Is the Pentagon's experimental electronic "data mining" system designed to learn virtually everything about everybody taking the war on terror too far? If you think it is, U.S. Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld suggests you just "take a nice deep, deep breath." 

That was just part of the advice Rumsfeld had for civil liberties groups on Nov. 19, when he addressed recent criticism of an experimental Pentagon program designed to create what the American Civil Liberties Union called "the most extensive electronic surveillance in history." 

Getting to know all about you
The imposingly named Total Information Awareness (TIA) System is the terror-fighting project being developed by the Information Awareness Office of the Defense Advanced Research Project Agency (DARPA).

According to DARPA, the goal of the TIA system is to, "revolutionize the ability of the United States to detect, classify and identify foreign terrorists – and decipher their plans."

In simple terms, TIA is a new "data mining" computer system designed to gather pertinent personal information from multiple existing online databases, like those containing drivers license. vehicle registration and credit card data. In addition, TIA would constantly seek out new "innovative" sources of information, while employing computer algorithms designed to match personal information with terrorist profiles. The resulting output of TIA -- "actionable intelligence" -- would, says DARPA, "enable the U.S. to take timely action to successfully preempt and defeat terrorist acts."

Rumsfeld defends TIA, tries to calm fears
Speaking to reporters en route to the Defense Ministerial of the Americas in Santiago, Chili, Rumsfeld defended TIA as being a potential quantum improvement over current systems of terrorist intelligence gathering and sharing he described as "a case of 'Ready-Shoot-Aim.'" 

Rumsfeld further stressed that TIA remained a research program, consuming a only a tiny fraction of the total U.S. defense budget. However, when pressed for details on the system, Rumsfeld declined to comment, admitting that he really did not know that much about it.

Stressing the potential future benefits of the TIA electronic data mining project, Rumsfeld recalled the early days of the Internet, also invented by DARPA. "When that work began, the people doing it had no idea that what would evolve would be what we see today as the Internet," said Rumsfeld.

One of the main purposes of TIA data mining, said Rumsfeld, is to help homeland security authorities issue more timely and specific warnings of terrorist threats to the public. "The hype and alarm approach is a disservice to the public," he said.

According to Rumsfeld, TIA data mining could, like many DARPA research programs, end up being scrapped due to irresolvable technical problems or cost overruns. Alternatively, suggested Rumsfeld, the data mining concept could be found more appropriate for use by the Department of Justice or one of the 22 agencies, like the FBI and CIA, to be combined into the new Department of Homeland Security. 

Finally, Rumsfeld suggested that the Department of Defense might even cancel further funding requests for the TIA program, should public opinion run too strongly against it.

More reading on this issue

• Spies Among Us
  About Civil Liberties Guide J.D. Tuccille asserts that if proposed domestic spying plans, like TIA becomes a reality, Americans will likely be too busy fearing their protectors to give much mind to terrorists.

What's your opinion?
We have been discussing the issue of privacy vs. the war on terror in the forum. Here are a few of you comments:

• Homeland security, or is it?
  "The last administration tried to disarm the citizens by attacking the 2nd amendment and luckily it failed. This time around they implement a system - Homeland Security - under which they simply march in and do whatever, Bill of Rights or not."
  Posted by HORSESENS
  
  
• Homeland Insecurity (end of privacy)
  "This cosmetic response (the Department of Homeland Security bill) to the myriad failures that made the nation vulnerable on Sept. 11, 2001, offers no assurance that Americans will be safer. Instead, it poses new dangers."
  Posted by KERRYXYZ