Amendment No. 59

AMENDMENT NO. 59

Mr. WYDEN. Mr. President, as the Senate moves forward on the Omnibus Appropriations bill, I wish to explain in greater detail the amendment I first discussed the other day. I offered this amendment with Senators FEINSTEIN, REID, BOXER, and CORZINE to establish clear and unambiguous congressional oversight over the Pentagon's Office of Total Information
Awareness, TIA. It is an amendment on which I have worked with colleagues on both sides of the aisle, and I want to especially recognize the invaluable guidance Senator INOUYE has provided us in crafting this amendment.

It is an amendment that would limit the scope of the Office of Total Information Awareness. This is a program that is now being directed by retired Admiral John Poindexter, the former National Security Adviser to former President Reagan. It is one that raises a number of important issues that have arisen in our country since the horrific events of 9/11.

Let me be clear. The amendment does not kill the program; rather, the amendment shifts the burden to the executive branch to make the case for the program. The amendment would restrict funding for the program unless the Secretary of Defense, the Attorney General and the Director of Central Intelligence send to Congress within 60 days a report answering a series of questions about the TIA program, or the President certifies to Congress in writing that that cessation of TIA's research and development work would endanger U.S. national security. Further, the amendment would prohibit DOD from sharing this technology with any Federal agency that wishes to deploy or implement it until the Secretary of Defense informs Congress about the element of the program's technology that would be deployed and the intended method and scope of the deployment, and an authorization and an appropriations law have been enacted to provide for the specific deployment or implementation.

Given the fact that our country is engaged in fighting a war against an enemy without boundaries, clearly we must, as a nation, take steps that constantly strive to balance the rights of our citizens against the need to protect the national security of our Nation.

My concern is the program that is being developed by Mr. Poindexter is going forward without congressional oversight and without clear accountability and guidelines. That is why I think it is important for the Senate, as we reflect on the need to fight terrorism while balancing the need to protect the rights of our citizens, to emphasize how important it is that a program like this be subject to congressional oversight, and that there be clear accountability.

On the Web site of this particular program, the Total Information Awareness Program, is cited a Latin slogan—"Knowledge is power"—something we would all agree with, and it states:

The total information awareness of translational threats requires keeping track of individuals and understanding how they fit in to models. To this end, this office would seek to develop a way to integrate databases into a "virtual centralized grand database.

The "centralized grand database" would enable the federal government to look at the education, financial, travel, medical, and other activities of U.S. citizens, and develop risk profiles for millions of Americans in the quest to examine questionable conduct and certainly suspicious activity that would generate concern for the safety of the American people. Our country must fight terrorists, but America should not unleash virtual bloodhounds to sniff into the personal financial, medical, and other records of millions of Americans.

I am of the view the Senate has a special obligation to be vigilant in this area so we do not approve actions or condone actions by this particular office that could compromise the bedrock of this Nation: our Constitution.

I sit on the Senate Intelligence Committee. I know it is a difficult job to find and maintain the proper balance between constitutional rights and the need to thoroughly track down every valid lead on terrorism, but I will tell you, I think it is critically important that the Senate have oversight over this program, and we make sure there is not a program of what amounts to virtual bloodhounds.

We need to make sure there are guidelines and rules so that there has to be, for example, evidence there is activity that could threaten the country before additional intrusive steps are taken and, second, that there are safeguards in place at a time when it is possible, because of modern technology and new databases, to share information very quickly.

The fact is much of this information is already being shared in the private sector, and that is why so many Americans are troubled about the prospect of losing privacy right now. What is of concern to many about the Office of Total Information Awareness is it will take the current policies that threaten the privacy of the Americana people and magnify those problems, given the fact we have not been informed as to what safeguards and constitutional protections would be in place when this program goes forward.

I am of the view that the Senate must act to suspend this massive data-mining project unless and until the executive branch comes forward to make the case for it and Congress determines whether the proposed benefits of this technology come at too high a price to the privacy and personal liberty of U.S. citizens.

Clearly, to fight terrorism, we have to have the confidence of the American people. In doing so, we must protect their rights. My concern is the Office of Total Information Awareness, as it is constituted today, tips that balance against the procedural safeguards that are needed to protect the rights of millions of Americans while fighting terrorism.

That is why I and my distinguished colleagues believe Congress must act now to limit the scope of the TIA office. The amendment will ensure that as this program is developed in its early days it is done in a fashion that is sensitive and respectful of constitutional protections and safeguards, while still ensuring that our Nation can continue to fight terrorism.
In closing, I again thank the distinguished ranking member of the Senate Defense Appropriations Subcommittee for his generous assistance.