Opposition grows to TIA. (Insider Report).

A January 27th Associated Press report noted that growing concern over the Orwellian implications of the federal government's Total Information Awareness (TIA) program "has been a public-relations disaster for the Bush administration." The AP story, entitled "Hastert Raises Doubts on Surveillance," reported that U.S. House of Representatives Speaker Dennis Hastert raised doubts "about the fate of a Pentagon surveillance project after the Senate voted to ban the technology that mines government and commercial databases to identify potential terrorists." The story quoted a Hastert spokesman as saying that the fate of the TIA program "is questionable." The Senate vote mentioned above involved an amendment sponsored by Ron Wyden (D-Ore.) to a $380 billion omnibus spending bill. Passed on a voice vote, the amendment does not actually ban the invasive TIA surveillance technology, but restricts its use inside the U.S. and requires the Defense Department to submit to Congress a detailed report on the program within 6 0 days of enacting the bill.

In a press statement, Sen. Wyden characterized the Pentagon's research program as "the most far-reaching government surveillance plan in history." As reported in these pages ("Watching Your Every Move," January 27th), the TIA program does indeed represent a quantum leap in police-state snooping capabilities, with frightening potential for massive abuse. The technologies and applications proposed to provide the government with "total information awareness" include creating a "virtual, centralized, grand database" that would store, monitor, and analyze financial transactions, medical records, telecommunication records, travel records, criminal records, educational records, etc. Under the Wyden amendment, President Bush could order the research to go forward if he determines it is necessary for national security. The Senate amendment must be reconciled with the House version of the spending bill, which did not impose any restrictions on the research program.

A conference committee composed of members of both houses of Congress was expected to meet in early to mid-February to reconcile the Senate and House differences.