FBI, Defense in talks about controversial surveillance technology
The Defense Department has been in contact with the FBI, the Justice Department and components of the Homeland Security Department about a controversial research project that critics say could violate individual privacy and civil rights.
In response to questions from Sen. Charles Grassley, R-Iowa, Defense Inspector General Joe Schmitz reported that the Defense Advanced Research Project Agency (DARPA) has consulted with other agencies regarding its Total Information Awareness (TIA) project, a theoretical effort to look at how technology could be used to scour databases and the Internet for signs of terrorist plots. Schmitz also told Grassley that the FBI is working on a memorandum of understanding with DARPA "for possible experimentation with TIA technology in the future."
On Wednesday, the FBI denied it is engaged in negotiations to use TIA in the United States.
"We are not working on any type of memorandum of understanding," FBI spokesman Paul Bresson said. "We have had discussions with the Pentagon on emerging and advanced technologies, in support of law enforcement or counterterrorism. We have not had discussions about a memorandum of understanding." Schmitz said that next month he will begin an audit of the TIA project to determine whether it is using proper controls to limit access to personal information the system might collect.
Privacy advocates and civil libertarians have strongly criticized the TIA effort. The Electronic Privacy Information Center, the most vocal critic of the program, last week won a court order gaining access to DARPA records related to the TIA project and its director, John Poindexter. The national security adviser to President Reagan, Poindexter has attracted as much controversy as the project itself. He was convicted of multiple felony counts of lying to Congress after the Iran-Contra scandal. Those convictions were later overturned.
Wayne Crews, the director of technology studies at the free-market Cato Institute in Washington, another TIA critic, said that under current privacy law, the project would be largely inoperable. While DARPA officials haven't said precisely what databases or records the TIA system might search, they have said some would be in the private sector. Companies are not required to relinquish personal information to the government without a subpoena, Crews said.
The announcement by the Defense inspector general is the latest in a series of obstacles in the TIA project's path. Last week, Sen. Russell Feingold, D-Wis., introduced legislation banning the "data mining" techniques the TIA system and other investigative technologies use. The moratorium would apply to the Defense and Homeland Security Departments. Lawmakers have also called for hearings into DARPA's work and for Poindexter to resign.
In a statement, Grassley said he was worried about the contacts between DARPA and FBI officials. He said the revelation was "a direct contradiction to earlier statements made by the Justice Department…[It] only heightens my concern about the blurring of lines between domestic law enforcement and military security efforts."
Grassley sent a letter to Attorney General John Ashcroft Tuesday, asking for a full accounting of the department's and the FBI's interactions with DARPA, adding he was concerned neither organization had been forthright about those dealings.
The Defense inspector general also reported that DARPA officials had been in contact with the Foreign Terrorist Tracking Task Force, a Justice Department group that tracks, detains, prosecutes and deports aliens who are suspected of engaging in terrorist activity. Ashcroft has called that task force one of the most important contributions to the war on terrorism.