"This is a regime that has something to hide from the civilized world. States like these, and their terrorist allies, constitute an axis of evil, arming to threaten the peace of the world."
- U.S. President G. W. Bush
01.29.2002
- by ADAM CLYMER
New York Times
07.25.2002
WASHINGTON, July 25 - Brushing off Congressional complaints about creating a "snitch system," Attorney General John D. Ashcroft said today the Administration would go ahead with a plan to use truck and bus drivers, port workers, meter readers and letter carriers to report suspicious activities around the nation.
In the House, the attack on the program, known as TIPS (for Terrorism Information and Prevention System), has been led by conservative Republicans, including majority leader Dick Armey and Representative Bob Barr of Georgia, who say they are concerned about privacy issues. But in the Senate, the attacks have come from liberals like Senators Patrick J. Leahy of Vermont, the chairman of the Judiciary Committee, Edward M. Kennedy of Massachusetts, and Charles E. Schumer of New York.
Senator Jeff Sessions, an Alabama Republican, said, "We get complaints from left and right. We have some paranoid people on the right also."
After a firestorm of criticism last week, mainly from conservatives, the House is prepared to prohibit the planned program as part of the Homeland Security Department legislation.
Mr. Ashcroft took his case to the Senate today, testifying at a contentious hearing of the Judiciary Committee that the program would make good use of people who could notice "anomalies" - like abandoned cars parked under bridges - that others might miss. He insisted, however, that they would not invade homes or maintain computer records.
Senator Leahy seemed unsatisfied, saying "The program would enlist thousands, even millions, of civilians as TIPS informants to report their suspicions to the Justice Department." Referring to a World War I program, he added, "We did this back in the early part of the last century, and under a guise of being vigilant, we ended up being vigilantes."
Mr. Ashcroft sought to calm one area of concern by insisting that the TIPS program would not maintain a computer database of reports, but would simply forward tips it received to other agencies. Senator Orrin G. Hatch of Utah, the committee's senior Republican, said he was "reassured" by that commitment.
See also: "Operation TIPS: Terrorist Information and Prevention System" homepage.
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