An open letter to State Governors & Legislatures (Wash. only)

https://csrr.rutgers.edu/issues/fusion-center-report/

9 so far! Help us get to 10 signers!

“For many Americans, the term mass surveillance evokes the Department of Homeland Security, which was founded after the 9/11 terrorist attacks. This national agency, which forms part of a federal intelligence apparatus of more than 20 agencies focused on surveillance, has played a key role in mass surveillance since 2001, especially of Muslim Americans. But it has local help in the form of police units known as fusion centers [including in Washington] (https://www.dhs.gov/fusion-centers). These units feed identification information and physical evidence such as video footage to federal agencies such as the FBI and CIA [as well as DHS and ICE] according to a 2023 whistleblower report from Rutgers Law School.

▶ Created on September 16, 2025 by The New Jersey Regional Operations Intelligence Center for example, is a police fusion center overseeing New York, New Jersey, and Connecticut. It employs advanced military technology to gather massive amounts of personal data on people perceived as potential security threats. According to the Rutgers report, these “threats” are highly concentrated in Black, Latino, and Arab communities, as well as areas with a high concentration of political organizing, such as Black Lives Matter groups and immigrant aid organizations.