Pa. Lawmaker Blasts Administration's Surveillance Contracting

The chair of a Pennsylvania state senate committee says she's "stunned" by revelations during a hearing into a contract the Rendell administration had with a private company that monitored activist groups for potential threats to key infrastructure facilities.

Perhaps the biggest revelation came from Pennsylvania State Police officials who testified that they raised alarm bells about the validity of information the state was getting from the Institute of Terrorism Research and Response ("ITRR").

State police Maj. George Bivens read from an e-mail he sent to the director of the state Homeland Security office:

"We have received the bulletins from ITRR for several years. I would liken it to reading the National Enquirer. Every so often they have something right; much of the time it is unsubstantiated gossip."

State police officials also testified that the information in ITRR bulletins caused them to waste manpower tracking down nonexistent threats.

State Sen. Lisa Baker, chair of the Senate Veterans Affairs and Emergency Preparedness Committee (fifth from left in photo), which conducted the hearing, vowed that the panel will continue to "dig" and said more hearings may be in order.

Story Contributor: KYW's Tony Romeo

Photo by Tony Romeo