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Surviving Changes Podcast
Fusion Centers: How Government Surveillance Targets American Citizens
What happens when government surveillance targets ordinary Americans? The shadowy world of fusion centers represents one of the most concerning yet least understood aspects of our national security apparatus.
Built in the aftermath of 9/11 to improve intelligence sharing between agencies, these data hubs have morphed into something far more sinister. With minimal oversight and alarming financial incentives, fusion centers now collect vast amounts of information on millions of Americans – many with no connection to terrorism or criminal activity.
My own experience with fusion center targeting began after I declined a White House invitation and made political decisions that apparently landed me on their radar. What followed was textbook psychological warfare: subtle technology interference escalated to home break-ins where nothing was stolen but personal items were disturbed. Police surveillance became constant. Most devastatingly, people I trusted – even family members – were apparently recruited and compensated to participate in my monitoring and harassment.
This isn't conspiracy theory – it's documented reality. Government reports, lawsuits, and whistleblower testimony confirm that fusion centers have systematically expanded beyond their original mission. They've monitored environmental activists, journalists, and those who simply express dissenting political views. Their tactics, sometimes called "gang stalking," employ sophisticated psychological pressure designed to isolate, discredit, and destabilize targets.
The implications for democracy are profound. When government agencies can secretly target citizens without accountability, the impact extends beyond individual victims to threaten our collective freedom. Join me as we expose this hidden system and demand the transparency that true national security requires. Subscribe to Surviving Changes Podcast as we continue investigating the institutions operating behind the curtain of American power.
In a world where surveillance quietly expands beyond public awareness, fusion centers operate in the shadows data hubs designed to track, analyze and share information on millions of people. Initially established to combat terrorism, these secret entities have morphed into vast intelligent networks with little oversight and alarming consequences. This is not just theory. This is the story of thousands of people who've been targeted by the program. It's also my reality. Surveillance has always existed, but fusion centers brought it to a whole new level. These facilities, spread across the United States, claim to be intelligent sharing hubs designed to prevent crime and terrorism. That's the official story, but behind closed doors, fusion centers have quietly expanded their reach, pulling in data from local police, federal agencies, even private companies, with almost no transparency. Today, there are more than 70 fusion centers across the country, linking local law enforcement to national intelligence agencies. The promise linking local law enforcement to national intelligence agencies. The promise Improved coordination, early warning against threats the reality Not so much. It's a surveillance machine that's been used to track activists, journalists, ordinary citizens, many of whom had no idea they were even being watched, many of whom had no idea they were even being watched Early on.
Speaker 1:Watchdog groups raised concerns the lack of oversight, the vague definitions of suspicious behavior, the unchecked power, and soon, lawsuits and leaked reports would reveal the uncomfortable truth. Fusion centers weren't just watching terrorists, they're watching everyone. Now let's understand how we got here. To understand, we need to go back Back to the uncertainty following 9-11. Back to a moment when the government was scrambling for answers. That's when fusion centers began.
Speaker 1:The September 11 attacks changed everything. Lawmakers realized that critical intelligence had been scattered across different agencies fbi, cia, local police but no one had connected the dots in time. To prevent the tragedy, the government needed a new strategy, a system that could share information instantly across multiple agencies to identify threats before they even happened. Seems legit, right. So in response, congress passed sweeping laws the Patriot Act, the Homeland Security Act. They created the Department of Homeland Security, dhs, the priority Intelligence sharing, and by the early 2000s, fusion centers began appearing as state-run data hubs designed to bridge the gap between federal, state and local authorities. Okay, and first the goal seemed clear Identify and prevent terrorist threats.
Speaker 1:Soon the fusion centers expanded far beyond that mission. They started collecting intelligence on protesters, on environmental activists, even people with no criminal connections at all. But why? Because the definition of suspicious activity was left dangerously vague and as federal funding continued to pour in, lots of funding. Fusion centers had an incentive to keep gathering more and more data. For every person who they put on the list initially, they get a $30,000 bonus, and that's just the beginning. The more they determine a person is a threat, the more money they get. It can be a big windfall. Putting a political adversary on there. Everyone's on their payroll Cops, judges, prosecutors, corporate actors, citizens who they call community-based agents. Maybe challenge them, eventually even your friends and family. By the mid-2000s, the signs of overreach were everywhere Leaked reports showing that fusion centers had labeled everyday citizens potential threats.
Speaker 1:I became a target when I declined Obama's invitation to the White House and fired Senator Murray's daughter. I had been the American dream, going from food stamps to owning a successful law office. I believed in the system. I would have never believed that declining to be part of the Democrats' madness would have made me a target of my own government, but it did. It sure did.
Speaker 1:At first it was subtle. Things seemed off, not alarming Devices acting strangely, messages that I never wrote being sent Colleagues, family members, friends distinct themselves, without explanation. Then it escalated. My home was broken into. Nothing was stolen. Instead, every picture of my daughter was flipped over, as if to send a message. Police cars would now follow me, often, drive by my house all day and night, when they never had done that before.
Speaker 1:Friends I had trusted began to treat me different, as if they had been told something about me, something that they believed over the truth that they saw with their very own eyes. Perhaps they were getting paid People close to me, even my daughter and my lead lawyer, cassandra Lopez de Arriaga. They played a role. They swatted me that was the start Attempting to provoke a police response, wanting to paint me as unstable Out of nowhere, they approached me and encouraged me to speak to a counselor, not for help, but to create a paper trail that could be used against me. They did these things as they looked me in the eyes and said they loved me and were worried that I was working too hard. These things aren't random. This was organized and it was designed to make me doubt myself, to isolate me, to make my reality seem like fiction. But they were all being paid by the Fusion Center, every fucking one of them.
Speaker 1:I wasn't the only one subjected to Fusion Center abuse. Cases like mine have surfaced all over the country. People subjected to the same psychological warfare, the same coordinated tactics of discrediting, isolation, intimidation. My family and friends were paid your tax dollars to bring harm to me, and they did. They did, you did. I'm going to get you back. But you did. Them get you back. But you did.
Speaker 1:Fusion centers were supposed to attract threats, but but at some point, the definition of threat became dangerously blurred and, instead of focusing on criminals or terrorism, they turn their resources towards activists, journalists and those of us who are unwilling to join them. So what do you do when a system built in the name of security turns against its own people? The abuses by the fusion center aren't just speculation. They're documented. Lawsuits have been filed, with more to come. Whistleblowers have come forward. Reports from government agencies themselves have revealed just how far these centers have strayed from their original mission.
Speaker 1:These abuses aren't just happening in distant lands. They happened to me right there in Washington State. I experienced firsthand what it means to be a target by the Washington State Mission Center. When I look at the lawsuits and reports, I see patterns, patterns that match what I went through. My devices were hacked. My name was twisted into narratives I never created and weren't true. My home was violated in a way designed to send a message. I was not just watched, I was manipulated, isolated, discredited, probably poisoned. And the worst part, the tactics used against me weren't unique. They fit into a broader strategy of psychological pressure, one that fusion centers have been accused of using against others deemed problematic or suspicious.
Speaker 1:That part of the program is called gang stalking. They have a manual they give the gang stalkers that's directly taken from the Nazi torture programs, and the surveillance isn't just about cameras or data collection, it's about control. Fusion centers were meant to protect us, but somewhere along the way they became something else, a system without clear accountability, one that can be used against any political adversary. And when that happens, the consequences are personal, found and lasting. I know because I lived it. I felt it in isolation, in the gaslighting, in the way they worked to turn my own world against me.
Speaker 1:I'm not alone. Others have faced the same reality their lives disrupted by silent forces they never expected. So when you ask me what is a fusion center? It's the place funded by taxpayer dollars, that directs and pays gang stalkers, through institutions like infregard, to destroy anyone who has tried to tell you what a fusion center is and what they do. It's the place that protects dirty police officers, dirty prosecutors, dirty judges, dirty cops all of them. That's what it is. That's what it is. That's what it is. So stay safe out there. We'll break this down even farther in a future podcast. I'm Heidi. This is the Surviving Changes Podcast.