A project of the Pentagon to allow it to detect terrorism by electroni-cally monitoring foreigners in the United States. The original plan allowed the Pentagon to investigate U.S. citizens as well, but in February 2003, Congress disallowed that. The data is gathered by looking at a variety of electronic records of tools people use every day, such as e‑mail, ATM systems, online shopping purchases, online travel reservations, cell phone networks, credit card usage, and electronic toll-collection systems. To monitor the activity of sus-
pected terrorists, the Pentagon uses software technology to weave data into a form useful for anti-terrorism activities. This includes comparing electronic travel reservations with surveillance camera information at airports, along with credit card and phone calling records. Such information is fed into software that attempts to link activities together. The project is overseen by John M. Poindexter, President Ronald ReaganÂ’s former national security advisor. Formerly called Total Information Awareness.