SUGGESTED QUESTIONS FOR PANEL Two:

PROTECTING PRIVACY, PREVENTING TERRORISM

Designated Commissioners: Ben-Veniste and Gorton

"Data Mining" to Combat Terrorism

A number of private sector entities have developed considerable skill and resources for
"mining" aggregated information such as business transaction records and other publicly
available databases.

• What are the advantages of such data aggregating and data mining for the purposes of
detecting potential terrorist activity? How can such tools improve our security?

• Are there significant advantages to the government from contracting with private sector
data mining businesses to do this work? Should government develop its own capacity to
aggregate and analyze such data separate from private industry? What are the legal issues
or concerns with respect to the government cooperating or "partnering" with private
industry in this regard?

Where have you seen fully operational data mining activities in the federal government that
have produced results?

• Have you seen a model policy on data mining in any of the federal agencies using these
techniques?

Privacy Issues

• Are there particular risks in this area for personal privacy of U.S. citizens, and if so, how
can these risks be minimized? Can privacy protection be built into the systems themselves?

• How should access to the technological systems that contain personal information be
determined? Can the information be held anonymously until a terrorist "hit" occurs?
Should a warrant be required to run these programs?

• How long should personal information be maintained by the government and what
mechanisms should be available to individuals to ensure that the information stored about
them is correct? How could corrections to erroneous information be made?

• Who (or what entity) should provide oversight and accountability for the use and misuse of
such systems? Who or what entity should ensure the security of these systems?

• Is this an area that should be regulated by law, regulation, or guideline? Would new
privacy laws facilitate the broader use of commercial and government information for the
purpose of preventing terrorism?
Total Information Awareness

DARPA has been involved with many controversial projects, such as the Total/Terrorist
Information Awareness Program, the terrorism futures market (whereby stakeholders can bet
on the likelihood of a terrorist attack), as well as a project to identify individuals based on their
(walking) gait. Were any of these projects worth pursuing?