InfraGard

InfraGard   (Surveillance, Fusion center)
Formation	1996
Type	think tank

InfraGard is a partnership between the Federal Bureau of Investigation and the private sector. The organization is an information/intelligence sharing and analysis effort serving the interests, and combining the knowledge base of, a wide range of private sector and government members; among them academic institutions, state and local law enforcement agencies.

History

The InfraGard program traces its formation back to 1996 when the FBI’s Cleveland Field Office engaged experts from private industry to provide expertise for a cybersecurity investigation. The collaboration was so successful that the program quickly expanded to other Field Offices, leading the FBI to assign national program responsibility for InfraGard to FBI Headquarters in Washington DC and local program responsibility to the FBI’s 56 field offices. In 2003, InfraGard’s private sector members officially incorporated InfraGard National as nonprofit 501(c)3 organization that retains its affiliation and partnership with the FBI.

After September 11, 2001 InfraGard continued growing, and with little notice. By 2005 more than 11,000 members were involved, but by 2008, there are 23,682 members, including FBI personnel.

Anti-vaxxers

Full article: Anti-vaxxers

Analysis by InfraGard in 2019 has pointed out that America’s “anti-vaxxer movement” would pose a threat to national security in the event of a “pandemic with a novel organism” and warned the US anti-vaccine movement would also be connected with “social media misinformation and propaganda campaigns” orchestrated by the Russian government.

 

Related Document

Title	Type	Publication date	Author(s)	Description
File:Dissent or Terror FINAL 0.pdf	report	20 May 2013	Beau Hoda	Dissent or Terror a report that details how the counter-terrorism apparatus was used to monitor the Occupy Movement nationwide

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