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Reviews provisions of information-related laws in light of the September 11th attacks and their impact on civil liberties. Highlights include the USA Patriot Act of 2001; law enforcement and the ECPA (Electronic Communications Privacy Act); intelligence and the FISA (Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act of 1978); implications for information professionals; and National Security Letters (NSL). (LRW)

Provides an update of new court cases related to Part IV of the series on Information and the War Against Terrorism. Discusses civil liberties versus security involving the legality of mandatory commercial use of biometrics as identification; and communication of privileged information between a person and his or her attorney. (LRW)

Discussion of information and the war on terrorism following the September 11th attacks focuses on a survey of legal provisions and new security-related practices in government and business as security competes with civil liberties. Topics include the Fourth Amendment overseas; Department of Justice legal initiatives; military tribunals; security versus privacy; and immigration. (Author/LRW)

Considers the legal response to terrorism following the September 11th attacks and questions whether American intelligence and law enforcement are positioned to protect the public in an effective manner. Highlights include the business of intelligence; the collection of information; use of technology; the need to improve information sharing; and the need for a strategic approach. (LRW)

The article focuses on the 16 provisions of the USA Patriot Act that will "sunset" or automatically terminate on December 31, 2005, unless re-authorized by U.S. Congress. These few provisions that are under consideration constitute a very small and somewhat arbitrary choice of sections from this expansive Act, which extends to 1016 sections over a total of 131 pages. In point of fact, many of the government activities of civil liberties concern are simply not part of the pending debate. This omission is because they are predicated on other sections of the Act that will continue in full force or because they have been pursued by the Administration independent of the Act. Although the debate is limited in law, one fact is clear: the issue of civil liberties is of concern to average Americans, especially when their attention is focused on the issue, as well as to a substantial number of members of Congress on both sides of the aisle. Hundreds of local jurisdictions have voted to oppose the Act, bills in Congress to restrict specific Patriot Act provisions in the past have failed just by a tie vote, and the public, according to opinion polls, believes the U.S. Federal Bureau of Investigation is intruding on their privacy.

Discusses the protection of computer network security in colleges and universities in the U.S. Percentage of higher education institutions that have a chief information technology security officer; Comparison between information security and computer security; Distinction between database security and communication security.

This article examines perhaps the most critical topic in the debate--intelligence performance and suggests that, although there has been a fundamental misunderstanding of intelligence, there is most significantly a dysfunctional information space in which to conduct effective analysis of the terrorism threat. In this article, author identifies two general problems: data disintegration and analytical capability. The recurring demand for "actionable intelligence," a term that first emerged in the media in the context of the Somalia debacle some 10 years ago, is consistently offered as both a criticism and a rationale for inaction. All too often, the intelligence question cannot be resolved as a matter of logic because it depends on predictive information that could prevent another terrorist attack on the U.S. The single most significant challenge facing IT in the intelligence community is this environment enterprises with hundreds of isolated, stove-piped applications that manage redundant data and don't communicate effectively, if at all, with each other. INSETS: A NOTE ABOUT THE DEFINITION AND CATEGORIES OF INTELLIGENCE.;A NOTE ABOUT DATA SECURITY.;A NOTE ABOUT PROGRAM MANAGEMENT AND IPV.;FAILURE OF THE ANALYTICAL BASE: AIRPLANES AS WEAPONS.

Part II. Discusses the policies on public access to government information in the U.S. Changes that affect the balance between open access and national security on the one hand and open access and personal privacy on the other; Legal and policy issues at play in the protection both of corporate data and customer data held by business. INSETS: Research and Further Information Guide.;Research and Further Information Guide..