Letter to Senators Lott and Daschle re: Total Information Awareness

November 18, 2002
Coalition Letter
to Senators Lott & Daschle
Regarding Total Information Awareness


BY FAX AND MAIL

November 18, 2002

Senator Tom Daschle
SH-509
Washington, DC 20510

Senator Trent Lott
SR-487
Washington, DC 20510

Dear Senators Daschle and Lott:

We write to you as a nonpartisan coalition of organizations from across the country to urge you to adopt an amendment to the pending Homeland Security Act that would stop further development of a Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) system called "Total Information Awareness" (TIA).

According to DARPA’s own documents, TIA will collect and mine vast amounts of information on the American public, including telephone records, bank records, medical records, and educational and travel data. TIA also proposes to connect with a massive system of biometric identification.

There are no systems of oversight or accountability contemplated in the TIA project. DARPA itself has resisted lawful requests for information about the program pursuant to the Freedom of Information Act.

Newspapers across the country have blasted the Department of Defense surveillance system. The New York Times said today that "Congress should shut down the program pending a thorough investigation." Earlier the Washington Post wrote, "the defense secretary should appoint an outside committee to oversee it before it proceeds."

We urge you to act immediately to stop the development of this unconstitutional system of public surveillance.

Sincerely,

 

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