1. Inside this issue:
Mike German 1
Chico “Tank” 2
FBI Spies 2
ACLU Highlights 3
German Itinerary 3
Annual Dinner Notice 4
What is a “Fusion Center”?
• Formed after 9/11.
• A network of over 800,000 lo-
cal, state, private, military, fed-
eral, and security professionals.
• Incorporated into Federal Joint
Terrorism Task Forces (JTTFs)
to fight terrorism, all crimes.
• Little transparency, oversight,
regulation. Data mining can
skirt privacy rights.
• Inaccurate, bias information
can contaminate entire net-
work, target lawful groups, indi-
viduals, e.g. Humane Society,
Ron Paul, Bob Barr.
• Fusion Centers have grown to
number 72 nation-wide.
Chico ACLU
Mike German, former FBI agent, now Policy Counsel
for the American Civil Liberties Union’s Washington
Legislative Office, will be speaking at the Chico
ACLU’s annual dinner September 29, 2011 at 6:00
P.M. at The Women’s Club, 592 E 3rd Street, Chico.
Now working for the ACLU, Mr. German develops
policy positions and pro-active strategies on pending
legislation and executive branch actions concerning
national security and open government programs, in-
cluding domestic surveillance, data mining, privacy,
whistleblower protection, and intelli-
gence and law enforcement oversight.
Prior to joining the ACLU Mr. German
served sixteen years as a Special Agent with the Federal Bureau of Investiga-
tion, where he specialized in domestic terrorism and covert operations. How-
ever, Mr. German resigned in protest in 2004 because, under current guidelines
put in place after 9/11, federal agencies could spy, obtain private records and
recruit informants against virtually all Americans, even when there is no factual
basis to suspect they are engaged in illegal activity.
German maintains that The Patriot Act, enacted after 9/11, wiped out strict
guidelines governing the FBI, establishing a regime of suspicionless surveil-
lance, where you only needed to show a group might possibly commit a crime to
place it under surveillance. Under Attorney General Michael Mukasey, protec-
tions eroded even further. Surveillance, German states, currently requires "no
factual predicate at all." Current policies allow the FBI to map and track racial
and religious demographics and investigate racial and ethnic behavior; and be-
cause we are now in a digital age, the abuses have become more egregious.
The FBI and “other” groups want more information with less oversight.
These “other” groups now include private security companies, who, at the
state and local level, have formed some 72 Fusion Centers , linking 800,000
local, state, federal, and private security professionals gathering information on
individuals. German states that these entities pose an unprecedented threat to
the privacy of Americans, conduct their operations in secret without clear guide-
lines, and are involving military personnel in law enforcement activities. For
more information, go to Mike German’s ACLU whitepaper:
What’s Wrong With Fusion Centers
http://www.aclu.org/pdfs/privacy/fusioncenter_20071212.pdf
September 20, 2011
Volume 4, Issue 1
Mike German, ACLU Policy Counsel
Mike German, Former FBI Agent
to Speak at ACLU Annual Dinner
A C L U O F N O R T H E R N C A L I F O R N I A - C H I C O C H A P T E R
Page 1

2. According to Mother Jones and the Investigative Reporting Program at the University of Cali-
fornia-Berkley (IRP), the FBI has, in the ten years since 9/11, trained informants to not only
inform on suspected terrorists, but to set up these "terrorists" from the start. The report reveals
that the FBI employs nearly 15,000 undercover agents, ten times what they employed in 1975.
One FBI source Indicated to Mother Jones that for every official FBI informant employed there
are up to three unofficial agents working undercover.
According to Mother Jones and the IRP at UC-Berkley, the FBI regularly infiltrates communi-
ties where they would expect terrorism, finds suspects that could potentially carry out “lone
wolf” attacks, and then encourages them to do so, even providing the weaponry, the funds, and the plan. The
FBI has used these tactics to set up and shut down several high profile would-be attacks in recent years: the
Washington DC Metro bombing plot, the New York City subway plot, and the attempt to blow up Chicago’s
Sears Tower. According to the report, only three of the most publicized terror plots since 9/11 weren’t orches-
trated by FBI infiltrators.
Martin Stolar, who represented the suspect, Matin Siraj, in the New York City bombing plot, who was set up
by FBI agents, states that, "The problem with the cases we're talking about is that defendants would not have
done anything if not kicked in the ass by government agents. They're creating crimes to solve crimes so they
can claim a victory in the war on terror." David Cole, Georgetown University law professor, states that the
chance of winning a terrorism-related trial, whether the defendant was entrapped or not, is almost impossible.
"The plots people are accused of being part of — attacking subway systems or trying to bomb a building —
are so frightening that they can overwhelm a jury." For the related article go to:
The Informants
http://motherjones.com/politics/2011/08/fbi-terrorist-informants
FBI Spies: Busting Terrorist Plots or Leading Them?
Caption describing
picture or graphic.
The Chico ACLU takes issue with the Butte County Sheriff and Chico Police Depart-
ment's decision to purchase a “tactical armored vehicle”, or tank. A move that unneces-
sarily militarizes the police in Butte County. This is just the latest disturbing develop-
ment in a decades old trend that has turned our police officers into soldiers; a trend that
has witnessed a dramatic increase in the use of paramilitary police units known as Spe-
cial Weapons and Tactics (SWAT) teams for routine police work.
SWATs now serve warrants using forced, unannounced entry into Americans’ homes.
These SWAT raids have soared from 3,000 in the early 1980s, to 40,000 by 2001; and are needlessly sub-
jecting nonviolent offenders, innocents, wrongly targeted civilians to having their homes invaded by teams of
heavily armed police dressed as soldiers. These SWAT raids unnecessarily insinuate violence into nonviolent
situations that kill or injure individuals guilty of only misdemeanors, police officers, children, and innocent sus-
pects. So, how did our local police descend into this militaristic chaos?
SWAT teams were inspired by the University of Texas sniper (1966) and the LA Black Panthers (1969). The
Reagan administration then used the drug war to skirt the Posse Comitatus Act, with the 1981 Military Coop-
eration with Law Enforcement Act, and the 1994 MOU between the US Department of Justice (DOJ) and De-
partment of Defense (DOD), authorizing transfers of military equipment to local police forces. Thus, flooding
our police with military gear previously used only during wartime. The latest SWAT “fashion” is the tank. Pri-
vate companies are now creating Department of Homeland Security grant application processes, stream-
lining the acquisition of these tanks. The police argue that a tank is necessary because violence against po-
lice officers has increased. However, the DOJ crime data reveals this to be untrue. California’s data (2000 to
2009), which indicates no trend increase in officers "feloniously killed", does not support buying a tank.
Overkill: The Rise of Paramilitary Police Raids in America
http://www.cato.org/pubs/wtpapers/balko_whitepaper_2006.pdf
The Militarization of the Police (Chico Tank)
Page 2
Matin Siraj
Chico “armored vehicle”

3. The Chico Chapter of the ACLU was busy this year protecting the civil liberties
of Chico Chapter area citizens. Some highlights (web version is clickable):
⇒ On January 15, 2011, the Chico Chapter organized an event a the Cal
Northern School of Law on the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) and the
California Public Records Act (CPRA), with attorney Paul Boylan and editor
and publisher of the Sacramento Valley Mirror, Tim Crews.
⇒ On January 28, 2011, the Chico Chapter organized a radio interview (KZFR)
with Jess Sundin, a Minnesota anti-war activist, whose home had been
raided by the FBI; and was being subpoenaed to a Chicago grand jury.
⇒ On February 12, 2011, the Chico Chapter organized an “Events Watch” at an event hosted by the Mexi-
can Consulate in Gridley, California to protect the rights of all in attendance. “Tea Party” protestors had
threatened a disruption of the event, requiring police presence (see photo, right).
⇒ On February 15, 2011, the Chico ACLU and CLIC sponsored an Immigration Forum at the CSU, Chico,
where a panel of experts spoke on legal and economic issues related to immigration, including dramatic
personal accounts of those who endured the hardships of immigration and becoming US citizens.
⇒ On March 17, 2011, the Chico Chapter organized the St. Patrick’s Day “Events Watch” in downtown
Chico. The Chico Chapter started the “Events Watch” to protect the civil liberties of CSU, Chico student
revelers, whose assembly and speech rights are being threatened by the Disorderly Events Ordinance.
⇒ In April, the Chico Chapter began a collaboration with the “No on Measure A” campaign. Measure A would
have disenfranchised CSU, Chico students by changing the Chico election dates to June. The ACLU of
Northern California donated $1000.00 to the campaign, defeating Measure A in a landslide.
⇒ On May 28, 2011, the Chico ACLU tabled at the annual MEChA conference at CSU, Chico. Nicole Gam-
ble of the ACLU of Northern California spoke on sentencing reform.
⇒ The Chico Chapter tabled at the Chico High AIDS walk, the Chico 4th of July celebration, the Rebuild the
Dream protest in the downtown Chico Plaza, and at the Worker’s Alliance Labor Day picnic.
⇒ On August 16, 2011 the Chico Chapter, which opposes the acquisition of an armored vehicle (Chico
Tank) by Butte County law enforcement, brought the issue before Chico City Council.
Tuesday September 27, 2011:
6:30 PM: Mike German & Chico ACLU Board of Directors dinner at Christian Michael's.
Wednesday September 28, 2011:
Mike German will appear in class at CSU, Chico to discuss his work combating domestic terror-
ism in white supremacist organizations; and will visit with CLIC (Community Legal Information Center).
3:30 PM: Mike German Speech and Reception at Sylvester’s Café-by-the-Creek, CSU, Chico.
6:30 PM: Mike German & Chico ACLU Board of Directors dinner at Spice Creek Café.
Thursday September 29, 2011:
Mike German will appear in class at CSU, Chico to discuss his experiences as an FBI agent, and how he
transitioned from law enforcement to working for the ACLU.
6:00 PM: ACLU Annual Dinner at the Chico Women’s Club, 592 East 3rd Street, Chico. Mike German key-
note address to ACLU membership.
ACLU Chico Chapter 2011 Highlights
Mike German Itinerary
Page 3
Tea Party Protestors
Events Watch, in Gridley

4. Join the ACLU Today
Go To
http://www.aclunc.org/
Those who would give
up essential liberty to
purchase a little
temporary safety deserve
neither liberty nor safety.
Benjamin Franklin
Chico Chapter ACLU-NC
P.O. Box 5089
Chico, CA 95927-5089
http://www.acluchico.org/
chicaclu@gmail.com
The Chico Chapter of the American Civil Liberties Union of Northern California will be hosting its annual
dinner September 29, 2011 at 6:00 PM at the Chico Women’s Club, 592 East 3rd Street, Chico, California.
The dinner will be catered by La Familia Restaurant, with the Chico ACLU holding a silent auction, with pro-
ceeds going to benefit the Chico Chapter of the ACLU. The main event will feature a key-note address by
Mike German, former FBI Agent, now Policy Counsel for the ACLU Washington Legislative Office. For more
information contact the Chico ACLU at chicaclu@gmail.com. Donations will be gladly accepted.
Chico ACLU Members & Guests, Please Attend the
Chico ACLU Annual Dinner, September 29, 2011!
John Q. Public
P.O. Box 5089
Chico, CA 95927-5089
Page 4