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What Categories of Personal Information are Relevant to Countering the Terrorist Threat?

On March 30, 2004, intelligence and privacy experts met at the Potomac Institute for Policy Studies in Arlington, VA to participate in a panel concerning the process of defining new categories of information that are relevant to fighting terrorism. The discussion centered on how these categories would be treated differently than traditional law enforcement and intelligence information. Of particular concern was protecting the privacy of U.S. Persons, given the temptation to mine U.S. Person centric databases.

The distinguished panel included:

Paul Rosenzweig , Senior Legal Research Fellow in the center for Legal and Judicial Studies at the Heritage Foundation;

Jay Stanley , Communications Director of the Technology and Liberty Program of the American Civil Liberties Union;

Kim Taipale , Founder and Executive Director of the Center for Advanced Studies in Science and Technology Policy (CAS); and

Daniel Gallington , Senior Research Fellow at the Potomac Institute, where he is PROJECT GUARDIAN study director. He has served in senior policy and intelligence positions at the Department of Defense (DOD), the Department of Justice (DOJ), and was General Counsel for the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence (SSCI).

The panel discussed a number of contemporary and controversial issues, including:

The evolution of information technologies and the potential for their application to fighting terrorism;

The bases and thresholds for the collection of personal information by the U.S. government and whether or a new paradigm is required, i.e. The U.S. has two paradigms for collecting information, criminal evidence and intelligence collection, each with their own set of legal procedures. Are these paradigms relevant in the War on Terror?;

The use of taxonomies in developing new information categories;

The role of tradition in the development of law;

The security and privacy implications of increasing government's sharing of information and increasing the scope of information collected;

The role of public, congressional, and judicial oversight, in developing and policing the use of new categories of information; and

Proposals as to how the government should handle information related to the terrorist threat: Hspd-6, The Markle Report, the Potomac Institute proposal, and the CAS proposal.

For additional information please view Dan Gallington's opening presentation (.pdf), and Kim Taipale's presentation, "Categorization of Information for Domestic Security: Some Questions and Issues."

The Potomac Institute's PROJECT GUARDIAN will continue to debate these types of issues as it examines the whole spectrum of science and technology policy issues associated with protecting civil liberties, while improving the use of technology to combat terrorism. PROJECT GUARDIAN provides a public forum to examine the delicate, but necessary balance between civil liberties and national security.