Senators Warner and Allen and Representative Moran
PO Box 8208
Alexandria, VA 22306-8208
The Honorable John William Warner
United States Senate
225 Russell Senate Office Building
Washington, DC 20510-4601
The Honorable George F. Allen
United States Senate
204 Russell Senate Office Building
Washington, DC 20510-4604
The Honorable James P. Moran
U.S House of Representatives
2239 Rayburn House Office Building
Washington, DC 20515-4608
Dear Senators Warner and Allen and Representative Moran:
As your constituent, I urge you to support and cosponsor the “Data-Mining Moratorium Act” (S. 188).
This important legislation would impose a moratorium on data-mining under Total Information Awareness, a program of the Department of Defense that threatens to turn us all into “suspects” without proof of criminal wrongdoing. Further, the bill would halt any similar program of the Department of Homeland Security until Congress authorizes such activity.
Law-abiding people should be protected from government snooping. It has been a hallmark of American democracy that our individual privacy is protected against government intervention and snooping as long as we are not guilty of wrongdoing. This new system would obliterate these protections — the government would simply collect data on everyone. Doing so would make us all suspects and in effect eliminate our personal privacy.
In searching for terrorists, we must not investigate everyone. It has been suggested that searching for terrorists in our midst is like looking for a needle in a haystack. If this is true, then it certainly makes no sense to make the haystack even bigger by creating the means to investigate hundreds of millions of law-abiding Americans rather than focusing in on real suspects.
Finally, and most importantly, Congress must step in and ask the tough questions about this program. Congress must not allow the Defense Department to develop unilaterally a surveillance tool that would invade the privacy of innocent people inside the United States. At a time when Americans are calling for more privacy of personal information, this program would provide a back door to databases of private information. At a minimum, Congress must put Total Information Awareness on hold and investigate the far-reaching consequences of developing vast domestic surveillance systems.
Once again, I urge you to support and cosponsor the “Data-Mining Moratorium Act.”
I look forward to hearing your thoughts on this crucial matter.
Sincerely,
James Landrith