bush was held on a criminal trespass charge, a class B misdemeanor, in the Travis County jail Monday evening. He was subsequently released, and made several media appearances on Tuesday.

***

QUOTE:

Members of the press are welcome to attribute the following comment to John Bush, director of Texans For Accountable Government:

“The whole idea of a ‘free-speech zone’ is repugnant to the First Amendment of the US Constitution. Americans must realize that the entire country is a free speech zone! I encourage everybody to learn their rights and to exercise them whenever possible. Stand strong in the face of adversity if you know you are doing no wrong.  Together, we can make Austin the most free and prosperous city in the world!”

***

WEB LINKS:

A YouTube video of the arrest may be found at

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4Gr1BIDi97M (08/10/10, 4:39p.m. CST).

UT-Austin’s free speech policy may be read at:
http://registrar.utexas.edu/catalogs/gi09-10/app/gi09.appc04.html

Austin American-Statesman crime blotter article:
http://www.statesman.com/blogs/content/shared-gen/blogs/austin/blotter/entries/2010/08/10/obama_protesters_arrested_afte.html

In the end our concerns boiled down to three key issues; the inclusion of the “all-hazards” approach, compliance with the Nationwide Suspicious Activity Reporting Initiative, and a general lack of lateral oversight and accountability. Surely the Department of Homeland Security was taken aback when a gang of loony libertarians, along with a couple of ACLU folks, a gutsy Public Safety Commissioner, and one hell of a councilwoman, managed to significantly impact each one of the aforementioned grievances.

Perhaps the biggest victory of all came in removing the “all-hazards” approach from ARIC. The “all-hazards” approach allowed ARIC to collect, analyze, and disseminate non-criminal information in order to prevent and respond to hazards such as public health emergencies or natural and/or man-made disasters. Our biggest concern, as confirmed by documents we obtained through a public information request, was that ARIC was to include a public health/medical analyst which would “Develop and Enhance Public Health Capabilities for Epidemiologic Response, Responder Safety and Health and Disease Surveillance to Include Response to All-Hazards Events and Public Health Emergencies.” This is of course a primary concern as ARIC was sold to us a “criminal intelligence” center, not an all inclusive information gathering apparatus which merges medical professionals with law enforcement officials. Upon this discovery, we immediately responded by putting together a press conference which was covered by much of the local Austin media. The media pressure, in addition to our relentless lobbying of the City Council, ultimately forced the DHS and the Austin Police Department to back away from the “all-hazards” approach all together! Score one for the good guys!

Additionally, we managed to have some very key components of the privacy policy included in the Intelrocal Agreement. As you may recall, mid-battle it was revealed that ARIC’s privacy policy was to be an internal administrative document subject only to the whims of the very institution it was supposed to protect us from. Luckily for we the people, Councilwoman Laura Morrison, acting with much political foresight, made a last minute motion to amend the Interlocal Agreement, a document which has legislative backing and thus permanence, to include the following language, “The ARIC will not seek, collect or retain information about an individual or organization, and originating agencies will not submit such information, solely on the basis of religious, political, or social views or activities.” The inclusion of this language assures we the people that 1st Amendment protected activity will not be monitored by the federal government via the Nationwide Suspicious Activity Reporting Initiative, a national push to have local law enforcement officials collect information on Americans conducting activity which officials deem to be “reasonably indicative” of planning for a potential crime or terrorist activity. SARs effectively create a new standard of information gathering which is below the 4th Amendment standard of “reasonable suspicion”. This is especially pertinent as other law enforcement agencies collect SAR’s when an individual “espouses extremist views”, makes “claims regarding government conspiracies, sovereign rights, or common law”, or “distributes radical literature in public locations.” Rest assured Austin, this will not occur in our city!

Finally, in order to assure the aforementioned policy changes are adhered to, TAG lobbied for the inclusion of a Privacy Policy Advisory Committee. This was promised early on by APD and later strengthened as a result of TAG’s efforts. We lobbied for the inclusion of language forcing the ARIC Executive Committee to make changes to the Privacy Policy “upon recommendation” of the Privacy Policy Advisory Committee. Additionally, we fought to include language that would have the committee be comprised of at least one “community advocate.” TAG hopes that the Austin City Council, the body which will appoint the Austin representative of the committee, will recognize the amount of hard work and due diligence put forward by our organization and in good faith appoint a TAG representative to the committee.

Once again ladies and gentleman, your friends at Texans for Accountable Government have fought tirelessly to ensure your privacy and civil liberties are protected. While it is unfortunate that Austin will soon have a fusion center of its own, as a result of our hard work, we at TAG are confident that the abuses which have occurred at fusion centers across the country will not be happening here in Central Texas. We will remain vigilant and watchful of ARIC and will soon begin preparing to attack her where she is vulnerable through legislation during the 2011 Texas Legislative Session. As our numbers grow and our influence strengthens, you can look forward to one day living in a city and state without a fusion center and maybe even a country without a Department of Homeland Security.

Remember, the price of liberty is eternal vigilance and we TAGsters have demonstrated our commitment to the cause time and time again. We hope that you will consider supporting our efforts by donating financially at the following link: https://co.clickandpledge.com/sp/d1/default.aspx?wid=23060

Thank you again for your continued support. The tide is beginning to turn and TOGETHER, we WILL be FREE!

Texans for Accountable Government

While the poor performance by the City’s Public Safety Commission, with the notable exception of Ramey Ko, in vetting the fusion center interlocal agreement and privacy policy coupled with the concerns over the suppressed KeyPoint report illustrate continuing problems with transparency and accountability in the City of Austin government, this is a significant victory for the people of Central Texas!

* include public health agencies as Partner Agencies in the ARIC;
* “leverage” public health agencies;
* hire and maintain a “public health/medical analyst”;
* provide “daily health alerts”;
* engage in the “rapid administration of vaccines”;
* “strengthen medical surge and mass prophylaxis capabilities”;
* develop capabilities to respond to “public health emergencies”;
* support “statewide human & animal health surveillance systems”;
* conduct “epidemiological surveillance”;

If this concerns you as much as it concerns us, please come to City Hall this Thursday @ 10 AM!  The City Council will be voting to sign the ARIC Interlocal Agreement which will make the fusion center operational.  We must hold the council’s feet to the fire and call on them to delay the signing of the interlocal agreement and drop the public health component from the fusion center entirely!
 
Please consider calling your council person today and politely asking them to consider voting to delay the signing of the interlocal agreement and be sure to tell them that you do not support the idea of public health activity being carried out at a law enforcement intelligence center.
 
We hope to see you there!

Contact your City Council:
 
Mayor Lee Leffingwell
lee.leffingwell@ci.austin.tx.us
512-974-2250 phone
512-974-2337 fax

Council Member Chris Riley
chris.riley@ci.austin.tx.us
512-974-2260 phone
512-974-3212 fax

Mayor Pro Tem Mike Martinez
mike.martinez@ci.austin.tx.us
512-974-2264 phone
512-974-1887 fax

Council Member Randi Shade
randi.shade@ci.austin.tx.us
512-974-2255 phone
512-974-1888 fax

Council Member Laura Morrison
laura.morrison@ci.austin.tx.us
512-974-2258 phone
512-974-1886 fax

Council Member Bill Spelman
bill.spelman@ci.austin.tx.us
512-974-2256 phone
512-974-7655 fax

Council Member Sheryl Cole
sheryl.cole@ci.austin.tx.us
512-974-2266 phone
512-974-1890 fax

Below is a press release sent to the media this morning.

###
***FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE***
6:00 a.m., May 26, 2010

MEDIA ADVISORY: PRESS CONFERENCE AT AUSTIN CITY HALL

WHEN: Noon Wednesday (May 26)

CONTACT: Chuck Young, Communications Director, Texans for Accountable Government (TAG), (512) 826-4657, see.why@austin.rr.com; John Bush, Political Director, TAG, (512) 773-6102, libertylover512@yahoo.com

HEAD: Austin Police Involved in Public Health through Fusion Center

AUSTIN, (May 26th, 2010) — A document obtained from the Austin Police Department (“APD”) indicates that the Austin Regional Intelligence Center (“ARIC”) will be used in a variety of public health functions.

The document, the 2009 Final Center Proposal, or “Investment Justification” (http://tagtexas.org/uploads/09FinalFusionCenterProposalGRT-2.pdf), has provisions to:

* include public health agencies as Partner Agencies in the ARIC;
* “leverage” public health agencies;
* hire and maintain a “public health/medical analyst”;
* provide “daily health alerts”;
* engage in the “rapid administration of vaccines”;
* “strengthen medical surge and mass prophylaxis capabilities”;
* develop capabilities to respond to “public health emergencies”;
* support “statewide human & animal health surveillance systems”;
* conduct “epidemiological surveillance”;

“We keep saying it: this fusion center’s mission goes far beyond ‘criminal intelligence’” said Chuck Young, Communications Director of Texans for Accountable Government (“TAG”). “This grant document clearly demonstrates that the ARIC will indeed impact the lives of normal citizens throughout Central Texas who are not part of any criminal investigation. We were concerned with the ARIC’s mission going beyond law enforcement and into public safety, but we had no idea it infringed on public health in so many ways.”

“There’s a pattern of behavior here,” said John Bush, TAG’s Political Director. “This is another example of APD and our City Executive holding back the whole truth. They’re selling the ARIC to the people of Austin and the City Council based exclusively on the criminal intelligence aspects of the fusion center – stopping gang violence, interdicting drug running. But the ARIC isn’t just about crime; it’s about vaccinations, epidemiology, animal health surveillance – all sorts of non-criminal matters. And APD has known this the whole time.”

“The final joke here is that the messaging strategy of ARIC’s advocates is outlined in their grant proposal,” said Young. “Under ‘Challenge Mitigation’, they discuss engaging activists like us in creating a privacy policy – a document we now consider to be virtually meaningless – and focusing media attention on ARIC as a means to gather information and intelligence on criminal suspects. This is in the same document that enumerates countless functions that are way beyond the scope of criminal investigations. We’ve been played, Council has been played, the Media have been played; it’s that simple.”

Background: Texans for Accountable Government (“TAG”) is a non-profit and associated Political Action Committee dedicated to advancing the cause of liberty through trans-partisan local activism. See (http://tagtexas.org). For deeper background on fusion centers, see (http://epic.org/privacy/fusion/#background).

###

Well, we’ve been right all along. And here’s the proof.

We’ll have a lot more to say about this in the next 2 days.

TAG’s executive summary, which is still mostly on target, can still be viewed here. Media from the 5/3 PSC meeting can be viewed here and here.

If you’re as concerned as we are about conflating law enforcement with, for instance, “management of a pandemic flu outbreak”, then please show up at City Hall on May 27th. The Council agenda can be viewed here (see agenda items 33 and 34).

It hasn’t been easy; as the press release states, some of the grammar in these docs isn’t worthy of a gradeschool student.

Nevertheless, based on repeated walkthroughs, we have published an executive summary which you can read here. Basically, the merging of “public safety” with law enforcement is the problem, because “public safety” really has no substantive legal meaning.

We’ll continue to work through this with the City; hopefully they’ll see the light, or at least a glimmer thereof, sometime before signing off on the ARIC. We’ll also be working the next Texas lege session to try and strengthen prohibitions on the sort of inter-governmental data sharing ARIC is seeking to do.

You can read the TAG press release on this subject here

Related video here or in the sidebar —->