THE TENSION: DOD to Close TALON Anti-Terror Database

News in Balance:

The Associated Press reports Pentagon said Tuesday that it will shut down the TALON anti-terror database that the mainstream media and ACLU have criticized for keeping tabs on radical groups.

TALON, which stands for Threat and Local Observation Notices, was established in 2002 by then-Deputy Defense Secretary Paul D. Wolfowitz as a way to collect and evaluate information about possible threats to U.S. servicemembers and defense civilians at stateside and overseas military installations. It is being closed because reporting to the system had declined significantly, and it was determined to no longer be of analytical value, said Army Col. Gary Keck, a Pentagon spokesman.

AP reports anti-war groups and other organizations protested after it was revealed that the military had monitored anti-war activities, organizations, and individuals who attended peace rallies.

Last year, AP notes, a Pentagon review found a small number of reports in the database were improperly collected or kept there. At the time, the Pentagon said there were about 13,000 entries in the database, and that less than 2 percent either were wrongly added or were not purged later when they were determined not to involve real threats.

Defense Department to Close TALON System
By Sgt. Sara Wood, USA

WASHINGTON, Aug. 21, 2007 (AFPS) -- The Defense Department announced today that it will close the TALON intelligence reporting system Sept. 17 and maintain a record copy of the collected data in accordance with intelligence oversight requirements.

TALON, which stands for Threat and Local Observation Notices, was established in 2002 by then-Deputy Defense Secretary Paul D. Wolfowitz as a way to collect and evaluate information about possible threats to U.S. servicemembers and defense civilians at stateside and overseas military installations. It is being closed because reporting to the system had declined significantly, and it was determined to no longer be of analytical value, said Army Col. Gary Keck, a Pentagon spokesman.

The department is working to develop a new reporting system to replace TALON, but in the interim, all information concerning force protection threats will go to the FBI’s Guardian reporting system, Keck said.

“No one should think that we’re no longer looking at force protection and making sure that information that law enforcement people, security people get reported is moving up some way to be evaluated so that we take force protection precautions and evaluate if there’s a threat or not,” Keck said. “That’s still certainly happening.”
The TALON system came under fire in 2005 for improperly storing information about some civilian individuals and non-government-affiliated groups on its database. The Defense Department conducted a four-point review of the system in December 2005 and, as a result, purged a large amount of information that was deemed unnecessary from the database.

The Defense Department Inspector General reviewed TALON, and in a report dated June 27, 2007, found that the program legally gathered and maintained information on individuals and organizations. However, the report found that the department’s Counterintelligence Field Activity maintained TALON reports without determining whether the information should be retained for law enforcement and force protection purposes.

Keck said the department will evaluate possible future reporting systems, but that there is no timeline to establish a new system. It may be determined that the Guardian system or another reporting system already in place serves the needs of the Defense Department, he said.