Editing Operation TIPS

{{short description|2002 American planned domestic surveillance program}}

'''Operation TIPS''', where the last part is an [[acronym]] for the ''Terrorism Information and Prevention System'', was a domestic intelligence-gathering program designed by [[President of the United States of America|President]] [[George W. Bush]] to have United States citizens [[Suspicious Activity Report (justice and homeland security)|report suspicious activity]]. The program's website implied that US workers who had access to private citizens' homes, such as many cable installers and telephone repair workers, would be reporting on what was in people's homes if it were deemed "suspicious."

It came under intense scrutiny in July 2002 when the ''[[Washington Post]]'' alleged in an editorial that the program was vaguely defined, and investigative political journalist Ritt Goldstein observed in Australia's ''[[Sydney Morning Herald]]''<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.smh.com.au/articles/2002/07/14/1026185141232.html|title=US planning to recruit one in 24 Americans as citizen spies|date=15 July 2002 }}</ref> that TIPS would provide America with a higher percentage of 'citizen spies' than the former [[East Germany]] had under the notorious [[Stasi]] secret police. Goldstein later observed that he broke news of Operation TIPS on March 10 in Spain's second largest daily, ''[[El Mundo (Spain)|El Mundo]]'',<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.elmundo.es/papel/2002/03/10/mundo/1116085.html|title=Orbyt - El Mundo}}</ref> but that he struggled until July before finding a major English language paper which would print the story.

In the days immediately following Goldstein's revelation, publications such as the [[Libertarianism in the United States|libertarian]] magazine ''[[Reason (magazine)|Reason]]'',<ref>{{cite web|url=http://reason.com/news/show/33671.html|title=An American Stasi|work=Reason.com|date=16 July 2002 }}</ref> and then the ''Boston Globe'',<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.commondreams.org/cgi-bin/print.cgi?file=/views02/0717-01.htm |title= Ashcroft vs. Americans|website=www.commondreams.org |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070804085145/http://www.commondreams.org/cgi-bin/print.cgi?file=%2Fviews02%2F0717-01.htm |archive-date=2007-08-04}}</ref> emphasized the Stasi analogy, widely highlighting Operation TIPS' shortcomings.  TIPS was subsequently cancelled after concerns over [[civil liberties]] violations.

== Overview ==
The program's website implied that US workers who had access to private citizens' homes, such as cable installers and telephone repair workers, would be reporting on what was in people's homes if it were deemed "suspicious."<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.businessweek.com/bwdaily/dnflash/jul2002/nf20020725_8083.htm|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20020803054424/http://www.businessweek.com/bwdaily/dnflash/jul2002/nf20020725_8083.htm|url-status=dead|archive-date=August 3, 2002|title=Some TIPS for John Ashcroft|date=25 July 2002|work=Bloomberg.com}}</ref> The initial start of the program was to be August 2002 and would have included one million workers in ten US cities and then to be expanded.<ref>Chang, Nancy. <u>Silencing Political Dissent</u> (New York: Seven Stories Press, 2002) pp 97</ref>

Operation TIPS was accused of doing an "end run" around the [[United States Constitution]], and the original wording of the website was subsequently changed. President Bush's then-[[United States Attorney General|Attorney General]], [[John Ashcroft]] denied that private residences would be surveilled by private citizens operating as government spies. Mr. Ashcroft nonetheless defended the program, equivocating on whether the reports by citizens on fellow citizens would be maintained in [[government database]]s. While saying that the information would not be in a central database as part of Operation TIPS, he maintained that the information would still be kept in databases by various [[law enforcement agency|law enforcement agencies]].<ref>{{cite web|url=http://lists.jammed.com/politech/2002/07/0097.html|title=politech 2002/07: FC: Ashcroft backs away from TIPS informant p}}</ref>

The databases were an explicit concern of various [[civil liberties]] groups (on both the left and the right) who felt that such databases could include false information about citizens with no way for those citizens to know that such information was compiled about them, nor any way for them to correct the information, nor any way for them to confront their accusers.

The [[United States Postal Service]], after at first seeming supportive of the program, later resisted its personnel being included in this program, reasoning that if [[mail carrier]]s became perceived as law enforcement personnel that they would be placed in danger at a level for which they could not reasonably be expected to be prepared, and that the downside of the program hence vastly outweighed any good that it could accomplish.  The [[National Association of Letter Carriers]], a postal [[trade union|labor union]], was especially outspoken in its opposition.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://archives.cnn.com/2002/US/07/18/operation.tips/index.html|title=CNN - Breaking News, Latest News and Videos|work=CNN}}</ref>

== Attempted passage ==
Both Congressional Representative [[Dick Armey]] ([[United States Republican Party|Republican]], [[Texas]]) and Senator [[Patrick Leahy]] ([[United States Democratic Party|Democrat]], [[Vermont]]) raised concerns. Senator Leahy said that it was similar to [[J. Edgar Hoover]]'s misuse of the [[Federal Bureau of Investigation|FBI]] during the 1960s when Hoover hired citizens to spy on neighbors who were political protesters. Rep. Armey included legislation in the House's Homeland Security Bill that explicitly prohibited the creation of Operation TIPS; but [[Joe Lieberman]] blocked the program's removal from the Senate version of the bill. The Senate, however, essentially passed the House version that eliminated the program.<ref name="villagevoice.com">{{cite web|url=http://www.villagevoice.com/2002-12-17/news/the-death-of-operation-tips/1|title=The Death of Operation TIPS|author=Nat Hentoff|date=17 December 2002|work=Village Voice}}</ref>

Operation TIPS was officially cancelled when the [[Homeland Security Act]] was passed by Congress in November 2002. Section 880 explicitly prohibited the program.<ref name="villagevoice.com"/>

== Terrorism Liaison Officers ==
On June 30, 2008, the ''[[Denver Post]]'' reported that 181 individuals, including police officers, paramedics, firefighters, utility workers, and railroad employees had been trained as [[Terrorism Liaison Officers]] to report suspicious information which could be signs of terrorist activity.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.denverpost.com/news/ci_9725077|title=Terror watch uses local eyes 181 TRAINED IN COLO.|author=Bruce Finley The Denver Post|date=29 June 2008}}</ref>  The article also stated that TLOs were already active in six other states and the [[District of Columbia]].

== See also ==
*[[Fusion center]]
*[[InfraGard]]
*[[Nationwide Suspicious Activity Reporting Initiative]]

== References ==
{{Reflist}}

== External links ==
* [https://tips.fbi.gov/ FBI Tips and Public Leads]
* [http://www.HavenWorks.com/gov/operation-tips HavenWorks' Operation TIPS News]
* [https://www.nytimes.com/2003/06/19/us/threats-responses-law-enforcement-false-terrorism-tips-fbi-uproot-lives-suspects.html False Terrorism Tips to F.B.I. Uproot the Lives of Suspects (''New York Times'')]
* [https://www.aclu.org/safefree/general/17023res20021007.html ACLU: Stop The Government From Turning Neighbor Against Neighbor]

[[Category:Counterterrorism in the United States]]
[[Category:United States Department of Homeland Security]]
[[Category:2002 in American law]]