Secrecy bill for state anti-terror agency has some crying foul

CHESTERFIELD

In the basement of a building between an IHOP and a car dealership sits the nexus of Virginia’s fight against terror.

There, people who need special clearances pass through layer after layer of security on their way to a conference room so secure no one can have a cell phone or a piece of electronic equipment inside. The door locks alone cost $4,000 apiece.

Most people know little about the Virginia Fusion Center. And if a bill quietly wending through the General Assembly becomes law, they’ll know even less.

The bill, coincidentally named HB1007, would exempt the center’s investigative and intelligence documentation from the state Freedom of Information Act and would shield its employees from subpoenas in civil lawsuits concerning criminal intelligence information or terrorism investigations.

Open government watchdogs decried the bill. They said it goes too far in giving additional furtive powers to a quasi-secret agency. They point to the measure as another cramp to personal freedoms in a post-Sept. 11, 2001, era.

Law enforcement officials and the bill’s sponsor say that’s not true. They say the bill would provide a level of security necessary for local, state and federal agencies to swap sensitive information about criminal and potentially terror-related activities.

“Federal agencies aren’t going to share with us classified information if they think we’re going to share that information,” said Capt. Tom Martin, commander of the Virginia State Police Criminal Intelligence Division and the administrative head of the Fusion Center. “We’re going to protect it.”

The bill passed the House 98-1, and a Senate panel could hear it this week. Gov. Timothy M. Kaine supports the measure, according to a spokesman.

The Virginia Press Association and the Virginia Coalition for Open Government have lobbied against the bill. The Virginian-Pilot is a member of the press association and is a founding partner of the Coalition for Open Government.

The Electronic Privacy Information Center, a research group in Washington, D.C., also weighed in, sending a records request to the center last week to test what information will be released.

“By creating this immunity … you’re shutting off one more avenue of oversight,” said Michael German, co-author of a recent American Civil Liberties Union report titled “What’s Wrong with Fusion Centers?”

“That’s problematic. Our history has shown over and over again when the government is given secret powers, it abuses them.”

Sterile white walls give the Fusion Center the feel of a new office building. It is. The center opened in the basement of the renovated Virginia State Police headquarters in Chesterfield County in 2005.

Inside, the State Police, the Virginia Department of Emergency Management, the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, the FBI and other agencies “fuse together” to share information, according to the center.

About 20 people work here, with someone around 24/7 to answer calls to the state’s terrorism hotline. The office also handles more-domestic issues, such as gang-related crime, natural disasters and large events such as the Jamestown 2007 celebration.

Ginger Stanley, executive director of the Virginia Press Association, calls HB1007 “Big Brother at work.”

Stanley said it is understandable to restrict information about terror investigations but that blocking public access to records related to “criminal intelligence” – as the bill reads – is overbroad and could apply to anything.

That would “allow them to keep private every piece of information,” she said. “They need protection to a point, but they take it way beyond that.”

Language in the bill also would exempt the State Police, not just the Virginia Fusion Center, Stanley fears. Joe Walters, a State Police lobbyist, said the measure is “a narrow bill” intended only for the center.

Jennifer Perkins, executive director of the Coalition for Open Government, said another concern is the bill’s intent to protect those who call the center to report suspected criminal or terrorist activity. Callers would get immunity from defamation and invasion of privacy claims.

Perkins said the bill allows people to tattle to the Fusion Center without punishment.

“You can’t get any documents from the center. You can’t subpoena any of the employees of the center. You can’t bring any kind of suit if it’s a complete fabrication,” Perkins said. “The whole bill really eliminates your right to defend yourself.”

The bill does contain a clause that immunity is not granted for “those disclosing or furnishing false information with malice or willful intent.”

Martin, the center’s administrator, said that if a file is opened and no criminal activity is discovered, the file is “purged immediately” and there are no documents available for a records request.

Del. Dwight Jones, D-Richmond, said he introduced the bill after State Police officials told him federal agencies won’t share information unless the state adopts the measure.

“Law enforcement can sometimes be overzealous,” Jones said, “but I also know if something like 9/11 happened here, I would want them to have the tools to prevent it or take care of it.”

Del. David Marsden, D-Burke, who voted against the bill earlier in the session, but later relented, called the proposal “a hold-your-nose bill.”

“If it’s becoming the secret police bill, that’s a problem,” Marsden said. “And we’ll need to fix that. For me, it comes across as a threshold … 51 good to 49 problematic.”

Staff writer Aaron Applegate contributed to this report.

Richard Quinn, (757) 222-5119, richard.quinn@pilotonline.com