On June 13, 2009 I interviewed Steve Erickson with the Citizens Education Project. The Primary focus was the Utah Fusion Center, which Mr. Erickson has been trying to bring to the attention of Utah citizens.
Fusion Center are not isolated to Utah, they are going up all over the US.
When asked how he became aware of the Utah Fusion Center, Steve Erickson stated he first became aware of the MATRIX about the time Governor Leavitt was on the way out, and Governor Walker was on her way in, which would have been 2004.
The Fusion Centers started being pushed right after the MATRIX program fell apart, so Mr. Erickson began monitoring the issue. He believes he first caught wind of the Fusion Center coming to Utah in 2006.
The Citizens Education Project used the Government Records Access and Management Act (GRAMA), which is Utah’s equivalent to the Freedom of Information Act, to obtain information on the development of the Utah Fusion Center.
Salt Lake City has created their own Fusion Center at the city level. Most recently Salt Lake City received $3 million from the Department of Homeland Security. The money came from the Obama administrations stimulus funds, otherwise known as the American Recovery and Revitalization Act (ARRA or bailout #2).
Bonneville Research also puts out a report called the Monday Report, which listed how the ARRA funds are being distributed to all of the cities in Utah.
At the last meeting of the Executive Appropriations Committee of the Utah Legislator May 19th CEP spotted information in what is called the Federal Funds Report. Every month or so there’s a report given to the leadership of the Utah Legislator on new federal funds coming into Utah. The report stated Utah Public Safety Department had received $14 million from the Department of Homeland Security over the past couple of years, and had $18 million still pending. About 43% of the funds are passed to local law enforcement, but there’s not much information on where the other 57% is going.
Steve Erickson stated the difference between the MATRIX and the Fusion Centers, is the MATRIX database was a centralized database being run by a private company by the name of Seisint, Inc. Since that time Seisint Inc was acquired by ChoicePoint, who was then acquired by LexisNexis. The Fusion Centers are government operated database systems that may collect data from private entities. Fusion Centers maintain their own databases rather than sharing a centralized database, although they may share data.
We also covered the use of cameras being placed around Salt Lake City, and facial recognition software.
One caller by the name of Gerald called in to recommend everyone watch the film Enemy of the State. He believes the film is a wake up call to the potential abuse of the Fusion Center. I stated I have not seen the film, but I used to know someone who had worked for the NSA who stated everything in the film is real. The NSA really has the capabilities portrayed in the film.
I recommended checking out the documentary Orwell Rolls in his Grave, for an insight into why the corporate media is not covering the Fusion Centers.
To stay up on the Issue Mr. Erickson recommended checking in with the Utah ACLU. They have a web site acluutah.org and a Facebook page.
More Information:
For more information on how the Utah Fusion Center may be abused, or why it may be abused people may want to take into consideration three historical psychological studies and concepts.
These are all experiments on why good people are capable of committing atrocities such as those committed by the Nazis in Germany.
“Power tends to corrupt, and absolute power corrupts absolutely. Great men are almost always bad men.”
– John Emerich Edward Dalberg Acton
“Any society that would give up a little liberty to gain a little security will deserve neither and lose both.”
Naomi Wolf warned one of the signs of a totalitarian society is a massive citizen surveillance program:
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