Albuquerque Journal (New Mexico)

August 2, 2003 Saturday

SECTION: FINAL; Pg. A8

LENGTH: 308 words

HEADLINE: Architect of Terrorist Betting Site Must Go

BODY:
EDITORIALS

The Pentagon's FutureMAP Web site -- an attempt to predict terrorist attacks by
tracking speculative bets -- has been pulled from the Internet after pressure
from Congress.

Democratic legislators called the scheme "grotesque," "a futures market in
death," and, in Senate Democratic Leader Tom Daschle's words, "an incentive
actually to commit acts of terrorism." Republican leaders of the Senate's
intelligence and appropriations committees agreed the program should be
abolished and all funding for it pulled.

Now, sources say the wagering scheme's architect, retired rear admiral John
Poindexter, is stepping down as director of DARPA, the Defense Advanced Research
Projects Agency overseeing the program.

Poindexter has come up with abhorrent national policy before. Last year, he drew
fire from civil rights groups in proposing computerized dossiers for every U.S.
citizen, which would have included every scrap of medical, travel and financial
information extant -- from federal records to school grades, Web site
visitations, events attended, even toll bridge receipts.

That program, called Total Information Awareness, was changed to Terrorism
Information Awareness when Congress barred it from spying on Americans.

While national security adviser to Ronald Reagan, Poindexter came up with the
idea to secretly sell missiles to Iran to pay ransom for hostages and illegally
support Nicaraguan contras. In 1990, Poindexter was convicted of five felony
counts of misleading Congress and making false statements related to that, a
verdict overturned on appeal because Congress had given Poindexter immunity for
his testimony.

Poindexter's presence is a black eye for DARPA, the otherwise credible Pentagon
agency that brought us the Internet and stealth aircraft technology. It is time
for Poindexter to go.