{"id":13344,"date":"2012-10-18T08:31:44","date_gmt":"2012-10-18T15:31:44","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.crookedbough.com\/?p=13344"},"modified":"2012-10-18T08:31:44","modified_gmt":"2012-10-18T15:31:44","slug":"security-state-fusion-centers-in-us-trample-freedoms-waste-millions","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.crookedbough.com\/?p=13344","title":{"rendered":"Security State Fusion Centers in US Trample Freedoms Waste Millions"},"content":{"rendered":"

Probe Finds Police Fusion Centers Smother Freedom Waste Millions<\/strong>
\n17 October, 2012 – NOVA News – By Mark Anderson<\/p>\n

The post 9-11 network of law-enforcement fusion centers set up in every state to help fight the \u201cwar on terror,\u201d funded through a grants process Congress set up,is getting terrible grades in a 141-page report by the Senate Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations, chaired by Sen. Carl Levin (D-Mich.).<\/p>\n

That panel reviewed more than 600 unclassified reports over a one-year period, concluding that most of the operations carried out, after the expenditure of well over $1B, had virtuallynothing to do with terrorism.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe subcommittee investigation could identify no reporting which uncovered a terrorist threat, nor could it identify a contribution such fusion center reporting made to disrupt an active terrorist plot,\u201d the October 3 report says, in part.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s troubling that the very \u2018fusion\u2019 centers . . . designed to share information . . . have become part of the problem. Instead of strengthening our counter-terrorism efforts, they have too often wasted money and stepped on Americans\u2019 civil liberties,\u201d said Sen. Tom Coburn (R-Okla.). Coburn initiated the investigation that resulted in this report, called \u201cFederal Support for and Involvement in State and Local Fusion Centers.\u201d<\/p>\n

In other words, the United States has a mega-expensive anti-terror apparatus that really doesn\u2019t fight terrorism but becomes another self-perpetuating bureaucracy that tries to smother freedom.<\/p>\n

And yet this startling Senate report was followed by something perhaps even more eye-opening\u2014the October 8 release of a House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligencereport, entitled, \u201cInvestigative Report on the U.S. National Security Issues Posed by Chinese Telecommunications Companies Huawei and ZTE.\u201d So, while the U.S. security bureaucracy has been looking for the slightest signs of pending sabotage and terror from domestic patriots and Muslims, China has continued making major inroads into the United States.<\/p>\n

The House report follows an 11-month investigation into the business practices of Huawei Technologies and ZTE Corp., two of the world\u2019s largest makers of telecommunications equipment. These firms develop and sell telecom gear like routers, handsets and switches. The report recommends that Huawei and ZTE be excluded from expanding their businesses in the U.S. because of \u201ccyber-espionage risks and connections to the Chinesegovernment.\u201d<\/p>\n

The House report notes a threat is posed to U.S. national security \u201cby vulnerabilities in the telecommunications supply chain . . . given the country\u2019s reliance on interdependent critical infrastructure systems . . . and the growing dependence all consumers have on a small group of equipment providers,\u201d although Congress, as usual, seems tone deaf to the fact that its financial and trade policies are tailor-made for monopolies to take root.<\/p>\n

Nor has Congress said much, if anything, about Foreign Trade Zones\u2014entire Chinese industrial and residential communities transplanted into Idaho and elsewhere in the United States, while much of America\u2019s original industrial base has been dismantled and \u201cparted out\u201d to China and many other foreign locales. Some of America\u2019s industry is rebounding, but it\u2019s a long, hard process.<\/p>\n

Among other important things, the House report obtained by AMERICAN FREE PRESS underscores the sheer fragility of an over-centralized system developed without regard to local control by individuals and communities, even when handy, clean technology that would make the average home or factory less reliant on the grid for electricity is more accessibleand more affordable than ever before.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe risk posed to U.S. national-security and economic interests by cyber-threats is an undeniable priority,\u201d the House report warns. It further states:<\/p>\n

First, the country\u2019s reliance on telecommunications infrastructure includes more than consumers\u2019 use of computer systems. Rather, multiple critical infrastructure systems depend on information transmission through telecommunications systems \u2014[including] electric power grids; banking and finance systems; natural gas, oil and water systems; and rail and shipping channels; each of which depend on computerized control systems. Further, system inter-dependencies among these critical infrastructures greatly increase the risk that failure in one system will cause failures or disruptions in multiple . . . systems. Therefore, a disruption in telecommunication networks can have devastating effects on all aspects of modern American living, causing shortages and stoppages that ripple throughout society,\u201dobserves the report. \u201c[China\u2019s] cyber- and human-enabled espionage efforts often exhibit sophisticated technological capabilities,\u201d and these capabilities include inserting \u201cmalicious hardware or software implants into Chinese-manufactured telecommunications components and systems marketed to the United States. …more<\/a><\/p>\n

Tweet<\/a><\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Probe Finds Police Fusion Centers Smother Freedom Waste Millions 17 October, 2012 – NOVA News – By Mark Anderson The post 9-11 network of law-enforcement fusion centers set up in every state to help fight the \u201cwar on terror,\u201d funded through a grants process Congress set up,is getting terrible grades in a 141-page report by more \u00bb<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":27,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[247],"tags":[1593],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.crookedbough.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13344"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.crookedbough.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.crookedbough.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.crookedbough.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/27"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.crookedbough.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=13344"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.crookedbough.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13344\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":13346,"href":"https:\/\/www.crookedbough.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13344\/revisions\/13346"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.crookedbough.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=13344"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.crookedbough.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=13344"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.crookedbough.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=13344"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}