The Markle Foundation, a non-profit think tank based in New York, published on Monday its post-Sept. 11, 2001 study that recommends a new network-PC-based national infrastructure to ensure homeland security.
The University's Miller Center for Public Affairs and Law Prof. Daniel Ortiz were involved with the seven-month project.
Philip Zelikow, director of the Miller Center, served as executive director for the study.
Over 30 public and private organizations from the national security, academic and information technology sectors cooperated on the task force that compiled the report.
The report, titled "Protecting America's Freedom in the Information Age," makes recommendations on how the government can develop effective computerized intelligence networks while preserving the civil liberties of individuals.
"Our task force is the first time that intelligence veterans and leading civil liberties experts have joined together in a common task force," Zelikow said. "The civil liberties experts are endorsing this because if you design the computer architecture in such a way that it respects people's privacy, you'll do much better than the way we're doing it now, with no sort of guidance about what to collect."
The report recommends that at the national level, law enforcement should be the domain of the Department of Justice and the FBI while the new Department of Homeland Security should focus on gathering domestic intelligence.
Zelikow said the task force concluded that law enforcement and intelligence groups at all levels should have access to the same information networks.
Additionally, law enforcement should concentrate on situations involving individuals while leaving the collection of overall intelligence patterns to intelligence-focused groups.
"The people who do law enforcement and have the arrest power are rightly focused on making cases against individual people on the street," Zelikow said. "If you give them the lead role in gathering and analyzing information about so many aspects of American society, that worries people about having that information gathered all in one place."
The Miller Center became involved in the project during its brainstorming stages.
"Philip Zelikow, who has extensive background in the study of terrorism, was already thinking about how we could best contribute to understanding what we could do to protect ourselves," said Margaret Edwards, director of external relations at the Miller Center.
Rather than building large databases of information supported by single systems in large cities, the task force recommends using the combined power of network PCs around the country to harness the increasingly technology-trained population that is filling the ranks of government intelligence and law enforcement agencies.
Zelikow believes that this sort of dispersed national network of information is a security trend that will become more common in the future.
"What we're trying to do is try to get the grown-ups to understand what the new generation already understands, which is that we need a next-generation infrastructure," Zelikow said. "Of the people who are actually working at the system, a lot of them are younger people and are computer-savvy. What we really need to do is empower them and give them an information system that lets them loose."
The report, which is available online at markletaskforce.org, already has been introduced to lawmakers.
Read More
Bert Ellis reflects on time as member of Board of Visitors
By Cecilia Mould | 1 hours agoWhile Ellis entered the Board with certain priorities in mind, he said that most had not been accomplished during his term, without a majority of Youngkin appointees on the Board.
Visa status restored for one international student and two recent University graduates
By Jackie Bond | YesterdayAccording to a statement from University Spokesperson Bethanie Glover, the University learned of the visa terminations of the current student and two alumni April 4
Students react to President Ryan signing national letter defending higher education
By Brendon Bordwine | YesterdayWhile some students praised the move as a stand for academic freedom, others questioned its impact amid recent DEI rollbacks and safety concerns
