InfraGard

InfraGard   (Surveillance, Fusion center)
Formation	1996
Type	think tank
Interests	Anti-vaxxers, January 6 2021 riots at the US Capitol, COVID-19/Censorship
Program to turn private-sector corporations - having access to enormous amounts of information on citizens - into surrogate eyes and ears for the FBI.

InfraGard is a partnership between the Federal Bureau of Investigation and the private sector to prevent and address terrorism "and other crimes". 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.

At least 350 of the Fortune 500 companies have representation in InfraGard. These representatives have access to most of people's private records, including phone and Internet use, health records, and banking and finance records. What these "other crimes" are and what exactly information is being shared, is not disclosed.

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 quietly continued growing, and expanded its efforts to include physical as well as cyberthreats to critical infrastructures. By 2022, InfraGard had over 80,000 members representing 78 chapters nationwide.

It holds secret meetings with the FBI. It also, according to FBI Director Robert Mueller, "shares information" with the Secret Service and all government agencies involved with security in the United States.

According to InfraGard’s own policies and procedures,

The interests of InfraGard must be protected whenever presented to non-InfraGard members. Independent of the type of presentation, (interview, brief, or published documentation) the InfraGard leadership and the local FBI representative should be made aware of the upcoming presentation. The InfraGard member and the FBI representative should agree on the theme of the presentation. The identity of InfraGard members should be protected at all times.

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.

2021 Washington D.C. Riots

Full article: Bank of America

At the request of the FBI after the January 6 2021 riots at the US Capitol, but without a warrant, the bank gave confidential banking details of anyone making certain purchases in and around Washington DC before and after the riots, and handed over the information of 211 people.

Occupy Wall Street

In 2011, InfraGard was part of the effort to crush Occupy Wall Street (see document below).

 

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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