AP: Terrorist Hunters Sifted Student Data

[Newsjock]

http://www.thekansascitychannel.com/education/9770937/detail.html

WASHINGTON, D.C. -- For the past five years an office in the Education Department has scanned through its databases of millions of students' federal financial aid and college enrollment records in search of terrorist names supplied by the FBI.

The effort, dubbed "Project Strike Back," was created by the Education Department's Office of Inspector General after the terror attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, to expand the office's mission to include counterterrorism.

At the time, investigators believed some funding for the 9/11 attacks came from identity theft and fraud, criminal activity the Education Department had experience investigating, according to an internal memo obtained through a Freedom of Information Act request.

... The joint venture abruptly ended this summer, 10 days after Medill School of Journalism reporters interviewed the special agent who oversaw the data mining program.

[indepat]

1. The enemy within strikes again at the very heart and soul of liberty

and freedom, making a mockery of the home of the brave and free?

[unhappycamper]

2. Total Information Awareness is alive and well.

The joint effort with the FBI was just one of 24 data mining initiatives run by the Education Department, which ranks fourth out of all federal agencies in terms of the number of data mining programs it runs, according to a 2004 survey by the Government Accountability Office, Congress' auditing branch.

[UpInArms]

10. here's where that NCLB comes in with it 99.9% pure bullshit

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=102x2488060

[rodeodance]

3. so, the snoopy ended (so they say) AFTER it was discovered,

[truthisfreedom]

4. like we believe any of this shit is over.

they will be mining our personal data forever, now that the thugs are in office.

[MissWaverly]

5. They can't find Osama

but they know who orders the crispy beef Chinese Takeout at Sigma Chi, is this democracy?
Did these people commit a crime to get on this list??? And where IS Osama?

[aquart]

6. Osama is their ally, not their enemy.

They know who their enemy is: the people of the United States. And they intend to be ready.

[MissWaverly]

7. Of course, where would they be w/o the Fear Factor

[Canuckistanian]

8. Terrorist hunters, yeah, right

More like crotch-sniffers.

[zreosumgame]

9. terrorist names like Ted Kennedy?

or Randy Rhodes? guess they have a quota to fill for the 'no fly' list

[InkAddict]

19. No, not celebs, ordinary Americans

who have leveraged Student Loans for their own and/or their children's education against real estate or 401(k)s? If PNAC datamines/analyzes closely, they could find those most vunerable to this set up: undermine employment causing credit issues which circularly would prohibit employment which could then cause foreclosures of mortgages and cash-outs (gee, it might even cause the breakup of the family unit, the D-word, thereby creating increases in the need for 2 rental units instead of one stable mortgage). By "working closely" with execs at the top of lenders/banking organizations, funds once hoped by everyday Americans to fund repayment of the undischargeable student loan and/or create a small portfolio (capital gains from RE sales not taxed after age 65) at the time of downsizing back to a single apartment/condo unit, the theives could reclaim their corporate domestic costs to wage this phony/created "war on terror" by traumatizing/terrorizing average Americans.

[Judi Lynn]

11. Student loans used to probe terror suspects

Sept. 1, 2006, 12:10AM
Student loans used to probe terror suspects

By RICHARD B. SCHMITT
Los Angeles Times

WASHINGTON — The Education Department acknowledged on Thursday that, at the request of the FBI, it had scoured millions of federal student loan records for information about suspected terrorists in the five years since the Sept. 11 attacks.

The data-mining — known as "Project Strike Back" — was aimed at determining whether terrorism suspects had illegally obtained college aid to finance their operations through identity theft or other means.
(snip)

But the idea of the government trolling through massive databases containing information on ordinary citizens has concerned privacy advocates.

The FBI said the searches were triggered by intelligence indicating that terrorists were exploiting student visas and loan programs.
(snip/...)

http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/nation/4156183.html

[indepat]

12. We can believe anything Gonzales' FBI says

[keopeli]

13. Exploiting student visas and loan programs?

I've received a big bundle of college aid from both public and private sources. I can't imagine that a terrorist is going to think this is a good way to easy money!!! Sneak into America, get an ID and apply for student aid. You'll get it, no questions asked.

Even if they did manage to take this route, as the "intelligence" says, where are the fruits of these investigations?

For "some intelligence" I have my records rifled through by the government?

Something's up. This sounds like a pro-active measure toward justifying invasion of privacy by the Bush Administration.

What is Gonzales up to?

Will some reporter please ask for results of what their thorough search of my private records has yielded. Any good leads? Have you captured anybody yet that you can tell us about? And if so, why aren't you telling us? How long is it supposed to take to follow up on these leads?

Wouldn't it behoove you to let us know how you're progressing on the home front regarding terrorists? Results! We've spent trillions of dollars and our grandkid's money to stop terrorism - how's it going? Where are the terrorists? Are they truly hidden in a dark place in some eastern european country? And have we really tortured them all? Is that our legacy?

So show us some of the fruits of your labors.

I feel more vulnerable today than I did 6 years ago, not less.

Our military is off fighting your father's war.

Palestine is erupting and Iran, by any other name, is moving in.

The middle east is in crisis, with hundreds of deaths daily because of our war. Other crisis are about to erupt.

Yet you are taking the time to look through my STUDENT LOANS to find a bomber?!?!

Either things are much, much worse than we're being led to believe, or someone has seriously crossed the line.

Where's the good news in any of this? Are we to assume that Bush is hiding all the good news from us because it might compromise our security?

And, on a side note, what are those three "Shakespeares" you read the other day? Inquiring minds want to know. Is that how you clear your mind of all the terribly difficult decisions you have to make every day? Reading books?

[magellan]

14. Where does it end?

It's not just student loans; can't be using this logic. Any terrorist who's obtained the bonafides to apply for a student loan can also apply for a mortgage, a car loan, a home loan, credit cards...In this country, the sky's the limit on how much debt you can rack up as long as you can provide the credentials. So what do BushCo intend to do, rifle through every last bit of financial information on every American? What a fecking fishing expedition.

Bush** says "Trust me" and expects that if he wants a look we'll understand it's for our own good. And of course it'll be safe -- kind of like the millions of veterans records that were lost, or all the personal info the big data companies keep losing. Might as well swap all that info with your neighbors because that's about how private it'll be from now on.

Right to privacy? HA! Not in GWB**'s Amerika!!

[TreasonousBastard]

15. Just how incredibly stupid is this...

since it's become incredibly difficult for foreign students to get visas, and who gave student loans to foreign students anyway?

Millions of loans? That's not foreign students, that's born in the US students who now have the FBI wasting time digging through their records.

Assuming they're not simply dumb as a bag of hammers and doing stupid stuff just to say they're doing something, what the hell do they REALLY expect to find in all those records?

[EFerrari]

16. So, how do we chill the heavy lifters of most progressive movements?

Well, Al, let's compromise student loans.

[EnviroBat]

17. Well!

I'd better stop paying back my student loan I guess, until they get all of this terrah straightened out!

[AnneD]

18. Chill out...

They are trying to find the next keg party

[yellowcanine]

20. "in search of terrorist names supplied by the FBI." Let me guess. If your

name is Muhammed you get "flagged" by the data mining operation and you get a visit from two friendly men wearing bad suits with funny bulges asking lots of questions like, "When did you last visit Pakistan or Afghanistan?"

[deadparrot]

21. Education Department shared hundreds of students' data with FBI

The U.S. Department of Education shared personal information on hundreds of student loan applicants with the FBI across a five-year period that began after the Sept. 11 terror attacks, the agencies said Thursday.

Under the program, called Project Strikeback, the Education Department received names from the FBI and checked them against its student aid database, forwarding information. Each year, the Education Department collects information from 14 million applications for federal student aid.

Neither agency would say whether any investigations resulted. The agencies said the program had been closed. The effort was reported Thursday by a graduate student, Laura McGann, at the Medill School of Journalism at Northwestern University as part of a reporting project that focused on national security and civil liberties.

In a statement, Mary Mitchelson, counsel to the inspector general of the Education Department, said, "Using names provided by the bureau, we examined the Department of Education's student financial aid databases to determine if the individuals received or applied for federal student financial assistance."

http://www.indystar.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20060901/NEWS06/609010446/-1/ZONES04

[MikeyJones]

22. With the permission of the student I'm so sure.....

:sarcasm:

[Demeter]

23. And This Is Surprising How?

No Child Left Behind means get their behinds in the Army--by bribe or blackmail or sheer lies.

[tabasco]

24. See below.

[miketorse]

25. It's sad...

It's sad that I am not surprised.