ADD YOUR NAME: We're calling for significant reforms to be made to how fusion centers operate!

State and Local Governments who have authorized Fusion Centers

In the aftermath of the 9/11 terror attacks in 2001, State and local governments created so-called “fusion centers,” to share counterterrorism intelligence across government agencies.

However, after six months of investigation and research from Open The Government, we found the reality is these fusion centers consistently violate Americans’ privacy and civil liberties, produce unreliable and ineffective information, and bypass standard public accountability.

We particularly researched whether any progress had been made with fusion centers implementing the recommendations of a highly critical Senate subcommittee investigation in 2012, but not much had changed.

Despite the federal government funneling more than 2 billion dollars to the program in the past eight years, Open The Government found that fusion centers (including several in Chicago, Memphis, and Boston) incorrectly monitor activity that is protected by the First Amendment, including free speech, freedom of religion, freedom of assembly, and freedom of the press.


This is an unacceptable violation of our civil liberties, and our work to uncover this is just beginning.
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Washington, DC

To: State and Local Governments who have authorized Fusion Centers
From: [Your Name]

In the aftermath of the 9/11 terror attacks in 2001, State and local governments created so-called “fusion centers,” to share counterterrorism intelligence across government agencies.

However, after six months of investigation and research from Open The Government, we found the reality is these fusion centers consistently violate Americans’ privacy and civil liberties, produce unreliable and ineffective information, and bypass standard public accountability.

We particularly researched whether any progress had been made with fusion centers implementing the recommendations of a highly critical Senate subcommittee investigation in 2012, but not much had changed.

Despite the federal government funneling more than 2 billion dollars to the program in the past eight years, Open The Government found that fusion centers (including several in Chicago, Memphis, and Boston) incorrectly monitor activity that is protected by the First Amendment, including free speech, freedom of religion, freedom of assembly, and freedom of the press.

This is an unacceptable violation of our civil liberties, and our work to uncover this is just beginning.