US plans massive data sweep

By Mark Clayton Staff writer of The Christian Science Monitor:

"We don't realize that, as we live our lives and make little choices, like buying groceries, buying on Amazon, Googling, we're leaving traces everywhere," says Lee Tien, a staff attorney with the Electronic Frontier Foundation. "We have an attitude that no one will connect all those dots. But these programs are about connecting those dots - analyzing and aggregating them - in a way that we haven't thought about. It's one of the underlying fundamental issues we have yet to come to grips with."

The core of this effort is a little-known system called Analysis, Dissemination, Visualization, Insight, and Semantic Enhancement (ADVISE). Only a few public documents mention it. ADVISE is a research and development program within the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), part of its three-year-old "Threat and Vulnerability, Testing and Assessment" portfolio. The TVTA received nearly $50 million in federal funding this year.

DHS officials are circumspect when talking about ADVISE. "I've heard of it," says Peter Sand, director of privacy technology. "I don't know the actual status right now. But if it's a system that's been discussed, then it's something we're involved in at some level."

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It's good to know that Peter Sand is so on top of his responsibilities...

Statement for the Record by Dr. Charles E. McQueary, Under Secretary for Science and Technology, Department of Homeland Security, Before the U.S. House of Representatives
Committee on Science, February 16, 2005

Report from Sandia and Lawrence Livermore Labs September 2004: Data Sciences Technology for Homeland Security Information Management and Knowledge Discovery

Presentation by Robert Burleson of Lawrence Livermore circa 2003: Information to Insight in a Counterterrorism Context