New rules expand US intelligence access to data

Washington, March 23, 2012 - President Barack Obama's administration has adopted new guidelines that allow US counterterrorism agents to keep information acquired from other federal agencies for up to five years.

 The new guidelines were adopted in part in response to intelligence lapses ahead of the 2009 Fort Hood military base shooting and the foiled underwear bomb plot to blow up a plane on Christmas Day 2009, the government said.

 They will allow the National Counterterrorism Center (NCTC) to hold onto a trove of information from other federal agencies -- including on Americans not suspected of terrorism -- for five years as opposed to 180 days.

 The NCTC said the new guidelines will allow it to Òretain certain datasets that are likely to contain significant terrorism information and are already in the lawful custody and control of other federal agencies for up to five years.Ó The NCTC said the new process -- announced yesterday -- would be under Òrobust oversightÓ and would not compromise civil liberties or privacy rights.

 But Michael German, of the American Civil Liberties Union, was quoted in the Washington Post as saying that the purpose of such safeguards is to ensure that the Òrobust tools that we give the military and intelligence community to protect Americans from foreign threats aren't directed back against Americans.Ó ÒWatering down those rules raises significant concerns that US persons are being targeted or swept up in these collection programs and can be harmed by continuing investigations for as long as these agencies hold the data.Ó US intelligence agencies have spent much of the last decade working to improve the sharing of information after bureaucratic feuding was identified as a major factor in failing to prevent the September 11, 2001 attacks.

 ÒFollowing the failed terrorist attack in December 2009, representatives of the counterterrorism community concluded it is vital for NCTC to be provided with a variety of datasets from various agencies that contain terrorism information,Ó Director of National Intelligence James Clapper said.

 ÒThe ability to search against these datasets for up to five years on a continuing basis as these updated guidelines permit will enable NCTC to accomplish its mission more practically and effectively.