Texas Fusion Center Invites Racial Profiling, Suspects Protesters

Our friends over at the Texas Observer have obtained a copy of a document from the North Central Texas Fusion Center that reminds us gain what a threat fusion centers are to our civil liberties. Fusion centers gather intelligence from law enforcement officers at all levels, and sometimes from the private sector. (For background, see the ACLU’s report, “What’s Wrong with Fusion” Centers.)

Forrest Wilder of the Texas Observer reports that the local fusion center was concerned about the possibility of security threats at a December 31, 2008, football game in Fort Worth. Although law enforcement had “no specific intelligence” about any threats at the Bell Helicopter Armed Forces Bowl between the University of Houston and the Air Force Academy, the document said that “law enforcement officers should be on the lookout for suspicious individuals, especially those of Middle Eastern appearance.”

That’s “horribly offensive and unconstitutional,” the ACLU’s Mike German told Wilder. German, who used to be an FBI agent, is now national security policy counsel with the ACLU’s legislative office in D.C.

The document, dated December 22, 2008 and labeled “threat assessment: law enforcement sensitive,” also targeted peace activists. “There are no specific intelligence indicating threats from anti-war and other activist groups in the region and the state,” it said. “However, individuals and groups motivated by anti-war or anti-defense industry issues may take advantage of the high-profile event.”

Matthew Rothschild is the editor of The Progressive magazine. To subscribe for just $14.97 a year, just click here.