TIPOFF

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The U.S. Department of State announced on September 16, 2003, that its TIPOFF Program, "which contains over 100,000 names of potential terrorists, will form the basis for both" the Terrorist Threat Integration Center and Terrorist Screening Center databases. This move is intended to combine the TIPOFF program with "the knowledge" of the FBI, Department of Justice, Intelligence Community, and Department of Homeland Security.

According to September 23, 2003, Testimony by John Brennan, Director of the Terrorist Threat Integration Center (TTIC) before the United States Senate Committee on the Judiciary Information Sharing and Coordination for Visa Issuance, on "Our First Line of Defense for Homeland Security":

Homeland Security Presidential Directive 6 (HSPD 6)(Integration and Use of Screening Information) "and the associated Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) signed by Secretaries Colin L. Powell and Tom Ridge, Director George J. Tenet, and Attorney General John Ashcroft, have substantially improved the terrorist watchlisting process. Under this initiative, TTIC is given specific responsibilities which impact on information sharing with the Department of State relating to visa issuance and the revocation process."
  • HSPD6 "directs the Attorney General to develop a single terrorist screening database to support various federal, state and local screening processes."[1]
"HSPD 6 and the associated MOU clearly define TTIC's role, as well as its interaction with the Department of State. Section 28 of the MOU states that "the Director of the TTIC will promptly assume responsibility for the functions and personnel of the Department of State's TIPOFF counterterrorist program, less those components devoted to providing operational support to TIPOFF users and will ensure that all terrorist identity information contained within the TIPOFF database is fully integrated into the TTIC database."
"As defined in the HSPD and associated MOU, the production component of TIPOFF will become part of TTIC, in which State, of course, is a full partner, and the dissemination/operational support function will merge with the Terrorist Screening Center. TTIC will become the sole provider of international terrorist identities information to the Terrorist Screening Center."

On October 8, 2002, Business Objects announced that the company was "Continuing to play a strategic role in the nation's homeland security efforts." Business Objects's "WebIntelligence® [had] been selected as the web-based query and reporting platform for the U.S. State Department's TIPOFF system. TIPOFF, developed by The Analysis Corporation in Fairfax, Virginia, provides federal agencies with a common database where they can share information of all kinds relating to possible terrorist threats, activities, and identities.

"Initially conceived as a strategic 'in-house' system for the U.S. State Department, the events of September 11, 2001, changed these plans dramatically. The Analysis Corporation worked closely with Business Objects to develop a new version of the TIPOFF Program that extends the solution to counter-terrorist agencies around the globe."

"Using WebIntelligence from Business Objects, TIPOFF users can easily access counter-terrorism intelligence data using a simple web browser and perform ad-hoc queries and reporting. For example, federal agencies can compare information from U.S. Visa applications against the counter-terrorism data in TIPOFF to help prevent suspected terrorists from gaining entry into the U.S."

Also see September 16, 2003, U.S. Department of Justice Terrorist Screening Center "Fact Sheet".

Related SourceWatch Resources

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