Clark Worked For Ark. Data Firm
Acxiom Role Part of Surveillance Debate
By Robert O'Harrow Jr.
Washington Post Staff Writer
Saturday, September 27, 2003; Page A08
Retired Gen. Wesley K. Clark helped an Arkansas information
company win a contract to assist development of an airline passenger
screening system, one of the largest surveillance programs ever devised by the government.
Starting just after the Sept. 11, 2001, terror attacks, Clark sought out
dozens of government and industry officials on behalf of Acxiom Corp.,
a data powerhouse that maintains names, addresses and a wide array
of personal details about nearly every adult in the United States
and their households, according to interviews and documents.
Clark, a Democrat who declared himself a presidential candidate
10 days ago, joined Acxiom's board of directors in December 2001.
He earned $300,000 from Acxiom last year and was set to receive
$150,000, plus potential ommissions, this year, according to financial
disclosure records. He owns several thousand shares of Acxiom
stock worth more than $67,000.
Clark's consulting role at Acxiom puts him near the center of
a national debate over expanded government authority to use
personal data and surveillance technology to fight the war on
terrorism and protect homeland security.
In a measure of the intensity of that debate, Congress
this week cut funding to the Defense Department's Information
Awareness Office, a research project run by retired Adm.
John M. Poindexter, after the office proposed a global data
surveillance system to identify terrorists before they attack.
Recent news about the sharing of passenger information
by JetBlue Airways Corp. with an Army contractor also raised
privacy concerns. Acxiom helped provide data to that project,
but Clark had no role in making the arrangements, the company said.
"The privacy impact of anti-terrorism initiatives is certain to be a major
issue in the presidential campaign," said David L. Sobel, general
counsel at the Electronic Privacy Information Center, an advocacy group in the District.
"The public is extremely skeptical," he said. "He owes the public
an explanation as to how, if elected, he would limit the government's
expanding collection of personal information about citizens."
Others believe that Clark faces skepticism about the money he took to represent Acxiom, even though many former military leaders have done the same thing.
"There's something unseemly and, yes, mercenary, about a
distinguished general lobbying for a company trying to get
government contracts," said Charles Lewis, executive director
for the Center for Public Integrity.
Clark declined repeated requests in recent weeks to discuss
the lobbying and his thoughts on information policy. After
announcing his presidential ambitions, Clark quit working
as a consultant for Acxiom but maintained his seat on the
company's board.
As a consultant, he helped the company win a government
contract worth an undisclosed amount to provide data and
consulting services to the CAPPS II program. CAPPS II is
the second-generation computer-assisted passenger screening system,
a network that Transportation Secretary Norman Y. Mineta once
described as "the foundation" on which all other, far more public
aviation security measures depend. A senior executive at Acxiom
said Clark began knocking on doors for the company, without pay,
out of patriotic impulses shortly after the Sept. 11 attacks. Jerry Jones,
Acxiom's general counsel and business development leader, said the
company also wanted to do its part in the war on terrorism.
Acxiom is a data integrator that manages billions of records
for some of the nation's top banks, retailers and marketers.
The company said it has "the largest collection of U.S. consumer
and telephone data available in one source" -- data that is used
in part to enhance others' records and authenticate identities.
"We reached out to him as someone who might get the attention
in Washington of our capabilities," Jones said. "He was looking for
ways to help make the country safer and more secure."
After joining the company's board in December 2001, Clark
quickly arranged for executives to talk with officials at FinCEN, a
Treasury Department agency responsible for financial intelligence
and initiatives to combat money-laundering.
Clark also has met on the company's behalf with officials
at the Department of Justice, the CIA, the Department of
Transportation, the Transportation Security Administration and
Lockheed Martin Corp., the defense contractor that is heading up CAPPS II.
Government and industry officials who have attended meetings
with Clark described him as thoughtful and persuasive. Jones,
the Acxiom official, said Clark repeatedly stressed the need to
properly balance legitimate privacy interests and the need for security."
Jones said that was a core theme of Acxiom's effort to win government contracts.
In a meeting at the Department of Transportation in January 2002,
according to participants, Clark described a system that would combine personal data from Acxiom with information about the reservations and seating records of every U.S. airline passenger.
With officials from an Acxiom partner sitting nearby, he explained that
computers would examine the data -- massive amounts of information
about housing, telephone numbers, car ownership and the like -- for subtle
signs of terrorist intentions. The system would authenticate the identity
of every passenger, he told the government officials at the meeting.
Implementation of CAPPS II has been delayed several times because
of a mix of technological hurdles and concerns about its potential intrusiveness.
© 2003 The Washington Post Company
washingtonpost.com |
