Notifications of Investigation or Non-Consenting Program Enrollment (Commonwealth Fusion Center)

To Whom It May Concern:

Pursuant to the Massachusetts Public Records Law, M.G.L. c.66, §10, I hereby request the following records:

Please provide all notifications of ongoing investigation, whether categorized as intelligence, counter-terrorism, criminal, civil, or otherwise, under National Security labels or otherwise, and/or all notifications of enrollment into covert community policing/crime prevention/neurological or psychological behavior modification programs, naming me--Ramola D/Ramola Grace Dharmaraj-- personally as the person under scrutiny, investigation, or study, or as the person enrolled into any classified or unclassified programs of the kind detailed above, issued to any and all community members in Quincy, MA, Milton, MA, Weymouth, MA, and Briantree, MA, particularly those associated with Adams Montessori School, Thomas Crane Library, Milton Library, Joan's Olympic Gym, Milton Art Center, Wollaston Hill Montessori PreSchool, Barnes & Noble, Good Health Store, Stop n' Shop, Star Market, Punjab Dhaba, other local businesses and restaurants, and including residents on Pine Street, Quincy, MA, and in the Wollaston, Quincy neighborhood, and all reasons for these notifications, from the time period 1 Nov 2013 to the present date, 17 November 2014, along with specific information contained in the notifications, including the manner of labeling and characterizing of my person, the specific reason for the investigation/s/program enrollments, the duration of the investigation/program, the manner in which the investigation/program is being conducted, and the authorizing body or bodies permitting the investigation; if your agency would like to state that such notifications do not exist, or that no such ongoing investigation or program exists or has been initiated, please provide a clear and truthful statement to this effect.

(This FOIA request, while specific to my name and person, addresses the current general public concern regarding illegitimate investigations and surveillance targeted at all law-abiding citizens and residents, including myself, and will provide particular information of general public interest, to all members of the media and the public.)

I also request that, if appropriate, fees be waived as we believe this request is in the public interest, as suggested but not stipulated by the recommendations of the Massachusetts Supervisor of Public Records. The requested documents will be made available to the general public free of charge as part of the public information service at MuckRock.com, processed by a representative of the news media/press and is made in the process of news gathering and not for commercial usage.

I expect the request to be filled in an accessible format, including for screen readers, which provide text-to-speech for persons unable to read print. Files that are not accessible to screen readers include, for example, .pdf image files as well as physical documents.

In the event that fees cannot be waived, I would be grateful if you would inform me of the total charges in advance of fulfilling my request. I would prefer the request filled electronically, by e-mail attachment if available or CD-ROM if not.

Thank you in advance for your anticipated cooperation in this matter. I look forward to receiving your response to this request within 10 calendar days, as the statute requires.

Sincerely,

Ramola Dharmaraj

Hello--

I wanted to follow up on this response primarily to ascertain how the Commonwealth Fusion Center is connected to the Massachusetts State Police Legal Section, whose response is provided above.

My FOIA request is addressed to the Commonwealth Fusion Center, which I understand is under the purview of the Department of Homeland Security--kindly clarify.

I am keen to pursue this matter with the Fusion Center/DHS, and am not clear as to the connection with State Police, nor as to why I did not receive a response directly from the Commonwealth Fusion Center/DHS.

Thanks very much,
Ramola D/Dharmaraj