The Transportation Security Administration has invited proposals from contractors to perform advanced terrorist threat analysis of the agency’s job candidates and employees.
”The analysis should be able to confirm an individual’s identity using public records data, and use that confirmed identity to provide insight and information as to whether the individual presents a potential terrorist threat or has possible connections to potential terrorists,” the agency said in a procurement notice posted Dec. 17.
Makes sense to check your job applicants and employees, doesn’t it? Read on.
The Homeland Security Department agency said potential terrorists might not be on watch lists and might ”try to achieve relative obscurity by constructing typical lifestyles on U.S. soil. In so doing, they will develop an ‘electronic footprint’ of publicly available information that can be acquired and used as a key input for” terrorist threat analysis.
Some terrorists who have not established a significant or useful electronic footprint may still be detected by their lack of such a footprint, TSA said.
Follow the logic: you’re suspicious for leading a normal life and you’re suspicious for leading an unusual life (for having a ‘footprint’ or lacking one).
The procurement notice says the contractor should be able to analyze the records of at least 30,000 individuals in 120 days. Contractors will be required to provide a facility approved for top-secret work and employees with top-secret security clearances.
Responses to the solicitation were due yesterday afternoon.
Finally, note two things: the need to analyze 30,000 people in 120 days (must be planning a lot of job applicants at TSA). Also, this bid was open for exactly 1 week — probably only enough time for someone with lots of computing power and advance insider notice to put a bid together. Halliburton or EDS — which do you want spying on you? mjh