Posted on 12/29/2003 7:28:46 PM PST by SkyRat
It took long enough, but Congress finally eliminated all funding for Terrorism Information Awareness (TIA) (formerly the more sinister sounding "Total Information Awareness"), the data-mining program of the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) and shut down the DARPA Information Awareness Office (formerly headed conservative icon, criminal and all-around enemy of the people: John Poindexter). Read more at this link.
Still, while many (link, link) have long been up in arms over TIA, its sinister cousins live on. Recently, Thomas Greene called attention to the ominously titled the MATRIX (Multi-state Anti-Terrorism Information Exchange). Read more here and here.
Most, however, have been unaware of another TIA-like project ? Novel Intelligence from Massive Data (NIMD).
Steven Aftergood of the Project on Government Secrecy writes: "Indeed, one TIA-like program conducted under the auspices of U.S. intelligence is the "Novel Intelligence from Massive Data" (NIMD) initiative of the little-known Intelligence Community Advanced Research and Development Activity (ARDA)."
For those not in the know, ARDA (which was created in November 1998 as a joint venture of the U.S. intelligence community and the Department of Defense) does information technology (IT) research and development for a number of U.S. government clients, most notably the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA), Defense Intelligence Agency (DIA), National Security Agency (NSA), National Imagery and Mapping Agency, and National Reconnaissance Office.
Says Aftergood, "Pursued with a minimal public profile and lacking a polarizing figure like Adm. Poindexter to galvanize opposition, NIMD has proceeded quietly even as TIA imploded." He also noted that "The existence of NIMD was first noted last year by Jim McGee of CQ Homeland Security. More recently, on July 24, 2003 he wrote in CQ Homeland Security that NIMD was 'roaring down a parallel research track to TIA.' NIMD was also cited in a May 21, 2003 article in the New York Times." A summary description of the NIMD program is available on the ARDA web site.
(Excerpt) Read more at unknownnews.net ...
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