Following quickly on the heels of Sen. Harkin’s letter requesting a hearing on the Total Information Awareness (TIA) program, Vermont’s Senator Leahy also sent a letter to Attorney General Ashcroft requesting answers to a list of specific questions, so at to determine “the extent to which the Justice Department is relying on data-mining” applications and how privacy issues as they relate to the collection of personal data on citizens is being addressed.
In addition to these letters from Harkin and Leahy, EPIC together with other privacy coalition members, sent duplicate letters to House/Senate Committee Chairs (Armed Services, Defense Appropriations, Judiciary, Government Reform, Homeland Security, “urging Congress to stop further development” of TIA as the program’s surveillance initiatives did not safeguard the privacy of America’s citizens.
Also adding his voice to concerns about TIA and data mining is the Chairman of the Gilmore Commission (long title – Advisory Panel to Assess Domestic Response Capabilities for Terrorism Involving Weapons of Mass Destruction), former Republican Governor of Virginia, James Gilmore.