Government Contractors Begin Developing Data Tracking Network
By Sharon L. Crenson
Associated Press National Writer 

Thursday 13 February 2003 

Financed by more than $20 million in government contracts, 
researchers are taking the first steps toward developing a system that 
could sift through the financial, telephone, travel and medical records of 
millions of people in hopes of identifying terrorists before they strike.  

So far, the companies awarded contracts by the Defense Department 
are using only fabricated data in their work on the program, which is 
called Total Information Awareness.  

The Pentagon's technology chief, Pete Aldridge, has said the 
department is interested in tying together such privately held data as 
credit card records, bank transactions, car rental receipts and gun 
purchases, along with massive quantities of intelligence information 
already gathered by the federal government.  

The project has met some resistance in Congress because of privacy 
concerns. Some lawmakers are pushing an amendment to a spending 
bill that would prohibit the system from ever gathering information 
on American citizens without a congressional vote approving it.  

Meanwhile, contractors and researchers told The Associated Press that 
they have already been developing pieces of TIA. For example, Doug 
Lenat, president of Texas-based Cycorp, said his researchers had 
already built a system to identify phone-calling patterns as they 
might exist among potential terrorists overseas.  

Other TIA contractors include defense giant Raytheon and Telcordia, 
a telecommunications company specializing in research and 
development. Several other companies have been waiting to finalize 
deals.  

So far, contractors have worked with fake data, things like made-up 
telephone numbers and receipts that look like real consumer records, 
but aren't, according to interviews and public records.  

Aldridge outlined the program in a news conference in November after 
questions arose about the choice of John Poindexter to head TIA.  

The former admiral and national security adviser to President Reagan 
has been a lightning rod. A figure in the Iran-Contra scandal, he was 
convicted on charges of lying to Congress, destroying official 
documents and obstructing a congressional investigation. The verdicts 
were overturned on appeal.  

From the start, the idea of TIA has proven controversial, pitting national 
security worries against fears the government would run roughshod over 
individual privacy.  

"We're talking about the most expansive, far reaching surveillance 
program ever proposed. The Congress has got to take a stand here," 
said Sen. Ron Wyden, D-Ore., who has led efforts to restrict TIA.  

Pentagon officials declined repeated interview requests by AP for 
this story.  

After coming under earlier Senate criticism, the Defense Department 
named a TIA oversight panel and issued a news release denying it is 
building a gigantic database.  

However, a document that was part of the department's bid solicitation 
for the TIA said "the term 'database' is intended to convey a new kind of 
extremely large, omni-media, virtually-centralized and semantically rich 
information repository."  

Peter Higgins, a consultant and former CIA chief information officer, 
said what officials wanted from TIA was a system that would use relevant 
private and government-compiled information to spot patterns or 
convergences.  

For example, a government-collected list of every person treated for 
anthrax exposure could help find people plotting a biological attack. 
Even more useful: finding people on that list who also telephone 
Afghanistan.  

Electronic records are already ubiquitous in corporate America. 
Businesses keep lists of cardiac patients, BMW owners, subscribers 
to porn magazines, even people who tend to do their grocery shopping 
about the time they receive sales circulars, Higgins said.   

Privacy laws governing the disclosure of personal electronic data vary 
widely, depending on the type of data.  

The Fair Credit Reporting Act, for example, forbids credit bureaus 
from combining the data they collect about a customer's on-time payment 
history with data the bureaus sell to direct marketers. The Federal 
Election Commission allows the Republican and Democratic parties to 
sell lists of people who contribute.  

The Pentagon began advertising for bids to work on TIA last March, 
inviting ideas to exploit "novel" information sources and new electronic 
research methods.  

Overseeing the research is the Defense Advanced Research Project 
Agency, or DARPA, the same office that developed the Internet. 
According to the published solicitation, DARPA planned a five-year 
timeline for TIA: three to develop ideas and demonstrations, two 
to build and expand on the most promising ones.  

The TIA budget is $30 million from the current and past fiscal years.  

In all, 26 bids were received, said DARPA spokeswoman Jan Walker. 
Four companies were awarded contracts. According to the TIA Web 
site, many other organizations were already working on pieces 
Poindexter planned to connect to TIA.  

The companies included:

- Cycorp, based in Austin, Texas, which was awarded $9.8 million to 
  work on a prototype database. The company specializes in searching 
  data.  

- Telcordia, based in Morristown, N.J., which won a $5.2 million contract 
  to focus on connecting data already available within different government 
  offices.  

- Hicks Associates, of McLean, Va., which was awarded $3.6 million to 
  study the feasibility of TIA, how it would develop, and to create a 
  prototype.  

- Booz, Allen & Hamilton, based in Falls Church, Va., which won a $1.5 
  million contract. Its purpose was not publicly disclosed.  

Raytheon Co., based in Lexington, Mass., which confirmed that it is 
under contract with DARPA. Spokesman David Shay declined to outline 
Raytheon's specific role.  

Another research firm, RAND Corp., based in Santa Monica, Calif., 
confirmed it was expecting to work on TIA. Neither the company nor 
the Pentagon would provide details.  

(In accordance with Title 17 U.S.C. Section 107, this material is 
distributed without profit to those who have expressed a prior interest 
in receiving the included information for research and educational 
purposes.)  

(c) t r u t h o u t 2002

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Source: Truthout - http://truthout.org/docs_02/021403C.htm


Cheers, Steve..

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