- WASHINGTON - Cyber-policy
guru and Congress' chief anti-terror cop said Tuesday he fully expects
another terrorist attack on the homeland, but added he opposes knee-jerk
security measures that do little real good while infringing greatly on
civil liberties.
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- Former Virginia Gov. James Gilmore, now the head of a
congressionally appointed anti-terror commission, told an audience at the
Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory in Laurel, Md., that
a national ID card would be "too creepy for me."
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- We cannot, Gilmore said, "let the terrorists
redefine
our society for us."
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- Gilmore's post was created by Congress in 1999 but became
much more critical after the Sept. 11 attacks in New York and
Washington.
-
- "It (Sept. 11) created an environment of change
in American society and culture," he said. "A change for the
worse."
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- Gilmore said intelligence gathered by law enforcement
authorities indicates that terrorists are attempting to develop programs
that infiltrate and disable U.S. computer systems.
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- "I'd be shocked if we didn't have another attack
- it would be so easy," he said. "But I think we have to
recognize
that you cannot allow the enemy the power to compromise our essential
values
and freedoms."
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- The idea for a national identification system that would
require citizens to carry an ID card with his or picture on it and perhaps
biometric proof like a fingerprint or retina scan has gained a foothold
since the events of Sept. 11.
-
- Proponents say such a system would help consolidate
existing
federal, state and local databases and tighten border and airline security
by effectively tracking lawbreakers and illegal aliens.
-
- Harris Miller, the president and CEO of the International
Technology Association of America, said that while he doesn't think an
ID card is necessary, he believes that creating a national database, much
like the Social Security number issued to everyone in order to be employed
is necessary and does not hurt freedom.
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- "Like it or not, to paraphrase, it's the database,
stupid," said Miller, who joined Gilmore and other technology experts
in the debate. "A card, as a stand-alone, is not the
answer."
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- He said Americans give up their personal information
everyday when they apply for a job, a driver's license, a credit card or
even make a purchase over the Internet. So why not for security, he
wondered?
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- "It'll be even easier to share information, we would
have the ability to give that person at the American Airlines counter the
ability to access multiple databases and watch lists," he said.
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- Marvin Langston, a vice president with SAIC (Science
Applications International Corporation) agreed and suggested a voluntary
ID card.
-
- "We need to find models that will work,"
Langston
said. "I wouldn't mind having a card that got me through airport
security
in one minute."
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- Critics of that idea contend if it were easy enough for
the Sept. 11 hijackers to get fake driver's licenses and passports then
it would be equally easy for them to get fake national IDs?
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- "These (terrorists) are people who would have made
it their business to get a national ID card if there was one to be
had,"
said Gilmore.
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- James Lucier, a senior analyst with Prudential
Securities,
said the technology industry was moving towards an architecture in which
massive amounts of personal information - whether it be financial, medical
or criminal - could be widely shared, even before Sept. 11.
-
- The issue is whether the information is secure and
whether
government should have unfettered access to it in the name of national
or homeland security. Lucier suggests that the harm to privacy from such
access would outweigh its potential law enforcement benefits.
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- "Government agencies are not really good at keeping
good lists of people who are actively seeking to evade the system - but
they are good at maintaining lists of law-abiding citizens who are paying
their taxes," he said.
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- "I think the government that puts trust in citizens
will probably have more access to the info it really needs for public
safety
and security than a government that makes trust impossible," he
said.
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- Gilmore said he is concerned that Americans are
needlessly
being forced to believe they must give up their fundamental rights for
the benefit of security. He said that has already happened with the advent
of traffic light cameras to stop errant motorists and surveillance cameras
on the streets.
-
- "I don't think we should teach Americans that they
should get used to being watched," he said. "It runs against
the American grain."
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- http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,48875,00.html
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