Abstract

Snooping on the Home Front

The article focuses on the event in which U.S. Senator Sam J. Ervin and press have been trying to get the details of the Army's data collection programs which store information about riot formenters and took close surveillance of lawful civilian political activity. Senator Ervin will hold hearings on government data banks, stressing those run by the Army. Throughout the country, Army intelligence offices collect newspaper articles and police and FBI reports, and data compiled by their own investigators. Such information is stored in computers; the rest is kept on microfilm or merely in file cabinets. Two problems have hindered the investigation: First, even civilian heads of the Army do not know what kind of information is being collected and the army want to maintain secret in order to protect the program.