November 20, 2002

At the Pentagon briefing November 20, reporters closely questioned Under Secretary of Defense for Acquisitions Edward "Pete" Aldridge about a research project being done by the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA).

According to Aldridge, the project is called the Total Information Awareness System (TIA) and involves three main components: technology to enable rapid language translation; the discovery of connections between purchasing transactions and suspicious activities; and "collaborative reasoning and decision-making tools to allow interagency communications and analysis." The purpose is to develop a working prototype which could be turned over to domestic law enforcement agencies.

Reporters asked several questions concerning the possibility that such a system could result in illegal "domestic spying" on ordinary Americans going about their daily lives. Aldridge stressed that there will be "the normal checks and balances through the law enforcement agencies who will be exercising the tool, as they do today."

Asked about the propriety of a Defense Department agency (DARPA) conducting the research, rather than a domestic law enforcement agency, Aldridge said, "I think it is appropriate for the Department of Defense. We're in a war on terrorism… [DARPA] has the technical capability to make this work."