Congress should regulate terrorist-identifying technology being developed by the Pentagon’s Terrorism Information Awareness program, rather than scrap the entire effort for fear of violating Americans’ civil liberties, according to a paper published yesterday by the Heritage Foundation.
The “discovery technology” has the potential to be a valuable tool in the war on terrorism, said the conservative think tank’s policy paper.
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“Much of the controversy is unwarranted, and concerns that the technology will be abused are speculative at best,” said the paper written by Paul Rosenzweig, a senior fellow and professor of law at George Mason University.
The troubled program primarily seeks to create a supercomputer system from which to mine data and pinpoint terrorists or terrorist activity. Critics call it a “Big Brother” system to compile dossiers on American citizens using personal information.
Most recently, TIA proposed a program called FutureMAP to sell futures contracts on assassinations, military strikes and terrorist activities. FutureMAP was killed after it was roundly criticized by Congress last week, and Pentagon officials said retired Navy Vice Adm. John Poindexter, TIA director, is expected to resign within the next few weeks.
Mr. Rosenzweig argues that the program could be operated effectively while ensuring there are minimal risks of invading privacy or infringing on civil liberties.
“It’s like sweeping back the tide, the development of technology can’t really be stopped. Information yearns to be free,” Mr. Rosenzweig said in an interview.
Congressional authorization should be required before any data-mining technology is deployed and the databases should protect the identification of individuals in pattern analysis, the paper said.
Similar authorization is contained in Defense Department spending legislation that will be taken up by a House-Senate conference committee when Congress returns from its August recess.
Sen. Ron Wyden, Oregon Democrat, has led the effort on oversight, but language added by the House also seeks to eliminate all funding for the data-mining program.
However, Mr. Wyden and Sen. Byron L. Dorgan, North Dakota Democrat, said they favor shutting down the entire TIA program, which they say will be “the biggest spying and surveillance overreach in America’s history … it should be shut down.”
“We have always believed that it is possible to fight terrorism vigorously without gutting civil liberties. The TIA program skews that balance and needs to go,” the senators said in a joint statement last week.
Other safeguards that could be applied include internal policy controls and training, executive branch administrative oversight, and civil and criminal penalties for abuse. Congress should also pass a law prohibiting the technology to be used for non-terrorism investigations, the paper said.
The system should produce a tamper-proof audit trail so that a hard record of the system’s use is maintained for review and analysis.
Inspectors general should also conduct periodic internal audits, frequent examinations by the General Accounting Office and public hearings.
“In short, TIA can be safely implemented. Failing to make the effort poses grave risks and is an irresponsible abdication of responsibility,” the paper said.
A joint congressional inquiry of the events leading to September 11 said that technology is the nation’s greatest advantage, yet “it has not been fully and most effectively applied in support of U.S. counterterrorism efforts.”
“It is important not to repeat that mistake,” Mr. Rosenzweig said.
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