2003 SESSION

03-0710

05/09

HOUSE CONCURRENT RESOLUTION 9

ANALYSIS

This resolution urges the President and the Joint Chiefs of Staff to abandon the Total Information Awareness Initiative.

03-0710

05/09

STATE OF NEW HAMPSHIRE

In the Year of Our Lord Two Thousand Three

Whereas, our nation and our state were founded to escape and prevent tyranny by the establishment of multiple checks upon the power of our respective governments, and by the careful restraint of our military's power over our civilian population; and

Whereas, the Department of Defense of the United States of America is now exploring a program named Total Information Awareness which would attempt to requisition and correlate every existing private and public database on our nation's individual citizens and residents; and

Whereas, these databases are said to include those of credit records, employment histories, gun registries, medical records, educational records, drivers' licenses, catalog purchases, civil lawsuits, criminal proceedings, Social Security information, professional licenses, passport applications, civil and military service dossiers, bank accounts, computerized road toll records, IRS records, insurance records, savings and debt transactions, airline travel, FBI and police dossiers, video and cable viewing records, surveillance cameras, computer activity records, and library records; and

Whereas, this degree of government knowledge of the lives of ordinary Americans, and potential control of their individual data, could be devastating to our liberty and our republic, if ever used for personal or political gain by individual government employees, or by a future commander in chief or agency head for control of legitimate domestic dissent, political activity, key economic actors, or the media; and

Whereas, even under the assumption that no future office-holder would be tempted by the illegitimate abuse of this vast power over the citizenry, the temptation to extend its use into the civilian concerns of ordinary crime would be difficult to resist and effectively abolish all constitutional guarantees against government searches and seizures; now, therefore, be it

Resolved by the House of Representatives, the Senate concurring:

That the Commander in Chief and the Joint Chiefs of Staff of the United States of America are strongly urged to abandon the attempt to implement the Total Information Awareness program; and

That copies of this resolution be forwarded by the house clerk to each member of the New Hampshire congressional delegation, the President of the United States, and the Joint Chiefs of Staff in Arlington, Virginia.