Pentagon Admits Keeping Database on U.S. Civilians Deemed Suspicious

The US military has kept a database of unverified reports on US civilians who were deemed possible threats to national security interests, US forces or military installations, a defense spokesman said. Anti-war protesters from CodePink Women for Peace hold up one million signatures asking for an end to the war in Iraq outside the North Gate of the White House. The US military has kept a database of unverified reports on US civilians who were deemed possible threats to national security interests, US forces or military installations, a defense spokesman said. The acknowledgement followed the disclosure of the database by NBC News, which said it contained indications that the military has been monitoring anti-war activists and protests. It recorded 1,500 suspicious incidents over a ten month period, including four dozen anti-war meetings or protests, NBC reported. One example cited in the report was a small gathering of activists at a Quaker meeting house in Florida to plan protests of military recruiting in high schools. The document indicates that information was being gathered about people who attended the meetings and the vehicles they used, a military analyst told NBC. The defense spokesman, who would not be identified by name, would not say whether reports on activists or anti-war incidents were in the database, which is known as the Threat and Local Observation Notice (TALON) reporting system. The database is made up of unverified reports of suspicious activities filed by "concerned citizens" and Defense Department personnel as well as by law enforcement, intelligence, security and counterintelligence organizations, he said.