***For Immediate Release***
September 12th, 2014
MEDIA ADVISORY: TAG REACTS TO AUSTIN FUSION CENTER PRIVACY VIOLATIONS
WHEN: 4:00 PM. Friday, September 12, 2014, Public Safety Commission meeting
CONTACT: John Bush, Fusion Center Watchdog with Texans for Accountable Government (TAG), 512-815-7388 johnbush512@gmail.com, www.tagtexas.org
HEAD: TAG members and former Executive Director to address Public Safety Commission on privacy violations and TAG being labeled a “domestic extremist” group
In response to the recent Austin Chronicle article, “ARIC and Privacy,” local transpartisan activist group Texans for Accountable Government (TAG) has expressed outrage and disapproval of the Austin Regional Intelligence Center (ARIC), Austin’s local “fusion center”. The disapproval stems from emails released showing ARIC used city surveillance faculties to target, monitor and profile peaceful protestors associated with the Move to Amend and Occupy Movements. Also under scrutiny are emails and reports authored by APD officers labeling peaceful activists and political groups as “domestic extremists”. TAG members, including former Executive Director John Bush, who was targeted in the reports, will attend and address these violations at the Public Safety Commission meeting today (Friday, September 12), at Town Lake Center, 721 Barton Springs Rd, at 4:00 pm.
“We are fed up with so-called intelligence reports targeting groups and peaceful individuals that are simply fighting for the cause of liberty, which used to be the greatest American virtue,” said Bush. “While ARIC states it is using its surveillance technology to identify and monitor terrorists, it is really targeting and monitoring political dissent. These practices are unacceptable for any agency of government to be imposing on people.”
A recent Chronicle article, written by John Anderson, details how Move to Amend organizer, Michael Ryan, obtained a permit for a rally outside Austin’s federal courthouse. The article states: “…[D]uring the permitting process, an e-mail reflects USMS Deputy Marshall Darren Sartin stating he is “trying to get more information on Michael Ryan.” Addressing a fellow USMS deputy, he continued “you might have better luck with your APD contact through [apparently referring to APD Police Department Intelligence Unit supervisor David Jarrell]. If I learn anything I will let you know.”… There is no indication, however, of how this might connect to criminal activity.
To add insult to injury, additional documents released on September 10th on the Facebook page and website of police accountability activist group Peaceful Streets Project (PSP) reveal a report that included APD and Austin Police Association falsely labeling PSP as a domestic extremist group that wishes to start a “national revolution.” In the same batch of released documents, other groups including Occupy Austin, Institute for Justice, Cop Watch, and TAG themselves, were falsely listed as a “Sovereign Citizen” groups defined by the FBI within this report as a major threat to law enforcement. Emails associated with the report reveal that is was likely written without approval from APD and without the standards in place for fusion center intelligence creation and dissemination.
“TAG and its members advocate peaceful means to advance liberty through local and state government action,” said Bush. “We are involved in peaceful protests and state and local level lobbying. I’m absolutely offended and disgusted that TAG is being labeled as a domestic extremist organization. Acevedo needs to get his house in order if his officers are going to be putting out shoddy intelligence written at a high school level.”
ARIC, Austin’s fusion center, which went into commission in 2010, drew much scrutiny by local activists who feared that the invasive tactics of other, longer-established centers would come home to Austin. “Fusion centers” are named as such because they fuse the intelligence gathering, analysis, and sharing of local, state, and federal law enforcement agencies in the name of “national security.”
In 2010, after learning about the political profiling of Ron Paul supporters by a Missouri fusion center, TAG worked with a coalition of local groups to put in place a model privacy policy for ARIC. This policy eliminated the “all hazards” approach which would have allowed the fusion center to be used for information gathering and intelligence sharing on anything from health to shopping habits. By limiting the scope of focus, TAG hoped to limit the violations of Constitutional rights, similar to the violations associated with Occupy Austin and Move to Amend activists. Additionally, the privacy policy strictly banned the intelligence center’s collection, analysis, or dissemination of information relating to a person’s political, social, or religious views. TAG went on to pass legislation at the state level which placed similar restrictions on every fusion center in Texas.
Friday Austin Public Safety event: http://austintexas.gov/node/30471
APD and APA documents listing PSP and TAG, among others, as extremist groups:
http://thelibertybeat.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/09/Berry-Report-1.jpg
http://thelibertybeat.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/09/Berry-Report-2.jpg
http://thelibertybeat.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/09/Barry-Report-Email.jpg
http://www.scribd.com/doc/239356199/Officer-Berry-Report-on-PSP-and-Domestic-Extremism
Liberty Beat Report on Released Documents: http://thelibertybeat.com/breaking-documents-reveal-austin-police-departments-attempt-to-disrupt-peaceful-streets-project-label-them-domestic-extremist-group/
Austin Chronicle article: http://www.austinchronicle.com/news/2014-08-29/aric-and-privacy/