If it weren't for its direct impact on national security, we could all enjoy a hardy guffaw at the $500 million mess that is supposed to tie the nation's intelligence data together. The anti-terror intelligence database, known as Terrorist Identities Datamart Environment (TIDE), is the subject of recent House Science and Technology Committee's Investigations and Oversight Subcommittee report. The report found that "Railhead," the $500 million project that was supposed to tie together the intelligence data of the nation's 16 separate intelligence agencies. Instead:

The Railhead program may actually degrade the ability to provide intelligence data for use in the consolidated terrorist watch list at the FBI's Terrorist Screening Center. It may cripple NCTC's [National Counterterroism Center] ability to share critical intelligence among U.S. government agencies. It will also potentially jeopardize the ability to provide vital search functions by counterterrorism analysts.

[...]

In fact, the new Railhead systems that NCTC hopes will replace the current TIDE~database by early next year may not provide critical search, access, sharing and other vital functions the current system does currently provide.

The issues that have put the system at risk are myriad, but the report describes two that totally dumfound me.

1) The new system's technology is incompatible with what the rest of federal government uses (indeed, with what most of the world's businesses use). Rather than use a technology known as a "database," the contractor hired to build the new system wants to use something not dissimilar from masses of Microsoft Word documents.

2) The system can't perform basic data searches using combinations of text. An analyst can, for instance, search for data containing the word "anthrax," but she wouldn't be able to search for data containing the words "anthrax" or "plague." In other words, this $500 million clunker is already technologically behind most free internet search engines, like Google.

The subcommittee are also incredulous, and wonder, as they directly ask in the report, if the contractor's close personal relationship with the government's project manager has anything to do with this cockamamie approach to fulfilling one of the key recommendations of the 9/11 Commission.

Wall Street Journal: Flaws Found In Watch List For Terrorists

On Friday Aug. 15 the American-Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee (ADC) coordinated a day long event with the US Department of Treasury entitled, "Charitable Principles of Good Governance and Anti-Terrorist Financing." The event was held at the Treasury Department intentionally two weeks before the beginning of Ramadan, where issues could be addressed regarding donating to charitable causes.

In opening remarks, Assistant Treasury Secretary for Terrorist Financing Patrick O'Brien said; "The broader exploitation of charities operating in high-risk regions raises serious questions and challenges for the United States, the international community, and charities operating in high-risk areas. Going forward, some key challenges include: adoption of best practices, utilizing alternative relief measures, and improving private sector relief efforts."

O'Brien heavily promoted the use of Treasury's Anti-Terrorist Financing Guidelines: Voluntary Best Practices for U.S.-Based Charities, which groups including OMB Watch, have strongly opposed. An article in BNA Money and Politics ($$) refers back to a July 2007 House Ways and Means Subcommittee on Oversight hearing in which Council on Foundations President Steve Gunderson said that "Treasury has not identified a single case of inadvertent diversion of funds from a legitimate U.S. charity to a terrorist organization."

Meanwhile, Muslim Advocates announced an initiative with the Better Business Bureau Wise Giving Alliance to help American-Muslim charitable organizations strengthen donor confidence in Muslim charities and protect them from any unfair scrutiny. Seven Muslim charities have so far volunteered for a review process designed by the bureau to validate their finances and transparency. According to a Muslim Advocates press release, they will provide a staff attorney and accountant, free assistance, identify information needed for meaningful review by the Better Business Bureau Wise Giving Alliance, and offer expert advice on how to meet the Alliance Standards for Charity Accountability. "Since 2001, Muslim charities have been under intense scrutiny as the federal government has focused extensively on the community's charitable institutions and their donors. Charities increasingly need guidance on how to meet these new challenges but frequently have limited resources or expertise to do so."