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February
13, 2003, 10:45 a.m.
Total
Preparedness
The case for
the Defense Department’s Total Information Awareness project.
By Jonathan
Levin
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 everal
months ago DARPA, the Department of Defense's Research and Development
arm, announced the Total
Information Awareness (TIA) project, a radical new tool for FBI and
CIA intelligence gathering. Since then, TIA has been assailed as a danger
to constitutionally protected individual rights and privacy. As a result,
Congress has balked at funding TIA, and instead attempted to increase
the effectiveness of existing programs by creating a centralized terrorism
intelligence office. In the long run, improved intelligence distribution
and TIA can each contribute to a sound antiterrorism apparatus.
While the new
office rightly addresses the need to streamline information distribution,
it neglects the corollary failure to identify individual terrorists before
they strike. DARPA, inventors of the Global Positioning System, the Internet,
and Stealth technology, among others, has presented TIA as a means for locating
terrorists beyond the reach of conventional terrorism investigators. Central
to TIA is a plan to compile electronic profiles of terrorists with a massive
data-processing system. Based loosely on the FBI's behavioral-analysis investigations
into serial killings and other habitual crimes, TIA would trace the activity
of known terrorists and find others who follow the same pattern.
TIA's potential is
impressive, but the invasiveness of the plan and its reliance on unfettered
access to vast amounts of information has raised concerns about government
encroachment on privacy, and the possibility of abuse. Editorial boards
of several papers, including the New York Times, have described
TIA in terms of Big Brother and McCarthy. Such comparisons raise legitimate
concerns; considering the almost 300 million people in the U.S. and the
limitations of artificial intelligence, TIA would undoubtedly flag innocent
individuals.
President Bush's
appointment of John Poindexter to head the Information Awareness Office
(IAO), TIA's managing department, has spurred fears that TIA will be abused
or misappropriated by overzealous investigators. Critics remember Poindexter
as head of the secretive National Security Council (NSC) during the Iran-Contra
scandal. However, Poindexter has not been appointed to run TIA, only oversee
its development. Having presided over the bulk of U.S. electronic surveillance
at NSC and developed similar applications for Syntek Technologies, he
is uniquely qualified for the position.
In addition, DoD
has released plans to create two separate panels to monitor TIA. An internal
oversight board will create procedures and limitations for TIA's use by
the DoD. An independent, outside panel featuring renowned civil-rights
lawyers, professors, and jurists will advise DoD on the legality and civil-rights
issues TIA raises.
Despite the several
legitimate concerns, TIA is a dynamic proposal that may prove invaluable
as terrorist attacks against the United States persist. Considering DARPA's
unparalleled track record in producing paradigm-shifting technology, the
TIA proposal should not be dismissed lightly.
—
Jonathan Levin is a terrorism analyst with the Investigative Project.
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