Database Measured 'Terrorism Quotient'

[dave () farber net]

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Date: Sat, 22 May 2004 09:06:33 -0400 (EDT)
Subj: Database Measured 'Terrorism Quotient'

Database Measured 'Terrorism Quotient'

By BRIAN BERGSTEIN AP Technology Writer

NEW YORK (AP) - Before helping to launch the criminal information project 
known as Matrix, a database contractor gave U.S.
and Florida authorities the names of 120,000 people who showed a 
statistical likelihood of being terrorists - sparking some
investigations and arrests.

The "high terrorism factor" scoring system also became a key selling point 
for the involvement of the database company, Seisint
Inc., in the Matrix project.

Public records obtained by The Associated Press from several states show 
that Justice Department officials cited the scoring
technology in appointing Seisint sole contractor on the federally funded, 
$12 million project.

Seisint and the law enforcement officials who oversee Matrix insist that 
the terrorism scoring system ultimately was kept out of
the project, largely because of privacy concerns.

However, new details about Seisint's development of the "terrorism 
quotient," including the revelation that authorities apparently
acted on the list of 120,000, are renewing privacy activists' suspicions 
about Matrix's potential power.

"Assuming they have in fact abandoned the terrorist quotient, there's 
nothing that stops them from bringing it back," said Barry
Steinhardt, director of the technology and liberty program at the American 
Civil Liberties Union, which learned about the list of
120,000 through its own records request in Utah.

Matrix - short for Multistate Anti-Terrorism Information Exchange - 
combines state records and data culled by Seisint to give
investigators fast access to information on crime and terrorism suspects. 
It was launched in 2002.

Because the system includes information on people with no criminal record 
as well as known criminals, Matrix has drawn
objections from liberal and conservative privacy groups. Utah and at least 
eight other states have pulled out, leaving Florida,
Connecticut, Ohio, Michigan and Pennsylvania.

The AP has received thousands of pages of Matrix documents in records 
requests this year, including meeting minutes and
presentation materials that discuss the project in detail.

Not one indicates that Matrix planners decided against using the 
statistical method of determining an individual's propensity for
terrorism.

When the AP specifically requested documents indicating the scoring system 
was scrapped, the general counsel's office for
Florida state police said it could not uncover any.

Even so, people involved with Matrix pledge that the statistical method was 
removed from the final product.

"I'll put my 26 years of law enforcement experience on the line. It is not 
in there," said Mark Zadra, chief investigator for the
Florida Department of Law Enforcement.

He said Matrix, which has 4 billion records, merely speeds access to 
material that police have always been able to get from
disparate sources, and does not automatically or proactively finger 
suspects.

Bill Shrewsbury, a Seisint executive and former federal drug agent, said 
the terrorism scoring algorithm that produced the list of
120,000 names was "put on the shelf" after it was demonstrated immediately 
following Sept. 11, 2001.

He said the scoring system requires intelligence data that was fed into the 
software for the initial demonstration but is not
commonly available. "Nor are we interested in pursuing that," he said.

The Utah documents included a Seisint presentation saying the scoring 
system was developed by the company and law
enforcement officials by reverse engineering an unnamed "Terrorist 
Handbook" that reveals how terrorists "penetrate and in live
our society."

The scoring incorporated such factors as age, gender, ethnicity, credit 
history, "investigational data," information about pilot and
driver licenses, and connections to "dirty" addresses known to have been 
used by other suspects.

According to Seisint's presentation, dated January 2003 and marked 
confidential, the 120,000 names with the highest scores were
given to the Immigration and Naturalization Service, FBI, Secret Service 
and Florida state police. (Later, those agencies would
help craft the software that queries Matrix.)

Of the people with the 80 highest scores, five were among the Sept. 11 
hijackers, Seisint's presentation said. Forty-five were
identified as being or possibly being under existing investigations, while 
30 others "were unknown to FBI."

"Investigations were triggered and arrests were made by INS and other 
agencies," the presentation added. Two bullet points
stated: "Several arrests within one week" and "Scores of other arrests." It 
does not provide details of when and where the
investigations and arrests took place.

Phil Ramer, who heads Florida state police's intelligence division, said 
his agency found the list a useful starting point for some
investigations, though he said he could not recall how many. He stressed 
that the list was not used as the sole evidence to make
arrests.

"What we did with the list is we went back and found out how they got on 
the list," Ramer said.

Dean Boyd, a spokesman for U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, a 
descendant of INS in the Department of Homeland
Security, said he could not confirm that INS used or was given the list.

Although Seisint says it shelved the scoring system - known as high 
terrorist factor, or HTF - after the original demonstrations in
the wake of Sept. 11, 2001, the algorithm was touted well into 2003.

A records request by the AP in Florida turned up "briefing points," dated 
January 2003, for a presentation on Matrix to Vice
President Dick Cheney and other top federal officials delivered jointly by 
Seisint, Florida Gov. Jeb Bush and Florida's top police
official.

One of the items on Seisint's agenda: "Demonstrate HTF with mapping." 
Matrix meeting minutes from February 2003 say Cheney
was briefed along with Homeland Security Director Tom Ridge and FBI 
Director Robert Mueller.

In May 2003, the Justice Department approved Seisint as sole data 
contractor on the project, citing the company's "technical
qualifications," including software "applying the `terrorism quotient' in 
all cases."

"The quotient identifies a set of criteria which accurately singled out 
characteristics related to the perpetrators of the 9-11 attacks
and other terrorist events," said a memo from an Office of Justice Programs 
policy adviser, Bruce Edwards. "This process
produced a scoring mechanism (that), when applied to the general criminal 
population, yields other people that may have similar
motives."

A spokeswoman for the Office of Justice Programs declined to comment.

Ramer, the Florida agent, said the scoring system was scrapped because it 
was "really specific to 9/11," and not applicable for
everyday use. Also, he said, "we didn't want anybody abusing it."

Seisint Inc., is a Boca Raton, Fla., company founded by a millionaire, Hank 
Asher, who stepped down from its board of directors
last year after revelations of past ties to drug smugglers.

---

AP Investigative Researcher Randy Herschaft contributed to this report.

---

On the Net:

http://www.matrix-at.org

http://www.aclu.org/privacy

2004-05-20     06:50:30 GMT

                                           Copyright 2004
                                  The Associated Press All Rights Reserved

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