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Vol. 73/No. 5      February 9, 2009

 
16 U.S. spy agencies to
share massive database
 
BY SAM MANUEL  
Washington is working on a powerful Google-like search engine in an effort to make government spying easier. The Information Integration Program, as it is being called, will knit together the thousands of databases across 16 spy agencies.

It is another step along the recommendations of the bipartisan 9/11 Commission’s hearings in 2004, which sharply criticized the inability of U.S. spy agencies to share information in order to “connect the dots” and detect plans to attack the World Trade Center and the Pentagon on Sept. 11, 2001.

The program is part of the latest drive by Democrats and Republicans to strengthen the ability of U.S. spy agencies to snoop and share information among themselves. It is an important component of the U.S. government’s moves to transform its “intelligence” capabilities in the “global war on terrorism.”

According to a Wall Street Journal article, the program will allow spies at the agencies to “search through secret intelligence files the same way they can search public data on the Internet.” The program is being developed in the office of the Director of National Intelligence (DNI).

The impact of the new program will be “staggering,” says the outgoing director John (Mike) McConnell. According to the Journal a senior official also said the program will allow intelligence analysts to search about 95 percent of available data.

The DNI was established in 2005 following hearings the previous year on the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks. It brought all U.S. spy agencies under a central director.  
 
 
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