Subject: [NEXTEL-1] FBI Showed Interest in Pentagon Data-Mining Project

From: Marcel <[email-masked]>
Date: Wed, 22 Jan 2003 15:59:38 -0500

FBI Showed Interest in Pentagon Data-Mining Project

The FBI considered possibly experimenting with the Pentagon's controversial
Total Information Awareness (TIA) project, according to a letter from the Defense
Department's inspector general to Sen. Charles Grassley (R-Iowa), chairman of
the Senate Finance Committee. Sen. Grassley said that FBI involvement with
the data-mining project raises concerns about the blurring of lines between law
enforcement and counter-terrorism efforts. The Justice Department called sharing
of information across agencies crucial to the war on terror, and that Americans'
civil liberties would be protected. The TIA project is working to create a system
that can filter through massive amounts of data from sources such as credit card
companies, medical insurers and motor vehicle departments for information that
could give clues to terrorist activities. The project is the subject of harsh criticism
from privacy advocates and civil libertarians.

FBI May Have Aided Pentagon Data Project
Wed Jan 22, 4:45 AM ET

By CURT ANDERSON, Associated Press Writer

WASHINGTON - Possible FBI (news - web sites) involvement in a
high-tech Pentagon (news - web sites) project that sifts through Americans'
personal information raises new concerns about privacy and civil liberties,
Sen. Charles Grassley (news, bio, voting record) said Tuesday.

The Defense Department's inspector general, Joseph Schmitz, told
Grassley, R-Iowa, in a letter that the FBI was working on a memorandum of
understanding with the Pentagon "for possible experimentation" with the
data-mining project.

Disclosure of FBI contacts regarding the Total Information Awareness
project "only heightens my concern about the blurring of lines between
domestic law enforcement and military security efforts," said Grassley,
chairman of the Senate Finance Committee and a frequent critic of the FBI.

Schmitz also told Grassley he will order an audit to help the Pentagon
develop sufficient privacy safeguards that do not exist now to ensure the
project has adequate protections for computer security and people's privacy.

The project, being developed by the Defense Advanced Research Projects
Agency, would collect and mine huge amounts of data, including telephone
records, credit card transactions, travel information and medical records.
The goal of the effort, headed by retired Rear Adm. John Poindexter, is to
spot clues and patterns that possibly could identify would-be terrorists.

Grassley asked Attorney General John Ashcroft (news - web sites) for
detailed information about the possible involvement of the FBI and Justice
Department (news - web sites) and those agencies' potential uses of the
information.

FBI spokesman Mike Kortan said Tuesday the discussions with the
Pentagon "have been limited to emerging and advanced technologies and
analytical tools in support of its law enforcement and counterterrorism
mission."

Kortan added that those talks have been conducted in a way "consistent
with all existing guidelines and statutes."

A Justice Department official said agency sharing of intelligence, including
any produced under the Pentagon project, is essential to fight the war on
terror.

"We will shield Americans from violations of their civil liberties ... while we
work across the government to stop terrorists from killing more innocent
Americans," said Justice spokesman Mark Corallo.

The proposal has drawn sharp criticism from government watchdog groups
and from some Democrats in Congress, who have proposed legislation to
shut it down as a threat to Americans' privacy and civil liberties. In the
aftermath of the 2001 terror attacks, the government already is using
powerful new domestic wiretap and surveillance abilities.

"At a time when Americans are calling for more privacy of personal
information, this program would provide a backdoor to databases of private
information," said the American Civil Liberties Union (news - web sites), the
conservative Eagle Forum and seven other watchdog groups last week in a
letter to Congress.

In his letter to Ashcroft, Grassley said the FBI and Justice Department "may
have been less than forthright" to the press and public about potential law
enforcement uses of data collected and analyzed under the Pentagon
project.

"We need to strike a balance between targeting terrorists with everything
we've got and also protecting the rights and freedoms cherished by
Americans," Grassley said. "Military dollars shouldn't be spent on domestic
law enforcement."

http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/ap/20030122/ap_on_go_ca_st_pe/data_mining_4

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