Spy Hubs Ask Congress For Dangerous New Powers To Persecute Dissent

Fusion Centers Are Asking For Subpoena Power Without A Court Order

Child dressed as a spy.

In a hearing believed to be so inconsequential that not a single major news organization covered it, an alliance of LARPing state spy masters asked Congress for the power to subpoena individuals without a court order, an extraordinary and confusing ask for the 70+ fusion centers pockmarking the country.

During the July hearing before the House Permanent Subcommittee on Intelligence, Mike Sena–who serves as the executive director of the trade group representing fusion centers (the National Fusion Center Association) and also chairman the Criminal Intelligence Coordinating Council–told members of Congress point-blank that fusion centers need administrative subpoena power to fight crime and terrorism properly.

Administrative subpoenas allow government agencies to compel individuals and organizations to hand over internal documents and communications pertinent to an ongoing investigation. People and groups targeted with administrative subpoenas can, in theory, fight the request, although they are usually written in a threatening and demanding formula.

For Cato earlier this year, Brent Skorup wrote that “Typically, administrative subpoenas command compliance, set a deadline, and threaten contempt of court if the recipient resists. Yet when challenged, governments insist that these subpoenas are not really compulsory at all.” In other words, while organizations with in-house counsel are well equipped to fight these legal requests, individual protesters and activists are not.

The subpoena not only carries the threat of serious fines and jail time, but can also be used as a powerful tool to chill dissent and the constitutional rights to speech and assembly. As the New York Times reported last week, administrative subpoenas were used by the Department of Homeland Security in Minnesota after the slaying of Alex Pretti. Among the groups targeted were some dozen labor unions and non-violent activist organizations that opposed DHS presence in their state.

While federal intelligence agencies disparage fusion center employees seeking these new powers as “state troopers trying to play Jack Ryan,” as a former FBI official once described them to me, these intelligence hubs are often on the frontlines of surveilling political movements and perpetuating the criminalization of political speech on both sides of the political spectrum.

FBI emails I obtained show that the Trump administration is pushing state and local police to target Americans with left-wing views through National Presidential Memorandum 7 (NSPM7). As I wrote for Zeteo in April, the target for NSPM-7 is not a foreign power thousands of miles away, but US citizens who disagree with the president and his hardline advisers. The go-between for the FBI and local police are state fusion centers, as the emails show.

Among the other ideas endorsed by fusion center champions during the hearing are mobilizing the National Guard for counterintelligence work at the state level, jacking into Walmart HQ’s mainframe for counterintelligence work, and investigating anti-data center protesters under the auspices of counterintelligence.

Alongside fusion center officials testifying at the hearing was Florida State Rep. Daniel Alvarez, the sponsor of Florida House Bill 945, which attempted to create a “Statewide Counterintelligence and Counterterrorism Unit” described by critics as the Sunshine State’s CIA.

In his prepared comments, Alvarez demanded the federal government inject its national security apparatus into states OR ELSE: “I am here today with a simple message: Florida will not wait for the federal government to defend our people. We respect our federal partners. We value coordination. But when threats are already touching our communities, our infrastructure, our economy, our military assets, our ports, our universities, our agriculture, and our space enterprise, state leaders have an obligation to act.”

In other words, if the DHS and FBI’s classified intelligence and subpoena powers aren’t handed down, the blood and guts of American citizens will be on the hands of the assembled House intel committee members. No matter the vast federal apparatus for monitoring states’ criminal infrastructure and military bases, agriculture, universities, and everything under God. Fusion centers are tired of playing JV ball, and now want a slice of the FBI’s pie. Good thing both varsity and little league remain undefeated in their efforts to safeguard America.