Deep state attacks: Gov’t ‘Fusion Centers’ spying on patriots concerned about Islam

From Pamela Geller:

Brenda Arthur received an unexpected visit on March 8 that, one week later, leaves her feeling more than a little uneasy. 

At her door that day was an officer with the West Virginia State Police. He wanted to know about her involvement in a Freedom of Information request regarding a local mosque. 

Arthur, who will turn 67 this summer, serves as leader of the West Virginia chapter of ACT For America, whose mission is to educate Americans about the advancement of Islamic principles in Western societies. 

As a Jewish American, she was concerned about a major expansion of the Islamic Association of West Virginia in her hometown of South Charleston. 

This mosque has hosted an openly anti-Semitic preacher in the past, and so she went to city hall in late January to have a look at its construction permits and site plans, something that is within the right of every American citizen under the U.S. Freedom of Information Act and state open-records laws. 

She had no idea that this perfectly legal activity, performed every day by citizen watchdogs across the U.S., would prompt a visit from the state police. 

Arthur was not available to answer the door when Sgt. R.C. Workman came knocking, but Workman left his business card with a hand-written note on the back: 

Workman’s unit is part of the West Virginia Intelligence Exchange, a secretive outfit that works closely with the U.S. Department of Homeland Security’s “intelligence fusion center” in West Virginia. 

All 50 states have at least one DHS fusion center, and the story of Brenda Arthur lends credence to the views of civil libertarians that these centers, whatever their stated purpose, have been weaponized against law-abiding American citizens. 

Fusion centers were established a few years after the 9/11 terror attacks by the George W. Bush administration and expanded under Barack Obama. The West Virginia Fusion Center website says its mission is to “Embrace proactive intelligence efforts. 

Those efforts are key to inhibiting criminal networks, whether those groups are terrorists, drug-related groups, organized crime, or other criminal enterprises.” 

Fusion centers work with “non-traditional sources,” including corporate America, to build threat assessments on people. 

THAT MEANS GOOGLE, TWITTER, AND FACEBOOK, MY FRIENDS. 

But what is it about Brenda Arthur that could garner the attention of this specialized police unit? She seems like an unlikely candidate to be involved in terrorism or organized crime. Arthur is a senior citizen who’s never broken a law in her life. 

She is a professional insurance broker, a great-aunt to six children, one of whom she helps with financial support for a private education at a Montessori school. 

But fusion centers know no boundaries, including the U.S. Constitution, says constitutional attorney and civil liberties advocate John Whitehead. 

“The word mosque, it’s key words like that. If you don’t like mosques, they’re gonna be after you, they’re watching you, because everything is determined by algorithms,” said Whitehead, founder of the Charlottesville, Va.-based Rutherford Institute. 

Being an “activist” also draws the attention of the fusion centers, he said. 

‘Do not talk to them’ 

Whitehead has strict advice for any law-abiding citizen who is approached by law enforcement asking questions about their personal activities. 

“If they come to your door, do not talk to them. If they call you on the phone, do not talk to them.” 

Whitehead said the intimidation tactics used by fusion centers are similar to the East German Stasi and other secret-police agencies.

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