WASHINGTON, Aug. 20 (UPI) -- Monday is the deadline for comments on a new information system that will store data for 15 years on citizens who pass through U.S. border checkpoints.
The U.S. Department of Homeland Security says the Border Crossing Information system is part of a broader effort to guard against terrorist threats, The Washington Post reported Wednesday.
However, critics call the move another effort by the Bush administration to cement its unprecedented expansion of data gathering.
"People expect to be checked when they enter the country and for the government to determine if they're admissible or not," attorney Greg Nojeim of the Center for Democracy & Technology told the Post. "What they don't expect is for the government to keep a record for 15 years of their comings into the country."
Information kept in the database can be used in criminal and intelligence investigations and may be shared with foreign agencies.
Officials say disclosure of the database is an effort to make information gathering more transparent, the Post said.
