DHS Ending Domestic Satellite Spying Article Missing the Point: Fusion Centers

I am always skeptical of any good news I hear from government officials. So when Janet Napolitano was reported to have ended the Domestic spying by satellites I searched for the catch to the so-good-it-can't-be-true government action. And it has to do with two words: Fusion Centers.

After receiving a letter from Los Angeles Police Chief William Bratton, Napolitano decided the program should be canceled.

Bratton, in his role as head of the Major City Chiefs Association, wrote on June 21 that the program, as envisioned by the Bush administration, is not an urgent need for local law enforcement.

Instead, Bratton said, Homeland Security should focus on the fusion centers across the country and improving information-sharing with state and local officials to improve the domestic intelligence picture.

Bratton said he was unaware whether police chiefs has been consulted by Bush administration officials about the satellite program.

"To my knowledge, this is the first opportunity major law enforcement organizations have had to participate in this significant and complex initiative," he said in the letter.

The catch is increased power to the fusion centers. The ACLU demonstrates the danger of fusion centers in their updated report in 2008. LAPD Chief Bratton plays an important role in the amelioration of fusion centers and domestic spying. The LA Times cites a program issued by Bratton in 2008, "that formally required all officers to report incidents "potentially related to foreign or domestic terrorism," using McNamara's program." McNamara's program,

We can’t afford to be in the dark about fusion centers. And just because the government isn’t announcing this domestic surveillance program in grand style the way it has with other surveillance programs, doesn’t mean we can ignore it. Given the broad scope of information fusion centers collect, process and disseminate,it would be irresponsible not to enforce vigorous public oversight. We have to make sure our Congress and our state legislatures know it’s up to them to guard our privacy and to impose appropriate oversight controls and accountability standards on these out-of-control data-gathering monsters.