JURIST - Paper Chase: DOD to check if program broke Vietnam-era rules against monitoring peace protestors

[JURIST] Officials from the US Department of Defense [official website] have said that they will review its TALON program [Wired report], which gathers information about potential threats to military facilities, after an NBC News report disclosed that the database also includes information on peace protesters and others whose shouldn't have been in the database. Officials said that the Pentagon has a legitimate interest in gathering information about possible threats to bases and troops, but acknowledged that it is possible that the database has not been properly maintained. The Pentagon review will focus on whether Defense Department officials broke regulations [PDF text] adopted after the Vietnam War that limit what information the military can collect about people and activities taking place inside the US. According to the Pentagon, information that is "not validated as threatening" must be removed from the TALON database within 90 days. Thursday's Washington Post has more.

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