NSA End Run Gave It Total Information Awareness

NSA End Run Gave It Total Information Awareness

www.securitypronews.com

When Congress ended funding for TIA in 2003, the Bush Administration simply packed up the pieces and sent them to the National Security Agency.

TIA now stands for Terrorism Information Awareness. Operating as a secret program buried in black ops budgets, it sifts through emails, cellphone calls, and other domestic surveillance, data collection, and data mining.

(visit the link for the full news article)


Related News Links:
www.aclu.org

Related AboveTopSecret.com Discussion Threads:
Introducing Iarpa! It's Like Darpa, But for Spies
DARPA Wants Contact Lenses to Turn Real-Life Combat Into Call of Duty 4

This was something I was hardly aware of. (Pun intended)
I had heard of the TIA program and what it was basically
about, but I was unaware that it was moved to the NSA
after Congress banned the program in 2003. We all know
how much the NSA loves to collect information on us from
various sources, so this is no surprise.

Here's a snippet from the ACLU:

The American Civil Liberties Union responded today to a stunning new report that the NSA has effectively revived the Orwellian "Total Information Awareness" domestic-spying program that was banned by Congress in 2003. In response, the ACLU said that it was filing a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request for more information about the spying. And, the group announced that it was moving its "Surveillance Clock" one minute closer to midnight.

"Congress shut down TIA because it represented a massive and unjustified governmental intrusion into the personal lives of Americans," said Caroline Fredrickson, Director of the Washington Legislative Office of the ACLU. "Now we find out that the security agencies are pushing ahead with the program anyway, despite that clear congressional prohibition. The program described by current and former intelligence officials in Monday's Wall Street Journal could be modeled on Orwell’s Big Brother."

I want to know what you think. Thoughts and comments?

www.securitypronews.com
(visit the link for the full news article)

I think that our civil liberties and private conversations have been subject to government interception and intervention since the early 1970's.

This program, along with others run by the NSA and Homeland Security are just overt ways of gathering as much info on the citizenry as possible.

It's a shame really, but if one doesn't agree with it, one is labeled a "terrorist."

reply to post by aecreate

Great discovery, aecreate, star!

Suppose i should watch what i say, huh?

What will this program do in regards to the terrorists who run the U.S.?
Ohh, that's right, they use telepathy to communicate thier evil war
profiteering crimes...and insider trading violations... pssst pssst...

Secret Squirrel!

So, it would be how most of us feel here on ATS feel, that we the
people are the enemy. We are the ones who need to be on lockdown.

I forgot to add some threads that are essential to this topic:

• DARPA's iXo Artificial Intelligence Control Grid: 'The Official Version'
  
• Beyond Conspiracy: Artificial General Intelligence (Newsletter Special)
  
• DARPA AI .mil & more
  
• Dubya and Al Gore's unknown unholy alliance.
  

Data mining programs and efforts to computationally analyze citizens' behavior patterns is something I try to keep tabs on in the news and elsewhere. I don't know whether this will help any, but here are some links in chronological order that I've kept as part of a sort of "timeline" of programs like TIA. All of them seem almost redundant, because they are similar in their enormous use of data mining and domestic surveillance. Make of it what you will.

1999:
NSA Key Discovered in Microsoft Windows:

www.cnn.com...

Allegations of National Security Agency Spying on U.S. Citizens as Part of “Echelon” Surveillance System Some Fear is Domestic Spying Apparatus:

archives.cnn.com...

archives.cnn.com...

2000:
NSA and CIA Deny Allegations of Domestic Spying, but Refuse to Disavow Existence of Echelon Surveillance Network, and Limit Their Denials to “Ordinary Americans:”

archives.cnn.com...

Britain Establishes Internet Domestic Spy Apparatus:

archives.cnn.com...

2001:
EU Parliament Claims ‘Echelon’ System Does Exist, is Accessed and Maintained by Five Countries Including the United States, But That Its Capabilities are More Limited than People Fear:

archives.cnn.com...

archives.cnn.com...

2002:
Operation TIPS (Terrorism Information and Prevention System) Concerns:

archives.cnn.com...

archives.cnn.com...

Congress Prohibits Operation TIPS and National ID Creation:

www.aclu.org...

Total Information Awareness (TIA) Development Concerns:

archives.cnn.com...

2003:
Further Attempts at Data Mining System Creation Despite TIA's Congressional Dismantling (the controversial “MATRIX” system):

www.cnn.com...

2004:
States Pull Out of "MATRIX" Data Mining System:

www.cnn.com...

CAPPS II Program is Abandoned:

www.cnn.com...

Homeland Security Revamps and Revives the CAPPS Program:

newstandardnews.net...

2005:
Pentagon will review TALON surveillance database due to inclusion of anti-war protestors and other non-terrorism-related individuals and organizations:

www.washingtonpost.com...

(later confirmed and further exposed in declassified documents:
www.aclu.org... )

Bush Mum on Allegations of NSA Spying on U.S. Citizens:

www.cnn.com...

Bush admits NSA domestic surveillance; says he’ll continue to use capability:

edition.cnn.com...

2006:
Bush Defends NSA Spying:

www.cnn.com...

Registered Traveler Program Seeks to Employ Private Companies for Data Collection to Ensure Security (Perks for passengers taking part in program could include not having to remove shoes or have their luggage searched before boarding if they register):

www.cnn.com...

NSA collects citizens’ phone call data:

edition.cnn.com...

edition.cnn.com...

NSA domestic surveillance lawsuit:

edition.cnn.com...

House passes wiretapping bill giving legal authority to NSA spying:

edition.cnn.com...

Interim agreement on passenger data sharing reached between U.S. and E.U.:

edition.cnn.com...

U.S. Federal Government releases details of plan to screen, catalogue, and assign threat risk assessments to anyone entering or leaving the country:

www.washingtonpost.com...

2007:
Bush administration cedes warrantless wiretap authorization powers to special FISA court:

www.cnn.com...

In August of 2007, however, The The Protect America Act of 2007, which amended the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA) of 1978 by removing from supervision of the FISA Court surveillance of communications that begin or end in a foreign country, was passed by both houses of congress. The Act removed from the definition of "electronic surveillance" in FISA any surveillance directed at a person reasonably believed to be located outside the United States.

President Bush requests that legislators extend, expand, and make permanent the Protect America Act, due to expire in February 2008:

www.foxnews.com...