http://www.computerworld.com/securitytopic...1,86024,00.htmlAl Gore Talks About National Security
Story by Sumner Lemon
OCTOBER 14, 2003 ( IDG NEWS SERVICE ) - The relentless drive for more intrusive technology to help improve security may result in a society that is less secure, former Vice President Al Gore warned today at the Carnahan Conference on Security Technology in Taipei.
Advances in technology allow governments to track the activities of individuals more closely and collect greater amounts of information than ever before, Gore said. But greater access to information does not automatically result in greater security, he said.
The obstacle to improved security is not inadequate access to information but the inability of governments and law enforcement agencies to effectively analyze and process the information they already have, Gore said.
Citing the terrorist attacks in the U.S. on Sept. 11, 2001, as an example, Gore described how detailed information related to the hijackers, such as phone numbers, addresses and airline frequent-flier numbers, was available to U.S. authorities one week prior to the hijackings. But the government had no effective way of connecting the dots and preventing the Sept. 11 attacks because this information was held in different computer systems, he said.
"Sometimes there is a relentless push to acquire more information, and very little attention is given to how information already available is used," Gore said. "We should spend our time on enhancing and improving systems available for dealing with that information."
If information-gathering becomes too intrusive, these technologies may undermine the very freedoms they were intended to protect, Gore said. Governments need to strike a balance between protecting the privacy of citizens and allowing discretionary access to information that may provide evidence of terrorist plots or crimes.
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http://www.chinapost.com.tw/taiwan/detail....&GRP=D&id=20927Gore says U.S. seaports, nuclear plants at risk
2003/10/15
TAIPEI, Taiwan, AP
Former U.S. Vice President Al Gore warned yesterday that security is too lax at American seaports and nuclear plants because extra attention has been placed on protecting airports from terrorist attacks.
In a speech at a technology conference in Taipei, Gore also complained that security officials were neglecting intelligence information already at hand as they relentlessly pushed to collect more data.
Gore said U.S. databases had plenty of information about the hijackers involved in the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks in the United States, but officials failed to properly organize and analyze the information.
America is repeating the same mistakes now as it neglects security at seaports and nuclear installations, Gore said.
"All the attention on airports has come partly at the expense of the very little attention being paid to seaports," he said in his address at the 37th annual International Carnahan Conference on Security Technology.
"Where the safety of cities is concerned, most are quite vulnerable to weapons of mA* destruction or other threats to the population smuggled into seaports where security has been extremely lax," Gore said.
He also said that the U.S. agency responsible for protecting nuclear installations has "urgently requested" more security guards. But a hiring freeze has kept the agency from adding personnel, he said.
"Nuclear power plants and the facilities where nuclear weapons are produced and stored have not been the targets of terrorists in the past but that does not mean they will not be in the future," he said.
Looking a bit more portly than he did when he was in office, Gore opened his speech with a joke: "I am Al Gore. I used to be the next president of the United States of America."
He added, "My attitude is that you win some, you lose some and there's that little-known third category."
In the 2000 campaign, Gore lost the presidential bid after a controversial vote recount in the southern state of Florida. Many insist that he was the election's actual winner.