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Documented phenomenon
Mass surveillance stateAtlas
Government & Politics · Surveillance & privacy
Accounts of post-9/11 mass surveillance capacities documented in statute and disclosure records, and disputed claims that those systems enable near-total domestic political monitoring.
Open the caseFusion centers4
- Documented · A U.S. Senate investigative report criticized state and local intelligence fusion centers for weak counterterrorism reporting and wasteful spending.
- Official · Fusion centers have been positioned as analytic partners in federal countering-violent-extremism efforts with state and local frontline personnel.
- Official · State and major urban area fusion centers operate as information-sharing hubs linking federal, state, local, tribal, and territorial partners on terrorism, crime, and other threats.
- Contested · Civil-liberties organizations argue that fusion centers have monitored protected political activity and undermined Americans’ rights.
Electronic Frontier Foundation2
- Documented · EFF and other civil-liberties groups litigate and document surveillance authorities.
- Documented · The Electronic Frontier Foundation treats fusion centers as a significant domestic surveillance and civil-liberties issue and publishes explanatory advocacy material about them.
Department of Homeland Security1
- Official · The U.S. Department of Homeland Security describes and supports a National Network of Fusion Centers.
Government Accountability Office1
- Documented · A GAO review found federal agencies help fusion centers build capabilities and address privacy protections but fall short on measuring results.
NSA1
- Documented · Edward Snowden’s 2013 disclosures triggered global debate about NSA collection programs.
Other3
- Documented · Congress has repeatedly reauthorized and amended surveillance statutes amid oversight fights.
- Documented · Section 702 of the FISA Amendments Act remains a central statutory surveillance authority.
- Contested · Disputed public narratives claim post-9/11 collection authorities and domestic intelligence-sharing nodes together enable near-total political monitoring of U.S. persons.