The tragic terrorist assault on America in 2001 mobilized the country as folks from all walks of life flocked together in solidarity. From small town U.S.A. to major metropolitan areas from coast to coast, Americans rallied around the flag to grieve for the victims and form a united front against the evildoers who orchestrated such a heinous attack against humanity.
President Bush provided uncommon leadership and united the nation vowing to root out terrorism and snuff out the international infrastructure that funds and harbors terrorist cells around the world. His pledge to Americans: Freedom would prevail over fear.
Immediately after the terrorist attacks, Americans were on board to do whatever it takes to win the war on terrorism. Partisanship in Washington vanished as lawmakers swiftly passed the Patriot Act of 2001 a month after the Sept. 11 attacks.
That new law gives our law enforcement and intelligence communities key new tools to thwart, track and prosecute terrorism. The law expands information sharing among law enforcement entities and brings surveillance laws up-to-date to include modern communications technology like e-mails, cellular phones and voice mail.
But in fulfilling its mission to provide national security and protect Americans from future acts of terrorism, the federal government cannot ignore the fundamental privacy rights, personal freedoms and civil liberties that form the foundation of our American way of life.
But now concerns have been raised that the Department of Defense may be overreaching. Specifically, a vast data analysis project is in the works by the Pentagon’s Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency. The proposed system, billed as Total Information Awareness, puts the Pentagon at risk of blurring the line between national defense and domestic law enforcement.
In November I wrote the Inspector General of the Defense Department, the internal watchdog of the Pentagon, to relay my concerns about the research project and its potential for infringing on the privacy of law-abiding citizens, wasting taxpayer dollars and creeping into domestic law enforcement.
At face value, law-abiding Americans may not view an anti-terrorism research project like Total Information Awareness as a threat to themselves but rather to those who pose a threat to society. Notwithstanding the prevailing goal to fight terrorism, it’s also important to protect the Constitutional boundary separating Big Brother and the right to privacy.
Don’t forget the Fourth Amendment. "The right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures, shall not be violated."
Without appropriate oversight and accountability standards, Total Information Awareness could infringe on those rights.
Snooping around by the feds cannot go unchecked. Just like the IRS must hold its employees accountable for maintaining the privacy and integrity of individual tax returns, Pentagon researchers and analysts should not be able to snoop through the personal information of law-abiding American citizens for snooping’s sake. Before the horse gets out of the barn on this project, we need to make sure it will head down the right path. That’s why I worked across party lines to put the brakes on Total Information Awareness unless the Pentagon submits a report in 60 days outlining its projected cost, impact on privacy and civil liberties and likelihood of nabbing terrorists. The amendment in the Senate passed unopposed and were working out differences with the House to make this bill a law. It also says President Bush may give the green light to the project if he determines that ending it would jeopardize national security.
We need to strike a balance between targeting terrorists with everything we’ve got and protecting the rights and freedoms cherished by Americans. I’ll continue to take an oversight lead in Congress to ensure the right balance is achieved and that taxpayer dollars don’t get sent down the drain under the guise of fighting terrorism.