Blast from the Past - Ben is too young to remember much about Iran-Contra affair of 1986 (yes, Ben, the one with Ollie North), but here comes his chance for a refresher. John Poindexter was the Navy vice admiral who, as Reagan's National Security Advisor, took the fall for Ronnie by claiming he didn't tell the president about North's arms-for-hostages scheme. (Clearly, Ben, he's no Condi Rice). A somewhat geeky figure with a doctorate in physics, no one would have ever expected him to confidently assert "I'll be back" when he was found guilty of conspiracy, obstruction of justice, and the destruction of evidence in 1990. However, the conviction was ultimately overturned, and earlier this year the Pentagon decided to rehabilitate Pointdexter my putting him in charge of an advanced research project called Total Information Awareness. (Read all about it in my buddy Shane's article in GovExec.com).

While stopping terrorists through nifty data mining technologies sounds good on paper, civil libertarians are up in arms and having ole Poindexter in command hasn't exactly calmed nerves. The latest press stories (and expected interest-group reaction) came this week in the wake of DoD briefings detailing TIA for the first time. (See TechNews.com's Filter for meta-coverage.) As blog readers will know, I don't get overly excited about government spooks tracking my activities -- since everyone from the bank to the grocery store pretty much knows all there is to know anyway. On the otherhand, there is something a little creepy about the project's name that conjures up machine self-awareness. I just hope Sarah Connor shows up in case we need her when they turn the damn thing on.