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Clark Linked to Firm Developing Spyware NewsMax.comCandidate for the Democratic presidential nominiation, Wesley Clark, has been lobbying for a high tech contractor, Acxiom Corporation, which has sought funding to do controversial informational background checks on passengers for airlines, according to a report by the Center for Publlic Integrity. Having represented Acxiom since January 2, 2002, two weeks after declaring his intention to run for president, Clark was still registered to represent the company -- giving him the distinction of seeking the White House while registered as a lobbyist. According to the report, Acxiom has paid more than $830,000 for Clark to advance its agenda and meet with government officials. Clark also serves on the company's board of directors. Shortly after Clark announced his candidacy, a company spokesman said the general no longer lobbied for Acxiom, but, according to the Senate Office of Public Records, Clark had not filed any termination papers. Clark lobbied the Department of Justice, the Central Intelligence Agency, and the Department of Transportation for the company. Clark also reported, on his lobbyist disclosure forms, that he promoted Acxiom to the Senate and the executive office of the president. He lobbied directly on "information transfers, airline security and homeland security issues," for Acxiom, according to federal disclosure records, According an Arkansas Democrat-Gazette report, he even met personally with Vice President Richard Cheney.
Just days after filing as a lobbyist for Acxiom, Clark told an CNN interviewer, in response to worries that private planes could be used for terrorist attacks: "We've been worried about general aviation security for some time. The aircraft need to be secured, the airfields need to be secured, and obviously we're going to also have to go through and do a better job of screening who could fly aircraft, who the private pilots are, who owns these aircraft. So it's going to be another major effort." According to the report, Clark did not reveal to CNN's viewers that the company he lobbied for had a substantial stake in this issue.
Privacy advocates have criticized the program, called the Computer Assisted Passenger Pre-Screening System II, because of concerns that the data collected would be an overly invasive violation of individuals' rights to privacy. The public outcry has been so strong that there is a bi-partisan effort to create more oversight for the program to protect privacy interests if CAPPS II is implemented.
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