U.S. Terrorism Agency to Tap a Vast Database of Citizens

Julia Angwin
Wall Street Journal
December 13, 2012

Top U.S. intelligence officials gathered in the White House Situation Room in March to debate a controversial proposal. Counter-terrorism officials wanted to create a government dragnet, sweeping up millions of records about U.S. citizens—even people suspected of no crime.

Not everyone was on board. “This is a sea change in the way that the government interacts with the general public,” Mary Ellen Callahan, chief privacy officer of the Department of Homeland Security, argued in the meeting, according to people familiar with the discussions.

A week later, the attorney general signed the changes into effect.

Through Freedom of Information Act requests and interviews with officials at numerous agencies, The Wall Street Journal has reconstructed the clash over the counter-terrorism program within the administration of President Barack Obama. The debate was a confrontation between some who viewed it as a matter of efficiency—how long to keep data, for instance, or where it should be stored—and others who saw it as granting authority for unprecedented government surveillance of U.S. citizens.

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This article was posted: Thursday, December 13, 2012 at 1:50 pm

Tags: big brother, internet, police state

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