Jay Inslee: Washington's 1st Congressional District
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Inslee Raises Privacy Concerns over the Pentagon's Total Information Awareness Program
22 November 2002
U.S. Rep. Jay Inslee, concerned about the invasion of American privacy under the Pentagon's recently announced Total Information Awareness program, entered a statement into the Congressional Record today seeking to clarify Congressional intent in the Homeland Security Bill. When the Homeland Security Bill was originally debated and approved, the public and Congress were unaware of the Department of Defense intelligence program being conducted under the guidance of Rear Admiral William Poindexter. Inslee wants Congress to clarify language in the Homeland Security Bill that, if not more clearly defined, may be interpreted by Pentagon intelligence services as a green light to engage in domestic spying and pry into every detail of our private lives. Inslee's statement follows:
Mr. INSLEE: Mr. Speaker, today the United States Congress will send to the desk of the President of the United States for his signature, the Homeland Security bill. This bill will create the Department of Homeland Security, an agency charged with safeguarding Americans and the American way of life.
When enacting this bill, we must be careful not stray into invading American's privacy when using the regulatory tools provided for in this bill. I refer specifically to the vague authorizations in this bill that would give this new federal agency broad authority to push the privacy envelope.
Section 201, paragraph 14, charges the Under Secretary for Information Analysis and Infrastructure with the responsibility of establishing a secure communications and information technology infrastructure that specifically authorizes the use of 'Data-mining'. Since 'Data-mining' has no statutory definition, I am concerned that we have not adequately established that the Department of Homeland Security does not have the green light to adopt an all encompassing program that invades the privacy of every American without their permission or knowledge. We were recently notified that former Rear Admiral John Poindexter is developing a Total Information Awareness program to monitor the everyday transactions of Americans. We cannot allow this to happen.
I do not believe that this statutory language is meant to allow the federal government to obtain whatever list - public, private, or commercial, to profile Americans. It is clear that the American public does reject this approach, as they soundly voiced their outrage for other privacy-eroding proposals such as the FBI's 'Carnivore' system, and the Department of Justice 'TIPS' program. It is vital that this body adopt standards to define such terms as 'data-mining', and to do so early in the 108th Congress. I thank the Speaker.