[Infowarrior] - DOD kills TALON database

[Richard Forno]

US kills controversial anti-terror database
http://www.networkworld.com/community/node/18609

Long criticized for keeping track of regular everyday citizens, the
government¹s anti-terror database will officially close Sept. 17.   The
Threat and Local Observation Notices or TALON, was established in 2002 by
then-Deputy Defense Secretary Paul D. Wolfowitz as a way to collect and
evaluate information about possible threats to U.S. servicemembers and
defense civilians all over the world.  Congress and others protested its
apparent use as an unauthorized citizen tracking database.  The TALON system
came under fire in 2005 for improperly storing information about some
civilian individuals and non-government-affiliated groups on its database.
The Air Force developed TALON, or the Threat and Local Observation Notice
system in response to the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks as a way to
gather data on possible terrorist threats.   Anti-war groups and other
organizations, protested after it was revealed last year that the military
had monitored anti-war activities, organizations and individuals who
attended peace rallies. The Defense Department conducted a four-point review
of the system in December 2005 and, as a result, purged a large amount of
information that was deemed unnecessary from the database, the DoD said in a
release. The Defense Department Inspector General reviewed TALON, and in a
report dated June 27, 2007, found that the program legally gathered and
maintained information on individuals and organizations.  It is being closed
because reporting to the system had declined significantly, and it was
determined to no longer be of analytical value, said Army Col. Gary Keck, a
Pentagon spokesman said I a release.  The announcement was not unexpected as
Secretary of Defense Robert Gates made it clear in April he wanted to change
the Pentagon's intelligence gathering operations and said TALON would likely
be shut down. The department is working to develop a new reporting system to
replace TALON, but in the interim, all information concerning force
protection threats will go to the FBI's Guardian reporting system.