Colorado ‘fusion center’ to step up intelligence gathering during DNC

Federal law enforcement and military will monitor 'suspicious activities' for security threats.

Digg Tweet By Erin Rosa 7/30/08 8:47 AM

The Colorado Information Analysis Center, a hub for state, local and federal law enforcement, is “like police intelligence units on steroids” claims one civil liberties expert. (Photo/Bob Spencer)

Federal and state law enforcement officials will increase intelligence operations during the Democratic National Convention, overseeing an information war room that will be staffed around the clock with analysts who access a dozen databases while receiving reports of “suspicious activity” — activity that some civil libertarians claim could be nothing more than engaging in anti-war protests or photographing federal facilities that could be targeted for terrorist attack.

Central to the efforts is Colorado’s “fusion” center, a place designed to facilitate intelligence sharing among federal, state and military agencies in an effort to prevent terrorism. But civil rights advocates fear that the Colorado Information Analysis Center, (CIAC) now housed in an inconspicuous office building in Centennial, a southern suburb of Denver, could enable unwarranted spying on Americans exercising their First Amendment rights at the convention.

Inside the building, intelligence analysts with the Colorado State Patrol, Colorado National Guard and Federal Bureau of Investigation take local reports of suspicious criminal activity and determine what merits further investigation.

“It’s a filtration point for information,” says Lance Clem, a representative for the Colorado Department of Public Safety, which directs the state troopers who work at CIAC. “We take information from the international and national level and decide what needs to be pushed out to local law enforcement agencies.”

CIAC personnel also take reports of suspicious activities from citizens and other police departments. If a report is deemed by analysts to require additional investigation, it is shared with the appropriate law enforcement officials, but if a report is not determined to merit further inspection, CIAC workers make a log of the event, according to Clem, essentially creating a massive collection of data, some of it reliable and some of it not.

When the Democratic National Convention is held in August, CIAC will be operating 24 hours a day and be fully staffed with up to eight intelligence analysts at any given time.

“CIAC is going to be expanding hours for physical presence in the office,” Clem says about the convention. “Any known threats specifically related to the convention are going to go right to the United States Secret Service and FBI, but CIAC is going to be there to take any reports that citizens have.”

Malcolm Wiley, a spokesman for the Secret Service, says he can’t confirm if members of his agency will be physically present at CIAC while the convention takes place, but he does acknowledge the center’s part in analyzing intelligence data during the event.

“They’ll be sharing information with other intelligence gatherers,” including the Secret Service and FBI, Wiley says.

The military will also be sharing intelligence information and providing support through U.S. Northern Command, (NORTHCOM) a unit stationed at Peterson Air Force Base in Colorado Springs that was created in 2002 for homeland defense missions.

While NORTHCOM personnel will not be working at CIAC during the convention, the unit will share information that is relevant to the center,as it has done occasionally in the past, according to Master Sgt. Anthony Hill, a NORTHCOM spokesman.

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