Introducing the Talon System: DoD's Domestic Intelligence Gathering

Pentagon Intelligence Agency Gathers Domestic Intelligence

Day after day, reports of suspicious activity filed from military bases and other defense installations throughout the United States flow into the Counterintelligence Field Activity, or CIFA, a three-year-old Pentagon agency whose size and budget remain classified, the WASHINGTON POST is planning to report on Sunday, newsroom sources tell DRUDGE.

The Talon reports, as they are called, are based on information from civilians and military personnel who stumble across people or information they think might be part of a terrorist plot or threat against defense facilities at home or abroad.

It is unclear how many Talon reports are filed each year. But just one of the military services involved in the program, the Air Force, generated 1,200 of them during 14 months, the paper reveals.

The documents can consist of ``raw information reported by concerned citizens and military members regarding suspicious incidents,'' said a 2003 memo signed by then-Deputy Defense Secretary Paul Wolfowitz. The reports ``may or may not be related to an actual threat, and its very nature may be fragmented and incomplete,'' the memo said.

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Make you wonder why this is necessary if stories about Echelon are true.

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The documents can consist of ``raw information reported by concerned citizens and military members regarding suspicious incidents,'' said a 2003 memo signed by then-Deputy Defense Secretary Paul Wolfowitz.
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The Talon reports, as they are called, are based on information from civilians and military personnel who stumble across people or information they think might be part of a terrorist plot or threat against defense facilities at home or abroad.

Looks like we just chucked out all the rules, eh?

SIGNAL Magazine

Concept development and design for Protect America, the precursor to the system, now dubbed the Joint Protection Enterprise Network (JPEN), began in February 2003 (SIGNAL, June 2003, page 35). By the end of April, the pilot program was operational, and shortly thereafter the project was renamed Vision.

I tell you what, if I was in charge I would never look into reports of suspicious incidents civilians and military members are noticing, let alone have the incidents in a report.

Defense Facilities Pass Along Reports of Suspicious Activity

Day after day, reports of suspicious activity filed from military bases and other defense installations throughout the United States flow into the Counterintelligence Field Activity, or CIFA, a three-year-old Pentagon agency whose size and budget remain classified.

The Talon reports, as they are called, are based on information from civilians and military personnel who stumble across people or information they think might be part of a terrorist plot or threat against defense facilities at home or abroad.

The documents can consist of "raw information reported by concerned citizens and military members regarding suspicious incidents," said a 2003 memo signed by then-Deputy Defense Secretary Paul D. Wolfowitz. The reports "may or may not be related to an actual threat, and its very nature may be fragmented and incomplete," the memo said...

CIFA, according to a Pentagon background paper provided to The Washington Post in response to inquiries, has established standards for Talon reports and handling that "meet intelligence oversight requirements." The statement said "U.S. person information" -- reports concerning people in the United States -- "is collected and retained only as authorized" by presidential executive order.

Spokesmen for the FBI, Director of National Intelligence John D. Negroponte and the National Counterterrorism Center all said their principals would not comment on CIFA's Talon activities...

It is unclear how many Talon reports are filed each year. But just one of the military services involved in the program, the Air Force, generated 1,200 during the 14 months that ended in September 2003, according to the inspector general's newsletter.

Among the types of information worth recording, according to a Talon report guide that accompanied the Wolfowitz memo, are threats or incidents that "may indicate a potential for a threat . . . whether the threat posed is deliberately targeted or collateral." Another trigger for reporting would be attempts by individuals to monitor U.S. facilities, including the taking of pictures, annotating maps or drawings of facilities, use of binoculars "or other vision-enhancing devices" or attempts to obtain "security-related or military specific information."

Other categories for reports were attempts to acquire badges, passes or theft of materials that could be used to manufacture false identification cards or thefts of military uniforms...

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Originally posted by WestPoint23


Really? You do know that had this been allowed and more encouraged prior to 9/11, that tragic day might have been stopped.

[edit on 10-12-2005 by WestPoint23]