A Deeper Look on 08/09/12

I listened with some mirth to Linda Olson-Osterlund's piece on the Titan Fusion Center.  In the interest of complete transparency, I am a law enforcement officer in one of the five counties that are part of the Urban Area Security Initiative.  I have been to the Fusion Center on a number of occasions and have talked with employees there and have been privy to documents that the center has produced, all of which contained information already in the public domain.  My opinion on the benefits of the Fusion Center are mixed, having found most publications of the center to be no more than a re-hash of yesterdays evening news and the very general warnings of possible terrorist activity produced by DHS, FBI, etc.  
With that in mind, I was, sadly, not surprised at Linda's largely unobjective and misleading portrayal of the Tital Fusion Center.  Right from the beginning, Linda tries to up the drama (and her own reputation, it seems, as an investigative reporter) by referring to the center as a "secret surveillance center" and claiming that local law enforcement and others have tried to keep the center secret for three years.  Apparently, Linda's definition of secret includes listing the center in the Oregon State Agency Phone Directory with the name and phone number of the center's director. (Yup, it took me all of 30 seconds online to find it).  In fact, information on the Fusion Center has been readily available online from a number of sources since the center was formed.  A few examples:
www.nfcausa.org    The National Fusion Center Association which shows a map of fusion centers nationwide. (Since both the UASI fusion center and the Salem location are part of the same entity, they only show one mark on the map of Oregon).
http://publicintelligence.net   I found information about the Titan Fusion Center including a bulletin that they produced for law enforcement agencies.  
http://projects.washingtonpost.com/top-secret-america/map/  The Washington Post has a map showing Fusion Centers, including Oregon's.
http://www.leg.state.or.us/cis/gov_to_gov/2009AnnualReports/DOJ_2009G2Gr...  Oregon Dept. of Justice mentioned the Titan Fusion Center way back in 2009 in their Annual Government to Government Report pursuant to ORS 182.166(3)
www.fas.org/irp/agency/ise/state.pdf  "State and Regional Fusion Center Contact Information"
http://dasapp.oregon.gov/statephonebook/display.asp?agency=13700&divisio...  The aforementioned State Agency Phone Book
I could go on, but I think you get the point.  There really isn't any objective basis for the claim that the agency is secret; not when you can find them in the phone book or by simply Googling the name.  So no scoop for Ms. Olson-Osterlund.  Some other documents I found online include memoranda of understanding between the Fusion Center and agencies who are affiliated.  
As for Ms. Olson-Osterlund's claim that the center is all about violating peoples rights; take a look at the Titan Fusion Center's Privacy Policy - and yes, I found it online...it even has an email address to contact the center's "Privacy Officer".  
 
2.0 Compliance with Laws Regarding Privacy, Civil Rights, and Civil Liberties
All participating agency personnel, personnel providing information technology services to the Oregon TITAN Fusion Center, private contractors, and users (including Information Sharing Environment [ISE] participating centers and agencies) will comply with the provisions contained in this Policy and with all applicable laws protecting privacy, civil rights, and civil liberties in the collection, use, analysis, retention, destruction, sharing, and disclosure of information as stated below and herein.
The internal operating policies governing the operation of the Oregon TITAN Fusion Center comply with 28 CFR Part 23, ORS 181.575, the Oregon Department of Justice Administrative Rules 137-090- 0000-0225, ORS Chapter 192 relating to public records, the U.S. and Oregon constitutions, and state and federal law pertaining to confidential records and records containing personally identifiable information.
The Center’s Executive Advisory Committee has approved this Policy and oversees its implementation in various ways including: liaising with the community to ensure that privacy and civil rights are protected as provided in this policy and by the Center’s information-gathering and collection, retention, and dissemination processes and procedures; and conducting an annual review and recommendation for updates to the policy, with the assistance of the Privacy Officer, in response to changes in law and implementation experience, including the results of audits and inspections. The Director for the Center is responsible for insuring that all participating agency personnel, personnel providing information technology services to the Oregon TITAN Fusion Center, private contractors, and users will comply with the terms of this Policy. Section 9 of this Policy contains specific provisions relating to the review, implementation and enforcement of this Policy.
The Privacy Officer, who is the attorney for the Center and who is appointed by the Chief Counsel of the Oregon Department of Justice Criminal Division, receives reports regarding alleged errors and violations of the provisions of this policy, receives and coordinates complaint resolution under the Center’s redress policy, and serves as the liaison for the Information Sharing Environment, ensuring that privacy protections are implemented through efforts such as training, business process changes, and system designs that incorporate privacy-enhancing technologies. The Privacy Officer can be contacted at the following address: 610 Hawthorne Ave, SE, Suite 210, Salem, Oregon, 97301, oregonfusioncenter@doj.state.or.us.
 
In summary, Linda makes some pretty broad claims about  supposed secrecy, illegal activity and general government skull-duggery relating to the Titan Fusion Center, all backed up with a hefty dollop of  inuendo.  Once you take a look at the available evidence though, and you should, you can only conclude that Ms. Olson-Osterlund wasn't interested in presenting an objective analysis of the fusion center, an act that might have had some real benefit to listeners. Instead, by Olson-Osterlund's cherry picking of facts and obvious shading of the truth, it's clear that Ms. Olson-Osterlund was out to portray the FC as something right out of one of the Bourne movies.  In my view this puts Ms. Olson-Osterlund in the same category as Rush Limbaugh; Titillating maybe, but not informative- and not honest.