Datamining at the Center of Gonzales Controversy

Back in 2004, the Bush Administration was developing a massive new program, called "Total Information Awareness," which would allow the government to collect massive amounts of data on ordinary citizens in one large database. The program was so controversial, the conservative (and libertarian) Cato Institute warned that it would "breakdown the stovepipes" that separate commercial and government databases. It so alarmed both liberals and conservatives that it was soon shuttered.

(For more on the Total Information Awareness program, just google the phrase.)

Now the New York Times is reporing that the big dispute Alberto Gonzales and Andy Card had with John Ashcroft in the hostpital was about a much wider surveillance program than just wiretapping. The article doesn't use the phrase, but I assume it must be referring to the Total Information Awareness program.

A 2004 dispute over the National Security Agency’s secret surveillance program that led top Justice Department officials to threaten resignation involved computer searches through massive electronic databases, according to current and former officials briefed on the program.

It is not known precisely why searching the databases, or data mining, raised such a furious legal debate. But such databases contain records of the phone calls and e-mail messages of millions of Americans, and their examination by the government would raise privacy issues.

But Congressional Democrats argue that Gonzales may still have committed purjury, since Total Information Awareness is considered part of the larger program.

But members of the Senate Intelligence Committee, who have been briefed on the program, called the testimony deceptive.

“I’ve had the opportunity to review the classified matters at issue here, and I believe that his testimony was misleading at best,” said Senator Russ Feingold, Democrat of Wisconsin, joining three other Democrats in calling Thursday for a perjury investigation of Mr. Gonzales.

“This has gone on long enough,” Mr. Feingold said. “It is time for a special counsel to investigate whether criminal charges should be brought.”

The senators’ comments, along with those of other members of Congress briefed on the program, suggested that they considered the eavesdropping and data mining so closely tied that they were part of a single program. Both activities, which ordinarily require warrants, were started without court approval as the Bush administration intensified counterterrorism efforts soon after the Sept. 11 attacks.

So it appears the scandal is expanding, but Gonzales may in as much jeopardy as ever.