Congress wants total information on the Pentagon's controversial Total Information Awareness research project, the goal of which is to develop a way to scour databases of American citizens' purchases, travels and other activities to pinpoint potential terrorist threats.
Late Thursday, the Senate passed a $390 billion spending bill that included a bipartisan amendment requiring the Pentagon, the Justice Department and the CIA to make a full report on the program to Congress within 60 days -- or have its funding cut off.
Democratic Sen. Ron Wyden's amendment, passed by a unanimous voice vote, limits the transfer of the project's technology from the Pentagon's Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency, better known as DARPA, to other agencies.
"This amendment is the first thing the Senate could do, and the simple fact that it passed so quickly with such wide support shows that people across a spectrum of interests want to see some oversight," said Ari Schwartz of the Center for Democracy and Technology.
The bill now moves to a joint Senate and House committee to work out differences in the respective versions, but Wyden's amendment is widely expected to survive. President Bush has threatened to veto the spending bill over abortion funding, however.
Prominent Republicans and Democrats alike have questioned the Total Information Awareness project in recent months.
Sen. Susan Collins (R-Maine) called for hearings in either the Armed Services Committee or the powerful Government Affairs Committee, which she chairs.
On Tuesday, another Republican, Sen. Chuck Grassley of Iowa, sent a strongly worded letter to Attorney General John Ashcroft, asking if the Justice Department and the FBI have been evasive about their involvement, and requesting a complete report.
Grassley's concern came after the Justice Department's inspector general, in response to questions submitted in November, informed him the FBI was nearing a deal with DARPA.
"(The) FBI is working on a Memorandum of Understanding with DARPA for possible experimentation with TIA technology in the future," according to Grassley's website.
A representative for the FBI denied that any such agreement was in the works, but did say the agency is seeking to improve its information technology.
For his part, Sen. Russ Feingold (D-Wis.) introduced a stronger, free-standing bill last week. The Data-Mining Moratorium Act would immediately freeze all Defense or Homeland Security data-mining programs, until Congress evaluates and authorizes each one.
Feingold called Wyden's amendment a first step, but said he intended to proceed with his bill.
"The administration must suspend not only the TIA but all other data-mining initiatives ... until Congress can determine whether the proposed benefits come at too high a price for our privacy and personal liberties," Feingold said Thursday.
"Feingold's bill is important," said David Sobel of the Electronic Privacy Information Center. "It could be the vehicle for a larger debate about privacy rights both in Congress and among citizens."
"The Wyden amendment is no substitute for the Feingold bill, but I don't see that it gets in the way of the moratorium bill," said Lee Tien, senior staff attorney at the Electronic Frontier Foundation. "But, should the administration have a ringing victory in Iraq, the bill will be much more difficult to pass."
The president could override the amendment entirely by notifying Congress that the program is vital to national security, but few expect that to happen.
Neither the White House nor DARPA responded to requests for comment.
However, last week a DARPA spokeswoman defended the project, saying, "We continue to believe that the research and development planned under the Total Information Awareness program is important to our nation."
