Washblog

The Case of the Suspicious Ferry Riders Is Resolved -- But Don't Mention WAJAC, Please!

United for Peace of Pierce County (WA)
May 10, 2008

http://www.ufppc.org/

A vague report from the Seattle Field Office of the FBI on Mon., May 5, said that two "European business consultants" came to "a U.S. Embassy two weeks ago and identified themselves as the men pictured in photographs released to the media last August by the FBI and the Washington Joint Analytical Center (WAJAC)." (http://seattle.fbi.gov)

The FBI said the two "were fearful of arrest if they traveled to the United States" and were seeking to "clear their names" (a curious expression, since their names were -- and are -- unknown).  Photos (http://www.blogsofwar.com/) of the two men were released to the media on Aug. 20, 2007, because of "unusual" behavior and because "[t]he two men appear[ed] to be of Middle Eastern descent," as ABC News (http://abcnews.go.com/US/story?id=3510174) put it.  

Involved in the case was a "fusion center" known as the Washington Joint Analytical Center (WAJAC), one of several dozen militarized intelligence-gathering entities that have been established in the United States over the past few years with very little publicity.  

A Seattle Times piece on Monday reported that the two men were "software consultants in town for a weeklong business conference " from "a European Union nation," but followed a now well-established don't-mention-WAJAC pattern by failing to make any mention of the agency, though it was mentioned twice in the FBI press release. (http://seattletimes.nwsource.com)  

But instead of considering the possibility that the existence of a militarized police intelligence agency poses a danger to fundamental American liberties, the Seattle Times focused on concerns that the incident involved "racial profiling."  

The Seattle Post-Intelligencer also failed to mention WAJAC in its report, referring only to the FBI. (http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/)

The same was true of reports in:
The New York Times, (http://www.nytimes.com)
FOX News,(http://www.foxnews.com/)
UPI, (http://www.upi.com/)
the News Tribune (Tacoma, WA), (http://www.thenewstribune.com/)
KING 5 News (Seattle), (http://www.king5.com/)
and KOMO News (Seattle). (http://www.komotv.com/)  

Why is WAJAC considered unmentionable?  See here (http://www.ufppc.org) for our earlier investigation of the expanding national network of "fusion centers," which now number forty-three.  

In Washington State, WAJAC, with a staff of nine (five "civilian analysts" -- mostly retired military intelligence and police -- and four members of law enforcement agencies), issues "intelligence bulletins" to every law enforcement agency in the state on a daily basis.  

Given the Case of the Suspicious Ferry Riders, are we wrong to suspect that many of these "intelligence bulletins" contain observations and information about activities that are constitutionally protected?  

And that the very institution of WAJAC has a chilling effect (http://en.wikipedia.org/) on free speech and dissent -- the very lifeblood of a free society?  

--Jim O. Madison has heard that a single spark is enough to set the prairies on fire and is a member of United for Peace of Pierce County (WA).