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Oversight for TSA’s CAPPS II Program

As a follow-up to my June 16 posting see this press release from Congressman Martin Olav Sabo (D-MN), who “succeeded in requiring stricter scrutiny of the Transportation Security Administration’s proposed computerized airline passenger screening program known as CAPPS2, during full committee markup of the FY2004 House Homeland Security Appropriations bill.”
More from the press release as follows, which also includes the full-text of the amendment:

  • Sabo’s amendment requires the General Accounting Office (GAO) to review CAPPS2 before any more federal funding can be obligated on a planned pilot program. It also directs the National Academy of Sciences to study the CAPPS2 proposal, and make recommendations to eliminate or minimize its adverse effects on privacy and civil liberties. Sabo described the Administration’s proposed CAPPS2 system potentially the largest ever intrusion of the federal government into our personal lives. The privacy and due process concerns are immense. It deserves far more scrutiny than has been paid so far.
  • Related news: Michael Wynne, the acting undersecretary of Defense for acquisition, logistics and technology, in comments from June 19 on CAPPS II stated – DARPA personnel are visionaries who must look beyond current weapons and technologies, but “in this particular case, the vision exceeded their grasp.”
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