US students in ‘terror probe’
p2pnet.net News:- The Big Four record labels already accuse American students of being thieves and criminals in bizarre marketing campaigns under which they’re trying to sue customers, including young children, into becoming compliant consumers.
Now the Medill School of Journalism has discovered the Bush administration apparently thinks US students may have been helping terrorists as well.
Medill’s Freedom of Information Act request revealed the FBI has been examining school records in its search for terrorists, says the Associated Press.
“This is going to be quite an unwelcome surprise to college students and their families,” it has Terry Hartle, senior vp for the American Council on Education, an umbrella lobbying group for higher education.
“If it’s a carefully designed, targeted initiative that really goes after people the government is concerned about, it’s hard to object,” he said. “But it’s another case where we don’t exactly know what the boundaries are of the government’s activities. They have provided very little detail about who is being examined. It’s the ambiguity that’s troubling.”
Project Strike Back was organized to, “determine if terrorism suspects, through identity theft or other means, illegally obtained college aid to finance their operations,” says AP.
“Under the program, the FBI gave names to the Education Department’s Office of Inspector General, which ran them through databases of millions of financial aid applications to determine if student aid had been sought or obtained,” says the story.
To apply for federal financial aid, students fill out a form that requires information such as Social Security number, date of birth and financial holdings, and, “Federal law allows the release of that personal data for a criminal investigation, and the form makes clear to students how the information can be used.”
The program was shut down this June, according to documents obtained, says AP, adding:
“Even though the ‘Project Strike Back’ is closed, the FBI continues to submit names to be run through the financial aid databases on a case-by-case basis.”
Also See:
Associated Press – College Aid Screened in Terror Probe, August 31, 2006
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