Privacy

The document is one of a flurry threat reports quietly circulated to law enforcement across the country by a sprawling network of little-known intelligence organizations created in response to 9/11. Called fusion centers, groups like the New York State Intelligence Center were tasked with fighting terrorism, which alleged the killer Luigi Mangione was charged with. Today, there is at least one fusion center in all 50 states (even Wyoming, home to the Wyoming Information Analysis Team.)

Marked “LAW ENFORCEMENT USE ONLY,” the document quoted above is, like other intelligence reports, not usually available to the public. But this record was pried loose by the open records wizardry of the transparency nonprofit Property of the People. Without them, this report would join the countless others exempt from public scrutiny. That’s a real gift to the government agencies that produce these reports, which often serve little purpose beyond inflating supposed threats into zeppelin-like proportions.

Consider, for example, the report’s boldfaced title —“Executive ‘Hit Lists’” — evoking some kind of John Wick-style serial hitman. But the evidence for this amounts to “viral posts online” that “listed the names and salaries of several health insurance executives” and some “Wanted” signs posted in Manhattan.

The Man being The Man