FC: Pentagon creating domestic "suspicious incident" Talon database?

[Declan McCullagh <declan () well com>]

---

To: declan () well com
From: Earl Hood <earl () earlhood com>
Reply-To: Earl Hood <earl () earlhood com>
Subject: DoD Logging Unverified Tips
Date: Thu, 26 Jun 2003 23:00:23 -0500

<http://www.wired.com/news/politics/0,1283,59365,00.html>

  To track domestic terrorist threats against the military, the Pentagon
  is creating a new database that will contain "raw, non-validated"
  reports of "anomalous activities" within the United States.

  According to a Department of Defense memorandum, the system, known as
  Talon, will provide a mechanism to collect and rapidly share reports "by
  concerned citizens and military members regarding suspicious incidents."

  Talon was described in a May 2 memorandum to top Pentagon brass from
  Deputy Secretary of Defense Paul Wolfowitz. In the memo, Wolfowitz
  directed the heads of military departments and agencies to begin
  producing Talon reports immediately.

  A similar reporting system proposed by Attorney General John Ashcroft
  was shelved last year following opposition from privacy groups and
  others. Known as Operation TIPS, the Department of Justice system
  was intended to enlist civilian workers nationwide to report possible
  terrorist activity.
  ...




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