[Congressional Record Volume 149, Number 71 (Tuesday, May 13, 2003)]
[Senate]
[Page S6061]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                       INTELLIGENCE AUTHORIZATION

  Mr. WYDEN. Mr. President, I wish to inform my colleagues about why I 
would object to a unanimous consent request to proceed to the 
intelligence authorization bill or any other legislation that may 
contain a provision undoing or modifying a straightforward law 
establishing congressional accountability for the Total Information 
Awareness Program.
  Just this past February, as part of the fiscal year 2003 supplemental 
appropriations bill, the Senate considered, debated and adopted 
unanimously an amendment sponsored by myself and Senators Feinstein, 
Reid, Boxer, Corzine, Leahy, Cantwell, Harkin, Levin, Durbin, Biden, 
Daschle, and Clinton. That amendment requires specific congressional 
approval for any deployment of technology developed by the Defense 
Department's Total Information Awareness Program; the Defense 
Department must seek authorization and appropriation for any deployment 
of the TIA technology to another agency or department. DARPA may 
continue to research and develop TIA technology as long as it submits a 
report required by the amendment. The report is due May 20, 2003, and 
it requires an explanation of the intended and actual use of funds for 
each project and activity of the TIA Program, the schedule for proposed 
research and development of each project and activity and target dates 
for the deployment of each project and activity. The report will also 
address the efficacy of systems such as TIA in predictive assessments 
of terrorist capabilities and plans, the likely impact of the TIA 
Program on privacy and civil liberties, the laws that will require 
modification to use the TIA Program and recommendations for eliminating 
or minimizing the adverse effects of the TIA Program on privacy and 
other civil liberties.
  The TIA technology will give the Federal Government the capability to 
operate the most massive domestic surveillance program in the history 
of our country. It will put the financial, medical and other details of 
America's private lives at the fingerprints of tens of thousands of 
bureaucrats. The American people have the right to know if the federal 
Government intends to deploy this technology against them, when it will 
do and how, and Congress should preserve its oversight over the 
program. The amendment enacted in February provides that 
accountability.
  Just last week the American people got a painful reminder about the 
shameful abuse of power and secrecy in the McCarthy era, and are 
rightfully wary about the protection of their privacy. In fact, 
although some in the Defense Department and elsewhere claim they are 
only interested in mining ``lawfully-collected'' information, just 
about any piece of information about any U.S. citizen can be 
``lawfully'' collected or obtained by the federal government. It is for 
these reasons that I will object to any motion to proceed to any 
legislation affecting the Total Information Awareness Program unless 
and until I have fully reviewed it to guarantee that the accountability 
in the TIA amendment is preserved.

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