The Pentagon announced Wednesday that roughly 260 records in its TALON military counter-intelligence database were either improperly filed or should have been deleted. The figure represents less than two percent of the more than 13,000 total entries in the system, known as Cornerstone.
The Defense Department had ordered a review of the TALON program in December after critics accused the military of using it to monitor domestic anti-war activists. NBC News had earlier revealed that the database included reports on peace protesters, among them a note about Quakers in Florida planning a demonstration against military recruitment at local high schools.
Spokesman Bryan Whitman said some commanders had interpreted the program's force-protection mandate too broadly, using it to collect intelligence on anti-war groups with no terrorism connections. He said there was no evidence of deliberate misuse.
The TALON system is designed to collect unverified reports of suspicious activity inside the United States that may relate to international terrorism, drawing on base personnel, guards, and civilian observers. Deputy Defense Secretary Gordon England, while acknowledging the problems, affirmed the program's value and directed a senior intelligence official to recommend improvements by 15 September.
Going forward, supervisors must verify that incident reports meet established criteria before forwarding them, adding an extra layer of oversight to the process.
Historical summary. TurkishPress restated this wire report, first published in April 2006, in its own words.