DARPA seeks funding

The Senate version of the Defense Department appropriations bill includes an amendment that prevents spending on the Terrorism Information Awareness program, but DOD officials are lobbying members of Congress to make sure TIA survives the reconciliation of the House and Senate packages. "We're working the Hill. I'll leave it at that," said Robert Popp, director of the Information Awareness Office for DARPA.

Sen. Ron Wyden (D-Ore.) proposed the anti-TIA amendment in May. The Bush administration opposed the change, but the Senate approved it as part of the fiscal 2004 spending bill. The House appropriations bill for DOD, passed on July 8 with little debate, carried a provision limiting TIA's use to data on non-U.S. citizens. Marc Rotenberg, executive director of the Electronic Privacy Information Center, one of many civil liberties groups that oppose the program, said, "It's very difficult to find a program in the federal government less popular than TIA. It's completely appropriate that the Senate put an end to this."