WASHINGTON -- House and Senate negotiators have decided to close a Pentagon office that was developing a vast computerized terrorism surveillance system and bar spending that would allow those high-tech spying tools to be used against Americans on US soil.

But they left open the possibility that some or all of the high-powered software tools under development might be employed by different government offices to gather foreign intelligence from foreigners, US citizens abroad, or foreigners in this country.

The controversial Terrorism Information Awareness (TIA) program was conceived by retired Admiral John Poindexter and was run by the Information Awareness Office that he headed inside the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency.

It was developing software that could examine the computerized travel, credit, medical, and other records of Americans and others around the world to search for telltale activities that might reveal preparations for a terrorist attack.

http://www.boston.com/news/nation/articles/2003/09/25/controversial_pentagon_surveillance_program_shut_down/