New Wrinkle at Texas Governor's Office: The Texas Data Exchange

The Texas Observer is releasing a fascinating story this week about a new intelligence database called the “Texas Data Exchange” (aka, “TDEx”). The stated purpose of this database is to catch criminals, hunt down terrorists and allow law enforcement agencies throughout Texas to share valuable information. Close to $4 million has been spent so far on this behemoth, and it’s already chock full of records. Now, the existence of this database is hardly news; such databases are often necessary for effective law enforcement these days, assuming they're used ethically for their intended purpose. The real story here is that TDEx isn’t being run by the state's top law enforcement agency, the Texas Department of Public Safety, as required by current law. It’s being run by Gov. Rick Perry’s office.

Intrigued? The story is here.

Photo of Gov. Perry courtesy of Wikipedia.

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By s in News on April 18, 2007 9:06 AM 0 Comments

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Tim

This is fascinating. One of the conspiracy theories about why the Republicans kept voting for Bush's legislation even after it became completely ridiculous was that the Bush administration was using the warrentless wiretapping capabilities it had acquired not to spy on Democrats, but to spy on Republicans and keep them in line. With Perry and Craddick having such control over the legislature, this seems like a perfect next step to make sure that everyone keeps voting exactly the way they want.