Must read: Law enforcement gone crazy --by Patrick Wood

The Radical Polarization of Law Enforcement Print E-mail

by Patrick Wood, Editor
March 18, 2009

Patriots, Christians and concerned citizens are increasingly in the cross hairs of the U.S. intelligence community, and battle lines are being quietly drawn that could soon pit our own law enforcement and military forces against us.

A February 20 report entitled "The Modern Militia Movement" was issued by the Missouri Information Analysis Center (MIAC) that paints mainstream patriotic Americans as dangerous threats to law enforcement and to the country. Operating under the Missouri State Highway Patrol, the MIAC is listed as a Fusion Center that was established in cooperation with the Department of Homeland Security and the Department of Justice.

Because authenticity of the report was questioned by some, this writer contacted Missouri state Representative Jim Guest (R-King City) who had personally verified that the report had indeed been issued. Rep. Guest is chairman of the Personal Privacy Committee and is a prominent leader in the national Blowback against the Real ID Act of 2005 that requires states to issue uniform driver's licenses containing personal biometric data. (See Guest warns against Big Brother, Real ID)

Rep. Guest stated that he was "shocked and outraged" at the report, which clearly paints him and many other elected state leaders, as a potential threats to law enforcement.

Instead of focusing on actual criminal incidents of "home-grown" terrorism, the MAIC report instead lists issues that it believes are common to the threats it perceives. Thus, Americans involved with the following issues are highly suspect:

-- "Ammunition Accountability Act" - requiring each bullet to to be serialized and registered to the purchaser.

-- "Anticipation of the economic collapse of the US Government" - Prominent scholars and economists are openly debating the bankruptcy and insolvency of the United States government.

-- "Possible Constitutional Convention (Con Con)" - 32 states have called for a Constitutional Convention to force Congress and the Executive Branch into a balanced budget, but many are concerned that if called, Con Con would be taken over by hostile interests who would introduce Amendments that are harmful to national Sovereignty.

-- "North American Union" - MIAC states that "Conspiracy theorists claim that this union would link Canada, the United States, and Mexico. The NAU would unify its monetary system and trade the dollar for the AMERO. Associated with this theory is concern over a NAFTA Superhighway, which would Fast Track trade between the three nations. There is additional concern that the NAU would open up the border causing security risks and free movement for immigrants."

-- "Universal Service Program" - "Statements made by President Elect Obama and his chief of staff have led extremists to fear the creation of a Civilian Defense Force. This theory requires all citizens between the age of 18 and 25 to be forced to attend three months of mandatory training." (This is exactly what Obama and Rahm Emmanuel have repeatedly stated on national TV, and thus is hardly a theory.)

-- "Radio Frequency Identification (RFID)" - This includes human implantation, but the larger concern is universal id cards and personal property identification that can be read electronically without the bearer's knowledge.

Citizens who are concerned about the above issues are then lumped into radical ideologies such as Christian Identity, White Nationalists (e.g., neo-Nazi, Skinheads, etc.) and anti-Semites. Tax Resisters and Anti-Immigration advocates are thrown into the same category.

The MIAC report then sternly warns law enforcement personnel,

"You are the Enemy: The militia subscribes to an antigovernment and NWO mind set, which creates a threat to law enforcement officers. They view the military, National Guard, and law enforcement as a force that will confiscate their firearms and place them in FEMA concentration camps." [Bold emphasis appears in original]

On the last page of the MIAC report, a section listing Political Paraphernalia (flags and symbols) states,

"Militia members most commonly associate with 3rd party political groups. It is not uncommon for militia members to display Constitutional Party, Campaign for Liberty, or Libertarian material. These members are usually supporters of former Presidential Candidate: Ron Paul, Chuck Baldwin, and Bob Barr.

Militia members commonly display picture, cartoons, bumper stickers that contain anti-government rhetoric. Most of this material will depict the FRS, IRS, FBI, ATF, CIA, UN, Law Enforcement, and the 'New World Order' in a derogatory manor (sic). Additionally, Racial, anti-immigration, and anti-abortion, material may be displayed by militia members."

What was the ostensible genesis of all these "threats" to law enforcement? The report explains it this way...

"Academics contend that female and minority empowerment in the 1970s and 1960s caused a blow to white male's sense of empowerment. This, combined with a sense of defeat from the Vietnam War, increased levels of immigration, and unemployment, spawned a paramilitary culture. This caught on in the 1980's with injects such as Tom Clancy novels, Solder of Fortune Magazine, and movies such as Rambo that glorified combat. This culture glorified white males and portrayed them as morally upright heroes who were mentally and physically tough.

"It was during this timeframe that many individuals and organizations began to concoct conspiracy theories to explain their misfortunes. These theories varied but almost always involved a globalist dictatorship the"New World Order (NWO), which conspired to exploit the working class citizens."

In other words, these "ridiculous NWO theories" were created by psychological deviants who were trying to justify their own self-induced misfortunes.
Fear ye, all troopers

For unsuspecting law enforcement personnel, this MIAC training document polarizes unsuspecting officers to fear peaceful, law-abiding citizens and greatly increases the risk of armed confrontation. For instance, a routine traffic stop would be escalated if the officer observes a Ron Paul or Chuck Baldwin bumper sticker on the rear bumper of the car. The mere possession of printed material such as the U.S. Constitution or Bill of Rights would be viewed as subversive, even though most officers are required to take an oath to "defend and uphold the Constitution of the United States" as a condition of their employment.

Additionally, troopers are indoctrinated that all such topics are pure fantasy and without any factual basis. Even if they had their own concerns, they would be ridiculed into accepting the position that all criticism of the New World Order is dangerous to their well being.

The Columbia Daily Tribune (Columbia, Missouri) reports this concern from local resident Tim Neal, who apparently fits the MIAC's "Modern Militia" profile:

“If a police officer is pulling me over with my family in the car and he sees a bumper sticker on my vehicle that has been specifically identified as one that an extremist would have in their vehicle, the guy is probably going to be pretty apprehensive and not thinking in a rational manner, and this guy’s walking up to my vehicle with a gun.” [see 'Fusion Center' draws fire over assertions]

MIAC is a Fusion Center

As mentioned above, the Missouri Information Analysis Center is one of a network of over 50 Fusion Centers around the country.

According to the National Criminal Intelligence Resource Center (NCIRC), a Fusion Center is "a collaborative effort of two or more agencies that provide resources, expertise, and/or information to the center with the goal of maximizing the ability to detect, prevent, apprehend, and respond to criminal and terrorist activity."

As of 2006, the NCIRC listed 50 Fusion Centers in various states.

Most importantly, the Department of Justice and the Department of Homeland Security are the driving forces behind Fusion Centers, having published "Fusion Center Guidelines: Developing and Sharing Information and Intelligence in a New World." This report headlines "Fusion" as "Turning Information and Intelligence Into Actionable Knowledge."

Fusion Centers are one of five areas of information sharing under the Information Sharing Environment (ISE) that was established by the Intelligence Reform and Terrorism Prevention Act of 2004.

ISE membership includes the Department of Commerce, CIA, Department of Defense, Director of National Intelligence, Department of Energy, FBI, Health and Human Services, Joint Chiefs of Staff, Department of Homeland Security, National Counter-Terrorism Center, Department of Interior, Office of Management and Budget, Department of Justice, Department of State, Department of Transportation and the Department of Treasury.

According to one white paper (on the ISE web site) entitled The Intelligence Fusion Process for State, Local and Tribal Law Enforcement, "The most important output of the intelligence Fusion Center is actionable intelligence. This means that the intelligence produced by the center will drive operational responses and strategic awareness of threats." Accordingly,

"The heart of good intelligence analysis is to have a diverse array of valid and reliable raw information for analysis. The more robust the raw information, the more accurate the analytic output (i.e., intelligence) will be."

The above mentioned MIAC report, issued by an official Fusion Center, is apparently part of this "diverse array of valid and reliable raw information."

However, ISE's understanding of intelligence is foolish. Any intelligence analyst knows that so-called raw information is treated as garbage until verified from multiple sources to validate accuracy, completeness and freedom from bias. Secondly, analytic output depends upon trained and experienced human reasoning and judgment, not on the "robustness" of the raw information itself.
Where do Fusion Centers get inputs?

According to their own documents, Fusion Centers are "seeded" with ideas for analysis by the FBI and the Department of Homeland Security. Although this is problematic in itself, attention is better directed to the left-wing nonprofit organization, Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC).

Upon careful word and theme comparison between the MIAC report and SPLC literature, it is apparent that there is a significant link between the two. Either MIAC received training or training material from SPLC or some of its personnel had some previous exposure to it.

The SPLC aggressively offers training to local, state and federal law enforcement agencies. According the SPLC web site, "We focus on the history, background, leaders and activities of far-right extremists in the U.S." and states that it "is internationally known for its tolerance education programs, its legal victories against white supremacists and its tracking of hate groups."

Hate crimes are essentially acts of vilification of a victim because of his or her membership in a certain social group, such as racial, religious, sexual orientation, nationality, gender, etc. While hate crimes are wrong under any circumstance, the SPLC sees no conflict in profiling conservative whites, Christians, Constitutionalists, and patriots as being associated with, if not responsible for, hate crimes in America. This is the pot calling the kettle black.

For instance, consider the SPLC statement, "...a basic fact about all three movements: Patriots, white supremacists and anti-abortion militants are all fueled by interpretations of religion."

Aside from the fact that this sweeping generalization is plainly not true, it is mud-slinging at its best: Patriots are lumped in with white supremacists, anti-abortionists are militants, and all are driven by an obviously irrational and fanatical application of religion.

In another SPLC article about a tragic killing in South Carolina, entitled "The Abbeville Horror", the writer goes well beyond just the facts of the story and is careful to sprinkle in words and phrases such as:

Patriots, tax protestors, sovereign citizens, antigovernment extremists, New World Order paranoia, Disarming U.S. Citizens, hard-line Christian Right, constitutional rights, antigovernment "Patriot" literature, anti-Semitic conspiracy, "Live Free or Die," Ruby Ridge and Waco, Second Amendment, extremist organizing, "closet extremists," paranoid beliefs, "Give me liberty or give me death." [quotes appear in original text]

These are the same kinds of words and themes that are seen in The Modern Militia Movement article, where distinctions between good and bad people are blurred and confused: All are guilty by association, if nothing else.

Should a private organization like SPLC be allowed to provide official training to public-entrusted law enforcement agencies? Most would say, "No." Even if the training was free, the agency should reject influence from the public sector, and even more so if it presents biased and one-sided information that is claimed to be factual.
Conclusion

It is critical to understand that the legitimate law enforcement agencies of cities, counties and states are not adversaries of the people. They are greatly needed for protection against crime and for keeping order in our communities.

They are, however, being methodically seeded with very wrongheaded and dangerous information, the specific intent of which is to polarize law enforcement against peaceful citizens who simply care about the downfall of their country.

This writer interviewed Chuck Baldwin and asked about how he felt when he first saw his good name associated with those who would threaten bodily harm to law enforcement agencies. "Personally, I was stunned," he said, "but my family has taken this very personally as well. This is more than disturbing."

When asked about the possible affect of the report on the Constitution Party, of which he was the 2008 presidential candidate, he replied, "I think it will galvanize people and help them to understand the nature of the battle we are in. Freedom must be defended."

In fact, the MIAC report has created a firestorm all over America. Tens of thousands of protests are being called, written, emailed and faxed to authorities and legislators in Missouri. It would not be surprising to see the report rescinded and an apology given.

Even so, behind-the-scene groups like the SPLC will continue unabated and undeterred in their effort to misinform and disrupt healthy community relations with worthy law enforcement agencies and personnel.

The message to every jurisdiction: Don't let it happen!
Final thought

Locate the Fusion Center in your state and keep a close eye on the information they are releasing. Stay close to as many law enforcement personnel as you can, asking them to keep their eyes open for reports similar to the Missouri report. Petition your state legislators to ban law enforcement training by private organizations such as the Southern Poverty Law Center.

Additional resources

FBI nudges state 'fusion centers' into the shadows (CNET)

Fusion Centers and Privacy (EPIC)

Backgrounder: Fusion Centers (CFR.org)

Information Sharing Environment (ISE)

ISE Web site