Controversy returns to haunt architect of terror futures plan.

By Peter Kammerer Foreign Editor.

31 July 2003
South China Morning Post
10

Poindexter first made the headlines for questionable role in Iran-Contra 
scandal The row over the Pentagon's plan to develop a futures market in 
possible terrorist acts has once again snared John Poindexter in controversy.

Mr Poindexter is the head of the Pentagon's Terrorism Information Awareness 
office, which developed the software as part of the plan to help the US 
predict when and where terrorists will strike.

A former US national security adviser, Mr Poindexter first hit the headlines 
for his role in the 1980s Iran-Contra scandal.

Even before the furore over the terrorism futures market blew up this week 
he had been targeted by journalists, opposition Democratic Party politicians 
and even computer hackers who questioned why he was given such a sensitive 
position in the Pentagon last year.

Mr Poindexter, a retired navy admiral, was the vice-president of government 
contractor Syntek Technologies when appointed to his present post last year. 
The company had been working with the agency to develop Genoa, a computer 
programme described by experts as a cross between the internet search engine 
Google and the peer-to-peer file-sharing software Napster. Its developers 
aimed to carry out surveillance through internet information harvesting. 
Congress has previously raised security concerns about the scheme.

Internet pranksters used his same methods of data investigation to criticise 
his appointment.

In a protest the hackers published Mr Poindexter's personal information, 
including his social security number, address and home telephone number, on 
internet sites. The Terrorism Information Awareness office was established 
in the wake of the September 11 terrorist attacks under the Pentagon's 
Defence Research Projects Agency. It aims to root out potential terrorists 
by electronically gathering, collating and then analysing information from 
sources such as credit cards, travel, health and school records. The data is 
gathered from internet sites and phone and fax lines.

Mr Poindexter, 66, along with Oliver North and other Reagan administration 
officials illegally sold weapons to Iran and used the proceeds to fund 
Contra rebels in Nicaragua.

When the scandal broke, Mr Poindexter lost his job as national security 
adviser and was convicted of conspiracy, lying to Congress, defrauding the 
government and destroying evidence.

The convictions were overturned in 1990 under the presidency of President 
George W. Bush's father. Congress gave Mr Poindexter immunity in exchange 
for testimony, even though that later proved to be false.

Mr Poindexter was appointed national security adviser in December 1985. He 
held the job until being dismissed following the breaking of the Iran-Contra 
story a year later and resigned from the National Security Council in 
November 1986. He was indicted in March 1988 on seven federal offence 
charges stemming from the scandal, convicted on five and sentenced to six 
months in jail. The convictions were overturned.

The chairman of Democrats Abroad Hong Kong, Michael Ceurvorst, said 
yesterday a surprising number of officials from Republican president Gerald 
Ford's administration in the mid-1970s were now serving under Mr Bush. They 
had also served under Mr Reagan and Mr Bush's father. "To understand this 
administration, you need to understand the politics of association and in 
Poindexter's case, (is he) guilty or not," Mr Ceurvorst said.