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Dead Constitution See other Dead Constitution Articles Title: Perry aide has data on Texans [sieg heil] AUSTIN – The Homeland Security Division of the governor's office has pieced together a mammoth database that contains information on more than 1 million Texans, covering everything from traffic tickets to more serious run-ins with police. The operation has been overseen for the last two years by Steve McCraw, who reports directly to Gov. Rick Perry. He is not a certified police officer, although he has an extensive law enforcement background. Such extensive data collection raises privacy worries, civil libertarians say, especially when thousands of law-enforcement officials across the state have access to the information. They also question whether the data is secure enough. But aides to the governor hail the project as a major tool to fight terrorism and crime. The database is a compilation of reports from 62 law-enforcement agencies in Texas and contains hundreds of millions of pieces of information. It's designed as a central repository for police actions that can be accessed on the same system by police agencies from the Panhandle to the Valley. Lawmakers said Friday that are concerned about a civilian in a political office having control over so much sensitive information on individuals. Several said they'll seek to move control of the database from the governor's office, and others want to fold the Division of Homeland Security into the Department of Public Safety. In response, the governor's office said the program has been based in and operated by the DPS – the state's premier law-enforcement agency. Mr. McCraw gave a December 2005 letter to key lawmakers that states that the DPS was officially designated as the project manager in charge of information and its security. Lawmakers get involved But in testimony before the House State Affairs Committee on Friday, the director of DPS told legislators that the project is run by Mr. McCraw. "For a very short time – a week or a month – DPS might have been kinda in charge of that project. It was given back to Mr. McCraw and the governor's office at their request," Col. Tommy Davis said. Col. Davis said 7,000 to 8,000 police-connected officials have access to the database. Krista Moody, a spokeswoman for the governor, said the Texas Data Exchange, known as TDEx, is a voluntary sharing of information by police under the auspices of the Division of Emergency Management, which is part of DPS and is overseen by a DPS employee. But that employee, Jack Colley, reports directly to Mr. McCraw. Security defended Mr. McCraw told the committee that the system is secure. He is the only person in the governor's office with access to it, which he obtained after being designated a law-enforcement agent in his role as head of homeland security in the state, he said. "This is a great Texas success story," Mr. McCraw told the committee. "We know there's been a little resistance to it. But there has to be recognition that times have changed." In the post-9/11 world, police agencies must be able to easily share information, Mr. McCraw said. And he hopes that eventually, open cases, investigations and information from police sources might make it into the database. "This is not just about terrorism prevention. It's about stopping kidnappers and rapists," he said. Both the Dallas Police Department and Dallas County Sheriff's Office said they appreciate the database and would submit information for its use. "Any wanted person that we're looking for, we can put an alert in there. If they're arrested by a participating agency, then it automatically e-mails you when they get picked up," said Dallas police Lt. Todd Thomasson. Michael Ortiz, a spokesman for the sheriff's office, said the department will start feeding its files into the system in May. 'Big Brother' Civil libertarians said the database is "a Big Brother nightmare," and will be even more troubling if it expands into uncorroborated tips, rumors and accusations, "We've been opposing the data mining and private breaches coming from the federal government for the past five years. We didn't anticipate the state governor would overstep the excesses of the federal government," said Will Harrell, state director of the American Civil Liberties Union. He said that while police powers have greatly expanded since 9/11, TDEx replicates information available through the National Criminal Information Center, run by the FBI. Access to that information is available only to certified law-enforcement personnel, he said, and there are criminal penalties for its misuse. TDEx doesn't have the same security system, and questions abound about how and what data is obtained, and who has access to it, Mr. Harrell said. "This data could be used for political purposes for now and in the future," he said. The Texas Observer revealed much of the information about TDEx in a story posted late Thursday on its Web site. It outlined the development of the database and the questions about adequate security. Private contractors were used to compile the information, and they were given access to the information before background and fingerprint checks were performed on them, as required by the federal government. In addition, contracts involving sensitive criminal information that use federal funding must be overseen by a criminal justice agency, which the Division of Homeland Security is not. The Observer reported that Northrop Grummanwas paid $1.4 million to group traffic tickets, DPS criminal law-enforcement data, Texas Rangers information, prison records, consumer records and Louisiana State Police information into a centralized computer server. Katrina evacuees Mr. McCraw told lawmakers that the plan was to track Katrina evacuees who were sex offenders, charged with crimes or on parole. But computer security flaws left little control over who entered the system or what users changed or did once they entered. Its operation was suspended by DPS. The program, on which more than $3.6 million in state and federal funds has been spent, is now being run by Appriss. On Friday, Col. Davis said DPS isn't resistant to the project, but feels that it needs to be carefully controlled. "The tension was the rules and regulations that DPS insisted upon being in place, and those controls are in place and that's why we're participating in the database. It has to have been monitored and it has to have restrictions on input and access," Col. Davis said. Two Houston Democrats on the State Affairs Committee, Rep. Rick Noriega and Rep. Jessica Farrar, buffeted Mr. McCraw with questions about the database being operated by a nonlaw-enforcement division and trusting private contractors with the information. Rep. Richard Raymond, D-Laredo, introduced a bill Friday that would mandate DPS as the only state agency that can develop or maintain TDEx. "There is no right greater as an American citizen than the right to privacy," he said. "This basic right has been put in jeopardy by the governor's reckless and improper handling of Texans' personal information." Staff writer Tanya Eiserer in Dallas contributed to this report.
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