Conspiracy Theories: Total Information Awareness

In the wake of 9/11, the US Department of Defense set up a new program called the Office of Information Awareness (OIA). It’s stated aim was to develop and implement Total Information Awareness (TIA), a project that would use the most advanced technology to collect, analyse and store as much information as possible about everyone. Funding for the project was eventuall dropped in response to opposition from the Democrats and American Civil liberties groups.

What the Theorists say:

Everything about the OIA and its TIA program confirmed the worst Orwellian nightmares of those who viewed the US government with suspicion. The original logo of the OIA was the Masonic all-seeing eye pyramid from the Great Seal, casting its gaze over the globe and emblazoned with the motto scientia est potentia, ‘knowledge is power’. It was quietly dropped and replaced, the name of the project was changed to Terrorist Information Awareness.

The man in charge was Admiral John Poindexter, a fact which raised alarm bells. He was the highest-ranking official to be convicted of involvement in the Iran-Contra scandal and was also highly placed in an IT company that stood to win a lucrative business contract with the OIA.

The awesome size of the project meant that every individual in America could expect to have every detail of his or her life recorded and picked over by intelligence analysts. Related programs use technology to identify people at a distance from their appearance or how they walk, or systems that could transcribe and translate any language.

Poindexter has since resigned and apparently the OIA has been wrapped up. Many of the TIA’s subprojects have, however, recieved continued funding and who knows what sort of covert activities continue beyond Congressional oversight.

The Official Story?

In the post-9/11 world, imaginative new approaches for tackling terrorism and preserving security are essential. The aims of the TIA were only ever counter-terrorist and there would have been safeguards to protect the privacy of individuals. Since the program was shelved and the OIA no longer exists, it is no longer an issue.

Should you be paranoid?

Almost certainly. For once, a Conpisracy Theory actual has some merit. No ban was ever imposed on the TIA for use against non-American activity and development has continued on similar projects for use against US citizens. Perhaps most alarming is the fact that a form of the program has existed for more than 50 years. The National Security Agency’s Ecehelon project is a top-secret telecommunications monitoring system that has been around since 1947. The United States works with the UK, Australia, New Zealand and Canada to operate a global network on spy stations that tap into all forms of electronic communication. If you’ve ever been refused entry into the US for an unknown reason, think about what anti-US-Policy websites you’ve looked at. Chances are that ‘they’ know all about it. How serious this is, or how much information they gather is unknown, but it does exist.