Review of Fusion Center Policies and Procedures: A Case Study of the Commonwealth Fusion Center in Massachusetts
44 Pages Posted: 17 Apr 2014
Date Written: April 9, 2014
Abstract
The Commonwealth Fusion Center (CFC)’s current practices violate the First and Fourth Amendment. These constitutional violations would be somewhat relieved by the Free Speech Act (S. 642 / H. 1357) currently before the Massachusetts legislature, but not eliminated. We propose five reforms that would make CFC activities presumptively comply with the First and Fourth Amendments. We expand on them in a review of documents provided by CFC, and include Freedom of Information Act requests covering a number of internal documents at CFC and also the Boston Regional Intelligence Center (BRIC).
Keywords: fusion centers, surveillance, freedom of association, first amendment, fourth amendment, privacy policies
JEL Classification: H56, H72
Suggested Citation: Suggested Citation