Editing Total Information Awareness

{{Short description|US mass detection program}}
{{Distinguish|text=the fictional system portrayed in [[The Last Enemy (TV series)]]}}
[[File:Total Information Awareness -- system diagram.gif|thumb|325px|Diagram of the ''Total Information Awareness'' system from the official (decommissioned) [[Information Awareness Office]] website]]
[[File:TIA graphic.gif|thumb|Presentation slide produced by DARPA describing TIA|325px]]
{{NSA surveillance|1}}

'''Total Information Awareness''' ('''TIA''') was a mass detection program{{clarify |date=November 2023 |reason=What kind of masses was this program intended to detect?}} by the United States [[Information Awareness Office]]. It operated under this title from February to May 2003 before being renamed '''Terrorism Information Awareness'''.<ref name=dapra1/><ref name=rename>{{cite magazine|last=Ryan Singel|title=Funding for TIA All But Dead|url=https://www.wired.com/politics/law/news/2003/07/59606|magazine=[[Wired (magazine)|Wired]]|access-date=7 December 2013|date=14 June 2003}}</ref>

Based on the concept of [[predictive policing]], TIA was meant to correlate detailed information about people in order to anticipate and prevent terrorist incidents before execution.<ref>{{cite journal|last=Murray|first=N.|title=Profiling in the age of total information awareness|journal=[[Race & Class]]|date=4 October 2010|volume=52|issue=2|pages=3–24|doi=10.1177/0306396810377002|s2cid=144001217}}</ref> The program modeled specific information sets in the hunt for terrorists around the globe.<ref>{{cite news|first=JOHN|last=MARKOFF|title=Pentagon Plans a Computer System That Would Peek at Personal Data of Americans|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2002/11/09/politics/09COMP.html|newspaper=[[The New York Times]]|access-date=19 December 2013|date=November 9, 2002}}</ref> Admiral [[John Poindexter]] called it a "[[Manhattan Project]] for [[counter-terrorism]]".<ref name= shorrock>{{cite book| last = Shorrock| first = Tim| title = Spies for Hire: The Secret World of Intelligence Outsourcing| publisher = Simon and Schuster| date = 2008| pages = [https://archive.org/details/spiesforhiresecr00shor/page/221 221]| url = https://archive.org/details/spiesforhiresecr00shor | url-access = registration| isbn = 9780743282246}}</ref> According to Senator [[Ron Wyden]], TIA was the "biggest surveillance program in the history of the United States".<ref>{{cite news|title=Pentagon's 'Terror Information Awareness' program will end|url=http://usatoday30.usatoday.com/news/washington/2003-09-25-pentagon-office_x.htm|access-date=19 December 2013|newspaper=[[USA Today]]|date=2003-09-25|agency=AP}}</ref>

Congress defunded the Information Awareness Office in late 2003 after media reports criticized the government for attempting to establish "Total Information Awareness" over all citizens.<ref>{{cite news|last=Jonathan Turley|title=George Bush's Big Brother|url=https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-2002-nov-17-oe-turley17-story.html|newspaper=[[The Los Angeles Times]]|access-date=19 December 2013|date=November 17, 2002}}</ref><ref name="nytimes1"/><ref name= washtimes1>{{cite news|title=U.S. agencies collect, examine personal data on Americans|url=http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2004/may/28/20040528-122605-9267r/?page=all|newspaper=[[The Washington Times]]|access-date=19 December 2013|date=May 28, 2004|quote=The most widely reported data-mining project—the Pentagon's Total Information Awareness (TIA) program—was shut down by Congress because of widespread privacy fears. The project sought to use credit-card, medical and travel records to search for terrorists and was dubbed by privacy advocates as a "supersnoop" system to spy on Americans.}}</ref>

Although the program was formally suspended, other government agencies later adopted some of its software with only superficial changes. TIA's core architecture continued development under the code name "Basketball". According to a 2012 ''[[New York Times]]'' article, TIA's legacy was "quietly thriving" at the [[National Security Agency]] (NSA).<ref name="nytimesnsa">{{cite news|last=SHANE HARRIS|title=Giving In to the Surveillance State|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2012/08/23/opinion/whos-watching-the-nsa-watchers.html|newspaper=[[The New York Times]]|access-date=19 December 2013|date=August 22, 2012}}</ref>

== Program synopsis ==
TIA was intended to be a five-year research project by the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency ([[DARPA]]). The goal was to integrate components from previous and new government intelligence and surveillance programs, including [[Project Genoa|Genoa]], [[Project Genoa II|Genoa II]], Genisys, SSNA, EELD, WAE, TIDES, Communicator, HumanID and Bio-Surveillance, with [[data mining]] knowledge gleaned from the private sector to create a resource for the [[United States Intelligence Community|intelligence]], [[counterintelligence]], and [[Law enforcement in the United States|law enforcement]] communities.<ref>{{cite web| url = http://fas.org/irp/agency/dod/poindexter.html| title = OVERVIEW OF THE INFORMATION AWARENESS OFFICE | last = Poindexter| first = John| date = 2 August 2002| website = fas.org| publisher = [[Federation of American Scientists]]| access-date = 3 June 2016}}</ref><ref name= stevens>{{cite book| last = Stevens| first = Gina Marie| title = Privacy: Total Information Awareness Programs and Latest Developments| publisher = Nova Publishers| edition = illustrated| date = 2003| url = https://books.google.com/books?id=W5bDA0EkNTgC| isbn = 9781590338698}}</ref> These components consisted of information analysis, collaboration, decision-support tools, language translation, data-searching, [[pattern recognition]], and privacy-protection technologies.<ref name= congress>{{cite web| url = https://epic.org/privacy/profiling/tia/may03_report.pdf| title = Report to Congress Regarding the Terrorism Information Awareness Program: In response to Consolidated Appropriations Resolution, 2003, Pub. L. No. 108-7, Division M, § 111(b)| date = 20 May 2003| website = www.epic.org| publisher = [[DARPA]]| access-date = 7 June 2016}}</ref>

TIA research included or planned to include the participation of nine government entities: [[INSCOM]], [[NSA]], [[Defense Intelligence Agency|DIA]], [[CIA]], [[Counterintelligence Field Activity|CIFA]], [[STRATCOM]], [[United States Special Operations Command|SOCOM]], [[JFCOM]], and [[JWAC]].<ref name= congress/> They were to be able to access TIA's programs through a series of dedicated [[Node (networking)|nodes]].<ref name= bamford/> INSCOM was to house TIA's hardware in [[Fort Belvoir]], [[Virginia]].<ref name= jacobsen>{{cite book| last = Jacobsen| first = Annie| title = The Pentagon's Brain: An Uncensored History of DARPA, America's Top-Secret Military Research Agency| publisher = Little, Brown| edition = illustrated| date = 2015| url = https://books.google.com/books?id=OYgQBgAAQBAJ| isbn = 9780316371650}}</ref>
 
Companies contracted to work on TIA included the [[Science Applications International Corporation]],<ref name= harris2/> [[Booz Allen Hamilton]], [[Lockheed Martin Corporation]], Schafer Corporation, [[Sound Retrieval System|SRS Technologies]], Adroit Systems, CACI Dynamic Systems, ASI Systems International, and Syntek Technologies.<ref name= bigbrother/>

Universities enlisted to assist with research and development included [[University of California, Berkeley|Berkeley]], [[Colorado State University|Colorado State]], [[Carnegie Mellon University|Carnegie Mellon]], [[Columbia University|Columbia]], [[Cornell University|Cornell]], [[University of Texas at Dallas|Dallas]], [[Georgia Institute of Technology|Georgia Tech]], [[University of Maryland|Maryland]], [[Massachusetts Institute of Technology|MIT]], and [[University of Southampton|Southampton]].<ref name= bigbrother/><ref name= gtech/>

===Mission===
TIA's goal was to revolutionize the United States' ability to detect, classify and identify foreign terrorists and decipher their plans, thereby enabling the U.S. to take timely action to preempt and disrupt terrorist activity.

To that end, TIA was to create a counter-terrorism information system that:<ref>{{cite web|title=Total Information Awareness (TIA) System|url=http://www.darpa.mil/iao/tiasystems.htm|publisher=[[DARPA]]|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20021003053651/http://www.darpa.mil/iao/tiasystems.htm|archive-date=October 3, 2002|date=October 3, 2002}}</ref>

* Increased information coverage by an order of magnitude and afforded easy scaling
* Provided focused warnings within an hour after a triggering event occurred or an evidence threshold was passed
* Automatically queued analysts based on partial pattern matches and had patterns that covered 90% of all previously known foreign terrorist attacks
* Supported collaboration, analytical reasoning and information sharing so that analysts could hypothesize, test and propose theories and mitigating strategies, so decision-makers could effectively evaluate the impact of policies and courses of action.

===Components===

====Genoa====
{{Main|Project Genoa}}
Unlike the other program components, Genoa predated TIA and provided a basis for it.<ref>{{cite book| title = Balancing Privacy & Security: The Privacy Implications of Government Data Mining Programs: Congressional Hearing| publisher = DIANE Publishing| pages = 126| url = https://books.google.com/books?id=5IR9z1pcQqoC| isbn = 9781422320259}}</ref> Genoa's primary function was [[intelligence analysis]] to assist human analysts.<ref name= verton/> It was designed to support both top-down and bottom-up approaches; a policymaker could hypothesize an attack and use Genoa to look for supporting evidence of it or compile pieces of intelligence into a diagram and suggest possible outcomes. Human analysts could then modify the diagram to test various cases.<ref name= harris/>

Genoa was independently commissioned in 1996 and completed in 2002 as scheduled.

====Genoa II====
{{Main|Project Genoa II}}
While Genoa primarily focused on intelligence analysis, Genoa II aimed to provide means by which computers, software agents, policymakers, and field operatives could collaborate.<ref name= verton>{{cite magazine| author = Dan Verton | title = Genoa II: Man and Machine Thinking as One| url = https://books.google.com/books?id=N1zRvHre4noC| magazine = [[Computerworld]]| publisher = IDG Enterprise| date = 1 September 2003| access-date= 3 June 2016}}</ref>

====Genisys====
[[File:Genysis.gif|thumb|Graphic describing the goals of the Genysis project]]
Genisys aimed to develop technologies that would enable "ultra-large, all-source information repositories".<ref name="iaosite-genisys">{{cite web|url=http://infowar.net/tia/www.darpa.mil/iao/Genisys.htm|title=Genisys|work=Information Awareness Office (official website)|access-date=2009-03-15|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090216080922/http://infowar.net/tia/www.darpa.mil/iao/Genisys.htm|archive-date=2009-02-16}}</ref> Vast amounts of information were to be collected and analyzed, and the available [[database]] technology at the time was insufficient for storing and organizing such enormous quantities of data. So they developed techniques for virtual data aggregation to support effective analysis across heterogeneous databases, as well as unstructured public data sources, such as the [[World Wide Web]]. "Effective analysis across heterogenous databases" means the ability to take things from databases which are designed to store different types of data—such as a database containing criminal records, a phone call database and a foreign intelligence database. The Web is considered an "unstructured public data source" because it is publicly accessible and contains many different types of data—blogs, emails, records of visits to websites, etc.—all of which need to be analyzed and stored efficiently.<ref name="iaosite-genisys"/>

Another goal was to develop "a large, distributed system architecture for managing the huge volume of raw data input, analysis results, and feedback, that will result in a simpler, more flexible data store that performs well and allows us to retain important data indefinitely".<ref name="iaosite-genisys"/>

====Scalable social network analysis====
Scalable social network analysis (SSNA) aimed to develop techniques based on [[social network analysis]] to model the key characteristics of terrorist groups and discriminate them from other societal groups.<ref name="ethier">{{cite web|url=http://spyapps.net/current-research-in-social-network-theory/ |title=Current Research in Social Network Theory |last=Ethier |first=Jason |work=Northeastern University College of Computer and Information Science |access-date=2009-03-15 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150226213456/http://spyapps.net/current-research-in-social-network-theory/ |archive-date=February 26, 2015 }}</ref>

====Evidence extraction and link discovery====
[[File:EELD.gif|thumb|right|Graphic displaying a simulated application of the evidence extraction and link discovery (EELD) project]]

Evidence extraction and link discovery (EELD) developed technologies and tools for automated discovery, extraction and linking of sparse evidence contained in large amounts of classified and unclassified data sources (such as phone call records from the [[NSA call database]], internet histories, or bank records).<ref name="iaosite-eeld">{{cite web|url=http://infowar.net/tia/www.darpa.mil/iao/EELD.htm|title=Evidence Extraction and Link Discovery|work=Information Awareness Office (official website -- mirror)|access-date=2009-03-15|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090215094707/http://infowar.net/tia/www.darpa.mil/iao/EELD.htm|archive-date=2009-02-15}}</ref>

EELD was designed to design systems with the ability to extract data from multiple sources (e.g., text messages, social networking sites, financial records, and web pages). It was to develop the ability to detect patterns comprising multiple types of links between data items or communications (e.g., financial transactions, communications, travel, etc.).<ref name="iaosite-eeld"/> It is designed to link items relating potential "terrorist" groups and scenarios, and to learn patterns of different groups or scenarios to identify new organizations and emerging threats.<ref name="iaosite-eeld"/>

====Wargaming the asymmetric environment====
Wargaming the asymmetric environment (WAE) focused on developing automated technology that could identify predictive indicators of terrorist activity or impending attacks by examining individual and group behavior in broad environmental context and the motivation of specific terrorists.<ref>{{cite web| url = http://infowar.net/tia/www.darpa.mil/iao/WAE.htm| title = Wargaming the Asymmetric Environment (WAE)| website = www.darpa.mil/iao| publisher = [[Information Awareness Office]]| access-date = 16 June 2016| url-status = dead| archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20120528103612/http://infowar.net/tia/www.darpa.mil/iao/WAE.htm| archive-date = 28 May 2012}}</ref>

====Translingual information detection, extraction and summarization====
Translingual information detection, extraction and summarization (TIDES) developed advanced language processing technology to enable English speakers to find and interpret critical information in multiple languages without requiring knowledge of those languages.<ref name="iaosite-tides">{{cite web|url=http://infowar.net/tia/www.darpa.mil/iao/TIDES.htm|title=TIDES|work=Information Awareness Office (official website -- mirror)|access-date=2009-03-15|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090215094744/http://infowar.net/tia/www.darpa.mil/iao/TIDES.htm|archive-date=2009-02-15}}</ref>

Outside groups (such as universities, corporations, etc.) were invited to participate in the annual [[information retrieval]], topic detection and tracking, automatic content extraction, and [[machine translation]] evaluations run by [[NIST]].<ref name="iaosite-tides"/> [[Cornell University]], [[Columbia University]], and the [[University of California, Berkeley]] were given grants to work on TIDES.<ref name= bigbrother/>

====Communicator====
[[File:Total Information Awareness -- Communicator diagram.gif|thumb|right|300px|Diagram describing capabilities of the "communicator" project]]

Communicator was to develop "dialogue interaction" technology to enable warfighters to talk to computers, such that information would be accessible on the battlefield or in command centers without a keyboard-based interface. Communicator was to be wireless, mobile, and to function in a networked environment.<ref name="iaosite-communicator">{{cite web|url=http://infowar.net/tia/www.darpa.mil/iao/Communicator.htm|title=Communicator|work=Information Awareness Office (official website)|access-date=2009-03-15|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090215094648/http://infowar.net/tia/www.darpa.mil/iao/Communicator.htm|archive-date=2009-02-15}}</ref>

The dialogue interaction software was to interpret dialogue's context to improve performance, and to automatically adapt to new topics so conversation could be natural and efficient. Communicator emphasized task knowledge to compensate for natural language effects and noisy environments. Unlike automated translation of [[natural language processing|natural language]] speech, which is much more complex due to an essentially unlimited vocabulary and grammar, Communicator takes on task-specific issues so that there are constrained vocabularies (the system only needs to be able to understand language related to war). Research was also started on foreign-language computer interaction for use in coalition operations.<ref name="iaosite-communicator"/>

Live exercises were conducted involving small unit logistics operations with the [[United States Marines]] to test the technology in extreme environments.<ref name="iaosite-communicator"/>

====Human identification at a distance====
[[File:Human-id-at-a-distance.gif|thumb|right|300px|Diagram describing capabilities of the "human identification at a distance" project<ref name="iaosite-humanid"/>]]

The human identification at a distance (HumanID) project developed automated [[biometric]] identification technologies to detect, recognize and identify humans at great distances for "force protection", crime prevention, and "homeland security/defense" purposes.<ref name="iaosite-humanid">{{cite web|url=http://infowar.net/tia/www.darpa.mil/iao/HID.htm |title=Human Identification at a distance |work=Information Awareness Office (official website -- mirror) |access-date=2009-03-15 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090215094729/http://infowar.net/tia/www.darpa.mil/iao/HID.htm |archive-date=February 15, 2009 }}</ref>

The goals of HumanID were to:<ref name="iaosite-humanid"/>

* Develop algorithms to find and acquire subjects out to 150 meters (500&nbsp;ft) in range.
* Fuse face and [[gait]] recognition into a 24/7 human identification system.
* Develop and demonstrate a human identification system that operates out to 150 meters (500&nbsp;ft) using visible imagery.
* Develop a low-power millimeter wave radar system for wide field of view detection and narrow field of view gait classification.
* Characterize gait performance from video for human identification at a distance.
* Develop a multi-spectral infrared and visible [[facial recognition system|face recognition]] system.

A number of universities assisted in designing HumanID. The [[Georgia Institute of Technology]]'s [[Georgia Institute of Technology College of Computing|College of Computing]] focused on [[gait recognition]]. Gait recognition was a key component of HumanID, because it could be employed on low-resolution video feeds and therefore help identify subjects at a distance.<ref name= biometrics>{{cite book| last1 = Bolle| first1 = Ruud M. | last2 = Connell| first2 = Jonathan | last3 = Pankanti| first3 = Sharath| last4 = Ratha| first4 = Nalini K.| last5 = Senior| first5 = Andrew W.| title = Guide to Biometrics| publisher = Springer Science & Business Media| edition = illustrated| date = 29 June 2013| pages = 239| url = https://books.google.com/books?id=DLLbBwAAQBAJ| isbn = 9781475740363}}</ref> They planned to develop a system that recovered static body and stride parameters of subjects as they walked, while also looking into the ability of time-normalized joint angle trajectories in the walking plane as a way of recognizing gait. The university also worked on finding and tracking faces by expressions and speech.<ref name= gtech>{{cite web| url = http://www.cc.gatech.edu/cpl/projects/hid/| title = Human Identification at a Distance| date = 2003| website = www.cc.gatech.edu| publisher = [[Georgia Institute of Technology College of Computing]]| access-date = 16 June 2016}}</ref>

[[Carnegie Mellon University]]'s Robotics Institute (part of the [[Carnegie Mellon School of Computer Science|School of Computer Science]]) worked on dynamic face recognition. The research focused primarily on the extraction of body biometric features from video and identifying subjects from those features. To conduct its studies, the university created databases of synchronized multi-camera video sequences of body motion, human faces under a wide range of imaging conditions, AU coded expression videos, and hyperspectal and polarimetric images of faces.<ref name=cmu>{{cite web| url = http://www.ri.cmu.edu/research_lab_group_detail.html?lab_id=56&menu_id=263| title = Human Identification at a Distance (HumanID)| website = Carnegie Mellon University: The Robotics Institute| publisher = [[Carnegie Mellon University]]| access-date = 16 June 2016| archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20160809063631/http://www.ri.cmu.edu/research_lab_group_detail.html?lab_id=56&menu_id=263| archive-date = 9 August 2016| url-status = dead| df = dmy-all}}</ref> The video sequences of body motion data consisted of six separate viewpoints of 25 subjects walking on a treadmill. Four separate 11-second gaits were tested for each: slow walk, fast walk, inclined, and carrying a ball.<ref name= biometrics/>

The [[University of Maryland]]'s Institute for Advanced Computer Studies' research focused on recognizing people at a distance by gait and face. Also to be used were [[infrared]] and five-degree-of-freedom cameras.<ref>{{cite web| url = http://www.umiacs.umd.edu/labs/pirl/hid/overview.html| title = Human Identification at a Distance: Overview| date = 17 April 2001| website = University of Maryland Institute for Advanced Computer Studies| publisher = [[University of Maryland]]| access-date = 16 June 2016}}</ref> Tests included filming 38 male and 6 female subjects of different ethnicities and physical features walking along a T-shaped path from various angles.<ref>{{cite book| editor = Bahram Javidi| title = Optical and Digital Techniques for Information Security| publisher = Springer Science & Business Media| series = Advanced Sciences and Technologies for Security Applications| volume = 1| edition = illustrated| date = 28 June 2005| pages = 283| url = https://books.google.com/books?id=amZSD-UJUVMC| isbn = 9780387206165}}</ref>

The [[University of Southampton]]'s Department of Electronics and Computer Science was developing an "automatic gait recognition" system and was in charge of compiling a database to test it.<ref>{{cite web| url = http://www.gait.ecs.soton.ac.uk/| title = Automatic Gait Recognition for Human ID at a Distance| last = Nixon| first = M.S.| date = 7 August 2003| website = www.ecs.soton.ac.uk| publisher = [[University of Southampton]]| access-date = 16 June 2016| archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20160805154831/http://www.gait.ecs.soton.ac.uk/| archive-date = 2016-08-05| url-status = dead}}</ref> The [[University of Texas at Dallas]] was compiling a database to test facial systems. The data included a set of nine static pictures taken from different viewpoints, a video of each subject looking around a room, a video of the subject speaking, and one or more videos of the subject showing facial expressions.<ref>{{cite web| url = http://www.utdallas.edu/~otoole/HID/hum_id_main.html| title = Human Identification Project| last = O'Toole| first = Alice| website = www.utdallas.edu| publisher = [[University of Texas at Dallas]]| access-date =16 June 2016}}</ref> [[Colorado State University]] developed multiple systems for identification via facial recognition.<ref>{{cite web| url = http://www.cs.colostate.edu/evalfacerec/index10.php| title =  Evaluation of Face Recognition Algorithms| website = www.cs.colostate.edu| publisher = [[Colorado State University]]| access-date = 16 June 2016}}</ref> [[Columbia University]] participated in implementing HumanID in poor weather.<ref name= cmu/>

====Bio-surveillance====
[[File:Bio-Surveillance.gif|thumb|right|Graphic describing the goals of the bio-surveillance project]]

The bio-surveillance project was designed to predict and respond to [[bioterrorism]] by monitoring non-traditional data sources such as animal sentinels, behavioral indicators, and pre-diagnostic medical data. It would leverage existing disease models, identify abnormal health early indicators, and mine existing databases to determine the most valuable early indicators for abnormal health conditions.<ref name= BIO/>

===Scope of surveillance===
As a "virtual, centralized, grand database",<ref>{{cite news|last=Anthony M. Townsend|title=Your city is spying on you: From iPhones to cameras, you are being watched right now|url=http://www.salon.com/2013/10/13/your_city_is_spying_on_you_from_iphones_to_cameras_you_are_being_watched_right_now/|work=[[Salon (website)|Salon]]|access-date=19 December 2013}}</ref> the scope of surveillance included credit card purchases, magazine subscriptions, web browsing histories, phone records, academic grades, bank deposits, gambling histories, passport applications, airline and railway tickets, driver's licenses, gun licenses, toll records, judicial records, and divorce records.<ref name="nytimes1"/><ref name = stevens/>

Health and biological information TIA collected included drug prescriptions,<ref name="nytimes1"/> medical records,<ref name="wyden">{{cite web|last=Ron Wyden|author-link=Ron Wyden|title=Wyden Calls For Congressional Oversight, Accountability of Total Information Awareness Office|url=http://www.wyden.senate.gov/news/press-releases/wyden-calls-for-congressional-oversight-accountability-of-total-information-awareness-office|quote=On the Web site of this particular program, the Total Information Awareness Program, they cite a Latin slogan—"Knowledge is power"—something we would all agree with, and state: The total information awareness of transnational threats requires keeping track of individuals and understanding how they fit into models. To this end, this office would seek to develop a way to integrate databases into a "virtual centralized grand database". They would be in a position to look at education, travel, and medical records, and develop risk profiles for millions of Americans|publisher=[[United States Senate]]|access-date=19 December 2013|date=January 15, 2003}}</ref> fingerprints, gait, face and iris data,<ref name= stevens/> and [[DNA]].<ref>{{cite journal|last=Pat M. Holt|title=Driving dangerously with the Patriot Act|journal=Christian Science Monitor|url=http://www.csmonitor.com/layout/set/r14/2003/1002/p09s01-coop.html|access-date=19 December 2013|date=October 2, 2003|quote=The Defense Department is leading the charge for what it calls Total Information Awareness, a massive database including DNA.}}</ref>

===Privacy===
TIA's Genisys component, in addition to integrating and organizing separate databases, was to run an internal "privacy protection program". This was intended to restrict analysts' access to irrelevant information on private U.S. citizens, enforce [[privacy law]]s and policies, and report misuses of data.<ref name= lee>{{cite book| last = Lee| first = Newton| title = Counterterrorism and Cybersecurity: Total Information Awareness| publisher = Springer| edition = 2, illustrated, revised| date = 7 April 2015| pages = 141| url = https://books.google.com/books?id=zSv3BwAAQBAJ| isbn = 9783319172446}}</ref> There were also plans for TIA to have an application that could "anonymize" data, so that information could be linked to an individual only by court order (especially for medical records gathered by the bio-surveillance project).<ref name=BIO>{{cite web| url = http://infowar.net/tia/www.darpa.mil/iao/BSS.htm| title = Bio- Surveillance| website = www.darpa.mil/iao| publisher = [[Information Awareness Office]]| url-status = dead| archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20060919113254/http://infowar.net/tia/www.darpa.mil/iao/BSS.htm| archive-date = 2006-09-19}}</ref> A set of audit logs were to be kept, which would track whether innocent Americans' communications were getting caught up in relevant data.<ref name="nytimesnsa"/>

== History ==
[[File:Admiral John Poindexter, official Navy photo, 1985.JPEG|thumb|[[Admiral (United States)|Adm.]] [[John Poindexter]], the director of the [[Information Awareness Office]] and chief supporter of TIA]]

The term ''total information awareness'' was first coined at the 1999 annual DARPAtech conference in a presentation by the deputy director of the Office of Information Systems Management, Brian Sharkey. Sharkey applied the phrase to a conceptual method by which the government could sift through massive amounts of data becoming available via digitization and draw important conclusions.<ref name= harris>{{cite book| last = Harris| first = Shane| title = The Watchers: The Rise of America's Surveillance State| publisher = Penguin| edition = reprint| date = 18 February 2010| url = https://archive.org/details/watchersriseofam00harr| url-access = registration| isbn = 9781101195741}}</ref>

=== Early developments ===
TIA was proposed as a program shortly after the [[September 11 attacks]] in 2001, by Rear Admiral [[John Poindexter]].<ref>{{Cite news|last=Rosen|first=Jeffrey|date=2002-12-15|title=The Year in Ideas; Total Information Awareness|language=en-US|work=The New York Times|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2002/12/15/magazine/the-year-in-ideas-total-information-awareness.html|access-date=2021-04-03|issn=0362-4331}}</ref> A former national security adviser to President [[Ronald Reagan]] and a key player in the [[Iran–Contra affair]], he was working with Syntek Technologies, a company often contracted out by the government for work on defense projects. TIA was officially commissioned during the 2002 [[fiscal year]].<ref name= bigbrother>{{cite web| url = https://www.publicintegrity.org/2002/12/17/3164/outsourcing-big-brother| title = Outsourcing Big Brother: Office of Total Information Awareness relies on private sector to track Americans| last1 = Mayle| first1 = Adam| last2 = Knott| first2 = Alex| date = 17 December 2002| website = www.publicintegrity.org| publisher = [[Center for Public Integrity]]| access-date = 6 June 2016}}</ref> In January 2002 Poindexter was appointed Director of the newly created [[Information Awareness Office]] division of DARPA, which managed TIA's development.<ref>{{cite web| url = http://www.au.af.mil/au/awc/awcgate/crs/rl31786.pdf| archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20040627022053/http://www.au.af.mil/au/awc/awcgate/crs/rl31786.pdf| url-status = dead| archive-date = June 27, 2004| title = Total Information Awareness Programs: Funding, Composition, and Oversight Issues| last = Belasco| first = Amy| date = 21 March 2003| website = www.au.af.mil/au| publisher = [[Congressional Research Service]] | access-date = 7 June 2016}}</ref> The office temporarily operated out of the fourth floor of DARPA's headquarters, while Poindexter looked for a place to permanently house TIA's researchers.<ref name= jacobsen/> Soon [[Project Genoa]] was completed and its research moved on to [[Genoa II]].<ref>{{cite web| url = https://w2.eff.org/Privacy/TIA/darpatech2002/speeches/ARMOUR.pdf| title = Genoa II DARPAtech 2002 Presentation Script| last = Armour| first = Tom| date = 2002| website = w2.eff.org| publisher = [[Electronic Frontier Foundation]]| access-date = 20 June 2016| archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20161008004230/https://w2.eff.org/Privacy/TIA/darpatech2002/speeches/ARMOUR.pdf| archive-date = 2016-10-08| url-status = dead}}</ref><ref>{{cite web| url = http://infowar.net/tia/www.darpa.mil/iao/Genoa.htm| title = Genoa| website = www.darpa.mil/iao| publisher = [[Information Awareness Office]]| url-status = dead| archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20090216081001/http://infowar.net/tia/www.darpa.mil/iao/Genoa.htm| archive-date = 2009-02-16}}</ref>

Late that year, the Information Awareness Office awarded the [[Science Applications International Corporation]] (SAIC) a $19 million contract to develop the "Information Awareness Prototype System", the core architecture to integrate all of TIA's information extraction, analysis, and dissemination tools. This was done through its consulting arm, Hicks & Associates, which employed many former Defense Department and military officials.<ref name= harris2/>

TIA's earliest version employed software called "Groove", which had been developed in 2000 by [[Ray Ozzie]]. Groove made it possible for analysts from many different agencies to share intelligence data instantly, and linked specialized programs that were designed to look for patterns of suspicious behavior.<ref>{{cite news|title=TECHNOLOGY; Many Tools Of Big Brother Are Now Up And Running|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2002/12/23/business/technology-many-tools-of-big-brother-are-now-up-and-running.html?pagewanted=2&src=pm|newspaper=[[The New York Times]]|access-date=7 December 2013|date=December 23, 2002}}</ref>

=== Congressional restrictions and termination===
On 24 January 2003, the [[United States Senate]] voted to limit TIA by restricting its ability to gather information from emails and the commercial databases of health, financial and travel companies.<ref>{{cite news|last=ADAM CLYMER|title=Senate Rejects Privacy Project|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2003/01/24/politics/24PRIV.html|newspaper=[[The New York Times]]|access-date=7 December 2013|date=January 24, 2003}}</ref> According to the ''Consolidated Appropriations Resolution, 2003, Pub. L. No. 108-7, Division M, § 111(b)'' passed in February, the Defense Department was given 90 days to compile a report laying out a schedule of TIA's development and the intended use of allotted funds or face a cutoff of support.<ref>{{cite web| url = https://www.gpo.gov/fdsys/pkg/PLAW-108publ7/html/PLAW-108publ7.htm| title = Joint Resolution| date = February 2003| website = www.gpo.gov| publisher = [[United States Government Publishing Office]]| access-date = 7 June 2016}}</ref>

The report arrived on May 20. It disclosed that the program's computer tools were still in their preliminary testing phase. Concerning the pattern recognition of transaction information, only synthetic data created by researchers was being processed. The report also conceded that a full prototype of TIA would not be ready until the 2007 fiscal year.<ref name= congress/> Also in May, Total Information Awareness was renamed '''Terrorism Information Awareness''' in an attempt to stem the flow of criticism on its information-gathering practices on average citizens.<ref name= snowden>{{cite web| url = http://nsarchive.gwu.edu/NSAEBB/NSAEBB436/| title = The Snowden Affair| last = Richelson| first = Jeffrey T.| date = 4 September 2013| website = nsarchive.gwu.edu| publisher = [[National Security Archive]]| access-date = 9 June 2016}}</ref>

At some point in early 2003, the [[National Security Agency]] began installing access nodes on TIA's classified network.<ref name= shorrock/> The NSA then started running stacks of emails and intercepted communications through TIA's various programs.<ref name= bamford/>

Following a scandal in the Department of Defense involving a [[Policy Analysis Market|proposal]] to reward investors who predicted terrorist attacks, Poindexter resigned from office on 29 August.<ref name= bamford>{{cite book| last = Bamford| first = James| title = The Shadow Factory: The Ultra-Secret NSA from 9/11 to the Eavesdropping on America| publisher = Knopf Doubleday Publishing Group | date = 14 October 2008| url = https://archive.org/details/shadowfactory00bamf| url-access = registration| isbn = 9780385528399}}</ref>

On September 30, 2003, Congress officially cut off TIA's funding and the Information Awareness Office (with the Senate voting unanimously against it)<ref>{{cite book| last = Solove| first = Daniel J.| title = Nothing to Hide: The False Tradeoff Between Privacy and Security| publisher = Yale University Press| date = 2011| url = https://archive.org/details/nothing_sol_2011_00_0769| url-access = registration| isbn = 9780300177251}}</ref> because of its unpopular perception by the general public and the media.<ref name="washtimes1"/><ref name= donohue258>{{cite book| last = Donohue| first = Laura K.| title = The Cost of Counterterrorism: Power, Politics, and Liberty| publisher = Cambridge University Press| date = 14 April 2008| pages = 258| url = https://books.google.com/books?id=QpVVPtzu1LUC| isbn = 9781139469579}}</ref> Senators [[Ron Wyden]] and [[Byron Dorgan]] led the effort.<ref name= schmitt>{{cite news| last= Eric| first= Schmitt| date= 1 August 2003| title= Poindexter Will Be Quitting Over Terrorism Betting Plan| url = https://www.nytimes.com/2003/08/01/politics/01POIN.html| newspaper = [[New York Times]]| location = Washington D.C.| access-date = 10 June 2016}}</ref>

===After 2003===
Reports began to emerge in February 2006 that TIA's components had been transferred to the authority of the NSA. In the Department of Defense [[Appropriations bill (United States)|appropriations bill]] for the 2004 fiscal year, a classified annex provided the funding. It was stipulated that the technologies were limited for military or foreign intelligence purposes against non-U.S. citizens.<ref>Mark Williams Pontin. [http://www.technologyreview.com/Infotech/16741/ The Total Information Awareness Project Lives On], ''MIT Technology Review'', 26 April 2006, retrieved 16 June 2016</ref> Most of the original project goals and research findings were preserved, but the privacy protection mechanics were abandoned.<ref name= shorrock/><ref name="nytimesnsa"/>

====Topsail====
[[Genoa II]], which focused on collaboration between machines and humans, was renamed "Topsail" and handed over to the NSA's [[Advanced Research and Development Activity]], or ARDA (ARDA was later moved to the [[Director of National Intelligence]]'s control as the [[Disruptive Technologies Office]]). Tools from the program were used in the [[War in Afghanistan (2001–present)|war in Afghanistan]] and other parts of the [[War on Terror]].<ref name= harris2/> In October 2005, the [[Science Applications International Corporation|SAIC]] signed a $3.7 million contract for work on Topsail.<ref name= harris/> In early 2006 a spokesman for the [[Air Force Research Laboratory]] said that Topsail was "in the process of being canceled due to lack of funds". When asked about Topsail in a [[United States Senate Intelligence Committee|Senate Intelligence Committee]] hearing that February, both [[National Intelligence Director]] [[John Negroponte]] and [[FBI Director]] [[Robert Mueller]] said they did not know the program's status. Negroponte's deputy, former [[Director of the National Security Agency|NSA director]], [[Michael V. Hayden]], said, "I'd like to answer in closed session."<ref name= harris2/>

====Basketball====
The Information Awareness Prototype System was reclassified as "Basketball" and work on it continued by SAIC, supervised by ARDA. As late as September 2004, Basketball was fully funded by the government and being tested in a research center jointly run by ARDA and SAIC.<ref name= harris2>[http://shaneharris.com/magazinestories/tia-lives-on/ TIA Lives On], ''[[National Journal]]'', 23 February 2006, retrieved 14 June 2016</ref>

== Criticism ==
Critics allege that the program could be abused by government authorities as part of their practice of [[mass surveillance in the United States]]. In an [[op-ed]] for ''[[The New York Times]]'', [[William Safire]] called it "the supersnoop's dream: a Total Information Awareness about every U.S. citizen".<ref name="nytimes1">{{cite news|last=WILLIAM SAFIRE|title=You Are a Suspect|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2002/11/14/opinion/you-are-a-suspect.html|newspaper=[[The New York Times]]|access-date=September 20, 2013|date=November 14, 2002}}</ref>

[[Hans Mark]], a former director of defense research and engineering at the [[University of Texas]], called it a "dishonest misuse of [[DARPA]]".<ref name=dapra1>{{cite journal|last=Weinberger|first=Sharon|title=Defence research: Still in the lead?|journal=Nature|volume=451|issue=7177|publisher=[[Nature Publishing Group]]|pages=390–393|doi=10.1038/451390a|pmid=18216826|bibcode=2008Natur.451..390W|date=24 January 2008|quote=Poindexter and his office proved to be more polarizing than expected; its Total Information Awareness programme (later changed to Terrorism Information Awareness), which aimed to sift through huge amounts of data to track terrorists, was attacked on privacy grounds, and Congress eventually cancelled it. "That was a dishonest misuse of DARPA," says Hans Mark, a former director of defense research and engineering now at the University of Texas at Austin.|doi-access=free}}</ref>

The [[American Civil Liberties Union]] launched a campaign to terminate TIA's implementation, claiming that it would "kill privacy in America" because "every aspect of our lives would be catalogued".<ref>{{cite web|title=Q&A on the Pentagon's "Total Information Awareness" Program|url=https://www.aclu.org/technology-and-liberty/qa-pentagons-total-information-awareness-program|publisher=[[American Civil Liberties Union]]|access-date=19 December 2013|date=April 20, 2003}}</ref> The ''[[San Francisco Chronicle]]'' criticized the program for "Fighting terror by terrifying U.S. citizens".<ref>{{cite news|author=ROB MORSE|title=Fighting terror by terrifying U.S. citizens|url=http://www.sfgate.com/news/article/Fighting-terror-by-terrifying-U-S-citizens-2752084.php|newspaper=[[San Francisco Chronicle ]]|access-date=21 December 2013|date=November 20, 2002}}</ref>

Still, in 2013 former [[Director of National Intelligence]] [[James Clapper]] lied about a massive data collection on US citizens and others.<ref name="Viking">{{cite book |last1=Clapper |first1=James R,. |title=Facts and Fears: Hard Truths From A Life In Intelligence |date= 2018|publisher= Viking |location= New York |isbn= 9780525558651 |pages= 226 |edition=ebook}}</ref> [[Edward Snowden]] said that because of Clapper's lie he lost hope to change things formally.<ref name="Viking"/>

== In popular culture ==
In the 2008 British television series [[The Last Enemy (TV series)|''The Last Enemy'']], TIA is portrayed as a UK-based surveillance database that can be used to track and monitor anybody by putting all available government information in one place.

== See also ==
* [[DARPA LifeLog|LifeLog]]
* [[Pre-crime]]
* [[Privacy laws of the United States]]
* [[Situation awareness]]

== References ==
{{Reflist}}

== External links ==
* [https://www.gpo.gov/fdsys/pkg/PLAW-108publ7/html/PLAW-108publ7.ht ''Consolidated Appropriations Resolution, 2003, Pub. L. No. 108-7, Division M, § 111(b)'']{{dead link|date=December 2017 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }}
* [https://epic.org/privacy/profiling/tia/may03_report.pdf Report to Congress Regarding the Terrorism Information Awareness Program]

{{Authority control}}

[[Category:Counterterrorism in the United States]]
[[Category:DARPA]]
[[Category:George W. Bush administration controversies]]
[[Category:Mass surveillance]]
[[Category:Management cybernetics]]
[[Category:Privacy in the United States]]
[[Category:Privacy of telecommunications]]
[[Category:Surveillance scandals]]