Coming on the heels of the
BlueLeaks hack of national intelligence
fusion centers that we ve covered at the
Chronicle, recently published documents reveal that the
Austin Regional Intelligence Center continued its monitoring of numerous events this summer connected to the
Black Lives Matter movement. As obtained by
Austin Police Department as legitimate, the events that ARIC reported on included an online Juneteenth festival.
ARIC, which is operated by APD, is one of many fusion centers recognized by the
U.S. Department of Homeland Security. As a response to the perceived failures of intelligence-sharing that enabled the 9/11 attacks, centers like ARIC were designed to fuse information gathered by local law enforcement agencies and the private sector that could help avert terrorism and criminal activity. The two Informational Bulletins obtained by The Intercept were published in June and July, after the BlueLeaks hack became public. They contain 24 event listings