July 22, 2003 Letter to Senators Warner and Allen
and Representative Moran
and Representative Moran
July 22, 2003
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 the defunding of the Terrorism Information Awareness program, formerly known as Total Information Awareness, or TIA. In its version of the 2004 defense appropriations bill, the Senate cut funding entirely for this program — a program that would indiscriminately track the daily activities of Americans or falsely identify thousands of innocent citizens as potential terrorists.
This important provision would stop the Pentagon’s efforts at data-mining which threatens to turn us all into “suspects” without proof of criminal wrongdoing.
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.
Once again, I urge you to support the Senate language which would defund the so-called “Terrorism Information Awareness” program, formerly known as Total Information Awareness, or TIA.
I didn’t give up six years of my life serving this nation as a Marine to see it turn into a police state almost overnight. Do the right thing and end this now! I look forward to hearing your thoughts on this crucial matter.
Sincerely,
James Landrith
August 27, 2003
Mr. James Landrith
P.O. Box 8208
Alexandria, Virginia 22306-8208
Dear Mr. Landrith:
Thank you for contacting me regarding data mining and specifically the Terrorism Information Awareness System. I appreciate hearing your views on this important matter.
Terrorism Information Awareness (TIA) is a research program within the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency’s (DARPA) Information Awareness Office (LAO). The mission of the IAO is to develop new technologies that aid in analyzing data in order to prevent further terrorist attacks against Americans and strengthen homeland security.
Following the tragic events of September 11, 2001, the technical ability of the federal government to search various law enforcement and national security databases in order to identify potential terrorist threats has become a more pressing issue. TIA was initiated in October 2001 with the goal of developing technology that will enable intelligence, counterintelligence, and federal law enforcement officials to search and correlate information from databases currently available to the intelligence community.
The Bush Administration maintains that TIA has the potential to be a valuable weapon in the war on terrorism as a way to “connect the dots” and piece together the activities of persons with ties to terrorist groups. For example, if intelligence officials learn that anthrax was brought into the United States on recent inbound flights, they could use TLA to cross-reference names on recent flight manifests with a list of possible terrorists. Next, officials could further search commercial transactions of these suspected terrorists to track their activity and whereabouts in the United States. According to DARPA, TIA would utilize only legally available data and would not violate current privacy law. Any information used in TIA would be guarded against internal and external breaches by the latest privacy protection technology.
An amendment to the FY2003 Omnibus Appropriations bill provides certain limitations and prohibitions on the development of the TIA program. Specifically, the legislation requires the Pentagon to report to Congress on the goals of the program, including recommendations from the Attorney General on minimizing its impact on civil liberties. In addition, the measure restricts use of TIA to military operations outside the United States and for “lawful foreign intelligence activities conducted wholly against non-United States persons.” Finally, the Pentagon is prohibited from deploying the program or transferring it to another department without congressional authorization. Most recently, the Senate voted to curtail new funding for TLA altogether in the Fiscal Year (FY) 2004 Defense Appropriations Bill. The bill now moves to conference with the House version which does not prohibit TIA funding.
I share the concerns individuals have expressed regarding possible violations of privacy rights. A great number of policy changes would need to be examined and approved by Congress before federal entities could have unlimited access to commercial databases. While I support initiatives that enhance the ability of law enforcement to combat terrorism, it is imperative that these efforts not trespass on the individual rights guaranteed by our Constitution. I feel it is the duty of DARPA and the Attorney General to adequately address all privacy issues related to TLA before the project proceeds.
Please be assured that I will keep your views in mind as the FY2004 Defense Appropriations Bill moves through the conference process and I will closely monitor further developments relating to TIA and other data mining programs. Thank you again for contacting me.
With kind regards, I am
Sincerely,
John Warner
JW/sco