The goal of TIPS, for those who missed the initial surge of coverage, was to enlist patriotic Americans in the hunt for the terrorists in our midst -- much the way, it should be said, "America's Most Wanted" enlists ordinary TV viewers in catching bad guys. Ashcroft's vision was that millions of TIPSters would volunteer to look for the odd, the unusual, the suspicious among us, and would report them to the Justice Department, which would then evaluate our evidence and decide what to do with it.

When first announced as part of President George W. Bush's Citizens Corps volunteerism initiative during his State of the Union address, TIPS was billed as "a national system for reporting suspicious and potentially terrorist-related activity," which would "involve the millions of American workers who, in the daily course of their work, are in a unique position to see potentially unusual or suspicious activity in public places." The plan initially called for a million volunteers in 10 urban trial centers, which were to begin operations this month.

But when Congress and the public began to imagine phone repairmen, maids, postal workers and cable guys nosing around people's houses and reporting on whatever struck them as suspicious, an uproar ensued. Critics noted the parallels between TIPS and life behind the Iron Curtain, where neighbors spied on neighbors, and Ashcroft seemed to retreat, canceling the 10-city trial (but not the online call for individual volunteers). He delayed the official kickoff of the program until autumn and said that, instead of millions of citizen volunteers, he would aim the program at truckers, postal workers and others in particular industries who would be well-positioned to notice unusual activities. The Postal Service immediately said it would not cooperate.

TIPS ran into political fire especially on the right. House Majority Leader Dick Armey, R-Texas, has attached a measure to the House version of the Homeland Security Bill barring any government program from having citizens spy on other citizens. The bill has 295 sponsors, according to Armey spokesman Richard Diamond, who predicts, "TIPS is going to die." He says that although the Senate version of the bill does not address the program, Armey, one of the most powerful members of the Republican-dominated House, has determined that his measure "will stay in the bill in conference" when the two chambers' versions of the bill are reconciled.

But he may not get his way: Lieberman considers Armey's opposition to TIPS to be "too broad," according to one source. The Connecticut Democrat is said to think that modeling a program on the Neighborhood Watch idea and enlisting the help of workers in certain industries "makes sense." Civil rights groups are said to be livid at Lieberman's reported waffling on TIPS.

But whatever Lieberman decides, congressional opposition to TIPS is strong. So is Ashcroft rethinking his plan to establish a sprawling team of feds to oversee the operation? Is he planning on turning it into a television program, where people will rat on their neighbors, and John Walsh and his "America's Most Wanted" TV crew will come banging on the doors of the suspected terrorists, demanding that they come clean? It could be novel way of getting around congressional reservations and restrictions. Armey's measure, for example, would bar only "the government" from running any program having citizens spying on citizens -- but it might not apply to a Fox-run effort.

Certainly it wouldn't be the first time Walsh and the feds have cooperated. On the 30-day anniversary of the Sept. 11 attack, Fox, at the administration's request, preempted its Friday evening schedule to air a special Walsh production called "America's Most Wanted: Terrorists -- A Special Edition." Fox Entertainment Group president Sandy Grushow told Daily Variety, an industry newspaper, "This is something we wish we had more time to put together, but it seemed quite important to the FBI and White House that we do this as soon as possible." Walsh claimed later that the program netted 1,500 call-in tips, compared with the program's usual 200 to 300 phone tips following a show. Clearly the administration needed the help: Even today, the FBI doesn't have a dedicated line to handle terrorism tips. People are expected to contact their local FBI office. The New York office reports that it was overwhelmed last fall with more than 100,000 calls per month. Now it no longer bothers to separate terror tips from regular crime tips.

It's still next to impossible to get firm answers about any aspect of TIPS. After my conversation with Justice Department spokeswoman Monsour last Friday, operators at the attorney general's office have apparently begun sending callers to a number that really is the FBI, not the "America's Most Wanted" switchboard. "We are now being told to refer TIPS calls to the FBI," an operator told me. But when I phoned the number (which proved to be the FBI's main Washington switchboard), I got little help. After an interminable period of Muzak, an operator said she couldn't help me. "You should probably call your local FBI office to report any suspicious activity," she said. An FBI spokeswoman then told me that the bureau is not fielding any calls from TIPS volunteers. "That's being handled by the Justice Department," she said. I'd finally come full circle with my questions about where TIPS calls should go. Additional calls to Monsour's office to clarify the relationship went unreturned.

I tried the "America's Most Wanted" hotline one last time. And once again I was told that the show was "helping with the TIPS calls" and that any information about suspicious terrorist activity would be "forwarded to the FBI."

Even if the TIPS-Fox connection is just a stopgap measure while the Justice Department tries to figure out what to do with a program nobody but the president and the attorney general seems to support, the solution shows Ashcroft's tin ear when it comes to privacy rights. The idea of privatizing a citizen spy operation is alarming to many civil libertarians, not reassuring.

"This is all very, very disturbing," says the ACLU's King.

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