Lawmakers Ax Pentagon Surveillance Program [View All]

[Khephra]

Lawmakers Ax Pentagon Surveillance Program
Wed September 17, 2003 08:39 PM ET
By Vicki Allen

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Congressional negotiators agreed on Wednesday to kill most of a widely criticized Pentagon computer-surveillance program and block it from being used domestically as they approved a $368 billion bill defense spending bill.

The final bill crafted by negotiators from the Senate and House of Representatives would end the Terrorist Information Awareness program being developed by a Pentagon agency.

But parts of the program that would comb travel records, credit-card bills and other private records to sniff out suspected terrorists would be shifted to overseas intelligence programs, lawmakers said.

"It will only be used in foreign activities, offshore," Senate Appropriations Committee Chairman Ted Stevens, an Alaska Republican, told reporters.

http://reuters.com/newsArticle.jhtml?type=politicsNews&storyID=3463893