Well folks, the good old boys from the administration of Bush the First are
really back in force aren't they? So good to have them back.
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-----Original Message-----
From: State and Local Freedom of Information Issues
[mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]]
On Behalf Of Patrice McDermott
Sent: Wednesday, February 13, 2002 4:25 PM
To: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Subject: Poindexter Takes Over DOD Information Awareness Office
http://www.nytimes.com/2002/02/13/politics/13DARP.html
February 13, 2002
Chief Takes Over New Agency to Thwart Attacks on U.S.
By JOHN MARKOFF
John M. Poindexter, the retired Navy admiral who was President Ronald
Reagan's national security adviser, has returned to the Pentagon to direct
a new agency that is developing technologies to give federal officials
instant access to vast new surveillance and information- analysis systems.
The Information Awareness Office, which Mr. Poindexter took over last
month, is one of two newagencies that the Defense Advanced Research
Projects Agency, or Darpa, created in recent months as part of the Bush
administration's effort to grapple with new kinds of military threats after
the attacks of Sept. 11.
The other new agency is the Information Exploitation Office and is
intended to develop advanced computerized battlefield sensor networks to
shorten the time between when an enemy target is located and when it is
attacked.
The Information Awareness Office will focus on what the agency refers to
as "asymmetric threats," or nonconventional military targets like
potential terrorist organizations.
[...]
Mr. Poindexter, who is 65, was a controversial figure both for his role in
the Iran-contra scandals and for his efforts to assert military influence
over commercial computer security technologies.
With Oliver L. North, a former National Security Council aide, Mr.
Poindexter was convicted in 1986 as part of the guns-for-hostages deal that
provoked a Congressional investigation. The conviction was overturned in
1991 on grounds that the men had been granted immunity from prosecution as
a result of their testimony before Congress.
[...]
Mr. Poindexter, who declined a request for an interview on his new
position, became closely involved as a contractor in 1995 on a Darpa
development project code-named Genoa intended to give national security
managers advanced personal computer networks with access to large databases
of relevant information.
In recent weeks, Mr. Poindexter has contacted a number of Silicon Valley
researchers looking for information on specific technologies.
Several scientists who are close to the agency said he had returned to
government service because he had a passionate concern about assuring that
the nation's crisis managers had better computerized systems for
communication and data analysis.
[...]
One component of the new computer information systems that is being
emphasized by Mr.Poindexter's new office are "data mining" techniques
intended to scan through vast collections of computer data, which may
include text, images, sound and other computer data, and find significant
patterns.
"We now have so many sensors that we need new ways of making sense of the
information we collect," said Steven Wallach, who is vice president of
Chiaro Networks and a member of the president's Information Technology
Advisory Committee. "How do you associate a name with a picture taken in
Malaysia, a cellphone call in Frankfurt, Germany, and a bank transfer from
Pakistan to Chicago? There aren't any perfect answers yet."
The development of such advanced surveillance and data-mining techniques
has raised new concerns among civil liberties groups in the United States,
and Mr. Poindexter was involved in disputes about the government's role in
computer security during the 1980's.
[...]
As national security adviser, Mr. Poindexter was involved with a Reagan
administration initiative in 1984 known as National Security Decision
Directive, N.S.D.D.-145, which gave intelligence agencies broad authority
to examine computer databases for "sensitive but unclassified information."
In a later memorandum, Mr. Poindexter expanded this authority to give the
military responsibility for all computer and communications security for
the federal government and private industry.
[...]
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