Briefs

Washington Technology, 02/21/06, By Alice Lipowicz

The National Security Agency is now sponsoring intelligence data mining with massive databases that are growing as fast as four petabytes per month, according to a new report published by the Congressional Research Service.

The report, �Data Mining and Homeland Security,� written by Jeffrey Seifert, highlights the growing popularity of data mining and its benefits while also outlining limitations and possibly privacy and mission creep concerns. It was posted online by the Federation of American Scientists.

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The National Security Agency�s recently disclosed surveillance of alleged domestic terrorists has sparked privacy concerns in Congress, as has the former Terrorism Information Awareness project and the Homeland Security Department�s Computer-Assisted Passenger Prescreening System II, both discontinued. The Multi-State Anti-Terrorism Information Exchange formerly operated by Florida and several other states, and the Defense Department�s Able Danger project, also have attracted attention.

Lesser known programs for data mining include the NSA�s Novel Intelligence from Massive Data program, which is being developed by grants under its Advanced Research Development Activity arm.

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