ChoicePoint sells access to FBI and Pentagon to track terrorists and others

According to GovExec.com, a Freedom of Information Act request has revealed that embattled ChoicePoint has been providing extensive services to the FBI and the Defense Department, essentially providing access to its enormous databases that the US government would not be able to compile on its own.

www.GovExec.com - FBI, Pentagon pay for access to trove of public records (11/11/05):

"To help the government track suspected terrorists and spies who may be visiting or residing in this country, the FBI and the Defense Department for the past three years have been paying a Georgia-based company for access to its vast databases that contain billions of personal records about nearly every person -- citizens and noncitizens alike -- in the United States.

According to federal documents obtained by National Journal and Government Executive, among the services that ChoicePoint provides to the government is access to a previously undisclosed, and vaguely described, 'exclusive' data-searching system. This system in effect gives law enforcement and intelligence agents the ability to use the private data broker to do something that they legally can't -- keep tabs on nearly every American citizen and foreigner in the United States."

Thanks to beSpacfic for the link: beSpacific: Gov't Pays Aggregator for Access to Extensive Database of Personal Info.