Dick Durbin's reply to my email about TIA (Total Information Awareness)

[in_cog_ni_to]

I was surprised to get an answer through email. Dick Durbin ALWAYS responds with a snail mail letter, never email. The guy probably hates me...he gets 2-3 letters a week from me. :) I have to keep him on his toes! I love my Senator.

Dear ** ******:

Thank you for contacting me about the proposed Total Information
Awareness (TIA) program, subsequently renamed the Terrorism Information
Awareness program. I appreciate hearing from you.

I share your concerns about this proposal. As we take steps to protect
our nation from future terrorist attacks, we must ensure that our
government does not erode the very freedoms we seek to defend.

I wrote to President Bush after this program was publicized to express my
deep concerns about plans to develop and utilize data-mining software to
probe a wide variety of private databases for information that might be
considered relevant to the war on terrorism. The Defense Department's
Terrorism Information Awareness program would use new data-mining
technologies to sift through personal transactions in electronic data to
find patterns and associations connected to terrorist activities. I urged
President Bush to disavow any plan by the Department of Defense that would
undertake the massive gathering of private data regarding U.S. citizens
and ignore or override privacy protections.

Members of Congress from both parties, as well as many independent
observers, share these concerns about the use of data-mining technologies
for law enforcement or national security. The Fiscal Year 2004 Defense
Appropriations Act, which President Bush signed into law in September
2003, prohibits further funding for the TIA program. This legislation
also abolished the Defense Department's Information Awareness Office,
which oversaw the TIA initiative.
Our world changed following September 11, but our Constitution remains
the same and continues to stand as the towering document guaranteeing our
freedom. You can be sure I will continue to work to protect the essential
civil liberties of Americans while we continue to fight for freedom from
terror.

Thank you again for taking the time to contact me. Please feel free to
stay in touch.

Sincerely,



Richard J. Durbin
United States Senator

[davsand]

1. Isn't Durbin just wonderful??

I am so proud he's my Senator. I think he's just an awesome guy. The only thing better than having Durbin as my Senator would be to have Obama AND Durbin as my two Senators!


Laura

[in_cog_ni_to]

2. He's a peach!

Soon, we will have 2 peaches! :bounce: Durbin answers EVERYONE of my letters/emails and has been a great Senator. We are so lucky to have him.

[TheSickEmpire]

3. Senator Durbin Rocks!

I love listening to him on the Senate floor. I have my favorites and he's one of them!

You must be thrilled, in_cog_ni_to, that he took the time to write a great letter.

:)

[in_cog_ni_to]

4. I was surprised.

I've never received an email from him, always snail mail. Pretty cool! He's one Senator I trust to do the RIGHT thing for the people who employ him. I honestly feel that he's sincere and cares about THE PEOPLE of his state and this country.