🚀 go-pugleaf

Email sent in response to a question on TIPS.  Seems the public outcry
dampened their enthusiasm(last paragraphs).  But never fear, the US
Chief of Paranoia, Ashcroft is not defeated, merely dredging up more
old How-tos from the KGB archives.

Date: Tue, 13 Aug 2002 16:55:52 -0400 (EDT)
From: citizencorps@fema.gov
To: xxx@pipeline.com
Subject: Operation TIPS Update, August 13, 2002 

Thank you for requesting information about Operation TIPS (Terrorism
Information and Prevention System) on the Citizen Corps website.  As
you are probably aware, TIPS is a hotline reporting system.  Unlike
other Citizen Corps programs, which invite the participation of the
general public, only those who work in the trucking, maritime,
shipping, and mass transit industries will be eligible to participate
in this information referral service. General information about the
program will continue to be available to the public; however, the TIPS
hotline number will only be provided to participating industries. 

Below is the most recent description of the proposed initiative that
we have released to correct some public misperceptions about the
program. 

OPERATION TIPS OVERVIEW 

This reporting system is being developed by the Department of Justice
in coordination with several other federal agencies, including the
Office of Homeland Security, the Department of Labor, the Federal
Bureau of Investigation, and FEMA, as a part of Citizen Corps.  The
program was announced in concept in January 2002 for the stated
purpose of creating a national information sharing system for specific
industry groups to report suspicious, publicly observable activity
that could be related to terrorism.  The program is scheduled to be
operational in the fall of 2002 as one of the new Citizen Corps
programs.  

The initiative's design is based on existing programs, such as Highway
Watch and Coast Watch, that allow truckers and ship captains to report
dangerous conditions along their routes.  In response to significant
demand among industry groups, Operation TIPS provide specific industry
groups a single phone number for reporting potentially
terrorist-related activities occurring in public areas. Industry
groups have looked to the Justice Department to offer a reliable and
cost-effective system that their workers could use to report
information to state, local, and federal law enforcement agencies
about unusual activities they might observe in the normal course of
their daily routines.  Similarly, law enforcement agencies have sought
a system for receiving terrorist tips that would avoid overburdening
the 911system. 

The Operation TIPS hotline would also offer some unique improvements
upon current systems by: 

* Providing a centralized telephone hotline and web-based reporting
system that automatically and immediately routes tips to appropriate
federal, state, and local law enforcement nationwide; 

* Providing specific industry groups with a means of reporting
non-emergency, potentially terrorist-related activity; and 

* Enabling law enforcement officials to "connect the dots" and take
appropriate action on potentially terrorist-related activities that
may be occurring simultaneously. 

Industries interested in participating would be given printed
materials on how to contact the reporting center, and would in turn
provide information and any training to their workers directly.  Many
industries already provide this type of information as part of their
security and job training. 

Operation TIPS would offer its hotline service to workers involved in
the transportation, trucking, shipping, maritime, and mass transit
industries.  Industry associations and groups in these areas would be
invited to receive information about the hotline so their workers
could participate in the program if they so choose.  Other industry
associations involved in the above-mentioned industries could also
seek participation by contacting the Department of Justice. 

* At the outset of the program, the Department of Justice planned to
engage the postal and utility industries to participate because their
workers maintain regular public routes in the communities they serve,
putting them in a unique position to recognize potentially dangerous
activity along transportation routes and in public places.  In
addition, the inclusion of postal workers and utility workers made
sense because they have been identified as targets for terrorism.
Postal workers in New Jersey and Washington, D.C. were victims of the
anthrax terrorist attacks last year, and postal workers across the
country were affected by the recent pipe bomb attacks.  As attacks on
utility plants and water systems could affect the public health and
safety of millions of people, these facilities have long been
considered prime targets of domestic and international terrorism.  The
Department never intended that workers calling the hotline would
report on anything other than publicly observable activities. However,
given the concerns raised during the program development phase about
safeguarding against all possibilities of invasion of individual
privacy, the Department of Justice has decided that the hotline number
will not be shared with any workers, including postal and utility
workers, whose work puts them in contact with homes and private
property. 

Thank you, again, for your interest. Additional information will be
provided as the Justice Department continues to develop the program. 

--------end email from FEMA--------------

Monte
"Today's public figures can no longer write their own speeches or books,
 and there is some evidence that they can't read them either." ---Gore Vidal