After heavy criticism and action by Congress to prohibit it, a Bush administration proposal to develop a network of anti-terrorism tipsters, including truckers, is being scaled back.
According to the Associated Press, the Justice Department modified the plan to exclude people form the program that often have access to people’s homes, such as meter readers or postal workers. Instead, the Terrorism Information and Prevention System will focus on workers who operate on the highways, such as truckers, and at the ports of entry.
The American Civil Liberties Union says any form of the program is a breach of public trust. The U.S. House of Representatives has passed legislation forbidding the program, and a companion bill is pending in the Senate.
The news came at the same time as a group of 50 truckers in Pennsylvania joined the Highway Watch program, part of which encourages truckers to report suspicious activity to authorities.
The Highway Watch program, administered by the American Trucking Associations and now under way in 13 states, began in 1998 as a way for truckers to alert authorities to dangerous road conditions and stranded motorists. The ATA added the antiterrorism component after the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks last year.
So far, 2,000 truckers nationwide are authorized, after special training, to report suspicious activity to a toll-free number. Dispatchers then direct calls to the appropriate federal or state law enforcement agency. Since the national program began in April, the call center has logged about 100 calls, most of them safety-related.
Pennsylvania Homeland Security Director Earl Freilino told the Philadelphia Inquirer that Highway Watch, unlike TIPS, is “noninvasive” because the surveillance is targeted at public areas, not around people’s homes.
Some of the kinds of activities truckers are encouraged to report, according to the paper, include someone placing a package by a bridge or under a vehicle and people photographing potential targets such as bridges or tunnels – but not people who just “look like a terrorist,” which could lead to racial and ethnic profiling.
According to the Associated Press, the Justice Department modified the plan to exclude people form the program that often have access to people’s homes, such as meter readers or postal workers. Instead, the Terrorism Information and Prevention System will focus on workers who operate on the highways, such as truckers, and at the ports of entry.
The American Civil Liberties Union says any form of the program is a breach of public trust. The U.S. House of Representatives has passed legislation forbidding the program, and a companion bill is pending in the Senate.
The news came at the same time as a group of 50 truckers in Pennsylvania joined the Highway Watch program, part of which encourages truckers to report suspicious activity to authorities.
The Highway Watch program, administered by the American Trucking Associations and now under way in 13 states, began in 1998 as a way for truckers to alert authorities to dangerous road conditions and stranded motorists. The ATA added the antiterrorism component after the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks last year.
So far, 2,000 truckers nationwide are authorized, after special training, to report suspicious activity to a toll-free number. Dispatchers then direct calls to the appropriate federal or state law enforcement agency. Since the national program began in April, the call center has logged about 100 calls, most of them safety-related.
Pennsylvania Homeland Security Director Earl Freilino told the Philadelphia Inquirer that Highway Watch, unlike TIPS, is “noninvasive” because the surveillance is targeted at public areas, not around people’s homes.
Some of the kinds of activities truckers are encouraged to report, according to the paper, include someone placing a package by a bridge or under a vehicle and people photographing potential targets such as bridges or tunnels – but not people who just “look like a terrorist,” which could lead to racial and ethnic profiling.
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