Senator Roberts Moves to Shut Down Terrorist Gaming Pool

WASHINGTON, DC - U.S. Senator Pat Roberts, Chairman of the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence today issued the following statement:

"As Chairman of the Subcommittee on Emerging Threats and Capabilities of the Armed Services Committee, I was very disturbed to learn of the so-called FutureMAP program being developed within the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA).

"Deputy Secretary of Defense Wolfowitz took the right action today when he announced before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee that the program will be terminated. This was welcome news and I expect that we will not see any similar efforts in the future.

"While I understand the purpose of the program, I cannot disagree more with the approach.

"The American people expect us to support research and development efforts aimed at protecting them at home and abroad.

"They also expect us to exercise common sense and prudence as we evaluate the myriad of technology development programs intended to detect and prevent future terrorist attacks.

"In this instance, there is no circumstance where I can see that the American people would or should support a program
that appears to seek investors hoping to benefit from the successful prediction of an attack on their fellow citizens. The mere concept is absurd to say the least.

"As Chairman of the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence, I want to assure the American people that no such technologies are being developed within the intelligence Community nor will I allow them to be developed. We will apply the same common sense standard to our intelligence agencies as Chairman Warner and I are applying to the Defense Department."