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                            LexisNexisª Academic

                  Copyright 2002 Globe Newspaper Company
                              The Boston Globe

                    May 14, 2002, Tuesday ,THIRD EDITION

SECTION: NATIONAL/FOREIGN; Pg. A1

LENGTH: 921 words

HEADLINE: FIGHTING TERROR THE INVESTIGATION;
US GATHERS DNA FROM AL QAEDA SUSPECTS, SITES US CRAFTS DNA DATABASE OF
SUSPECTED TERRORISTS

BYLINE: By Bryan Bender, Globe Correspondent

BODY:
WASHINGTON - The United States is compiling a DNA database as part of its
global campaign against terrorism and has gathered blood, tissue, and hair
samples from hundreds of suspected Al Qaeda and Taliban members, dead and
alive, government officials said.

The database could be used to identify a few high-profile suspected
terrorists, such as Al Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden, who may have been
killed in Afghanistan, by comparing the samples with DNA that officials hope
to get from living relatives or from traces left behind in caves or other
hiding places by known Al Qaeda members.

      Samples taken from uncooperative detainees who have given false names
could provide an unmistakable genetic identification, officials added. Such
data could also help authorities keep track of suspects who are released if
they are involved in future terrorist attacks. Although the administration
has aknowledged the database, officials have provided few details about the
operation - such as the standards and guidelines it is using to determine
whose DNA to sample or whether detainees have given their consent.

As a result, human rights groups, privacy advocates and DNA specialists
question whether the effort is ethical and legal. Critics also expressed
fear that the database could be used not only for identifying a few
individuals but that the government might ultimately gather genetic
information about specific ethnicities that might be used to profile a
particular group as potential terror threats.

The Patriot Act, a federal law passed after the Sept. 11 attacks that gave
the government greater counterterrorism powers, added convicted terrorists
to the list of those whose DNA samples could be taken. But the law did not
authorize the collection of DNA samples from terror suspects, according to
the staff of the Senate Judiciary Committee.

Forensics experts have been gathering DNA samples for several months from
bombed-out caves, homes where Al Qaeda members lived, and remains of
fighters killed in combat. Samples also have been taken from detainees in US
custody in Afghanistan and at the US Naval Base, Guantanamo Bay, Cuba,
according to US officials.

Last week, DNA samples were taken from a mass grave near Ali Khayle in
southeastern Afghanistan, where 23 people believed to be Al Qaeda fighters
were killed in December by US airstrikes. In early February, DNA samples
were taken from a mountain site near the Pakistani border where a
remote-controlled CIA Predator drone fired at a group of individuals that US
sources said were Al Qaeda leaders.

In addition, Pakistani media reported that US forensics experts participated
in raids conducted by Pakistani authorities in March on 11 suspected Al
Qaeda safehouses that resulted in the arrests of dozens of suspected
terrorists.

"The main thrust is when it comes time to look at dead bodies," said a
senior defense official. "You can collect DNA and arbitrarily assign it a
number and then when you have [matching] DNA you can make an
identification."

Such information, the official said, also could be used for humanitarian
purposes by helping relatives of dead Taliban or Al Qaeda fighters determine
if their kin were killed in the war in Afghanistan.

A US law enforcement official said DNA samples from hair follicles have been
taken from more than 300 detainees in Cuba. "We are employing several
different methods of identifying people who may be terrorists or are known
terrorists so that we can be as sure as possible about who we've got," said
the official, who also requested anonymity.

The only other known government DNA database is the FBI's Combined DNA Index
System, which by law can only include genetic information of convicted
felons. All other DNA samples for the purposes of scientific study must be
gathered with the individual's consent and kept secret.

DNA specialists and human rights advocates argue that most of the detainees
have not been charged with a crime and therefore should not have samples
taken without their permission.

"The question really boils down to who is a terrorist and if you have such a
definition, who decides that he or she is a terrorist," said Stephan
Schmitt, a DNA expert at Florida State University who recently examined
several mass graves in Afghanistan.

Ethical and legal considerations should be weighed and answered "before you
can even decide if such a database has any value and is expected to yield
some results," Schmitt said.

The primary justification for the FBI's index system is the expectation that
a convicted criminal may commit another offense upon release.

But critics argue that the same principle cannot be applied to Al Qaeda or
Taliban detainees because the Pentagon has not clarified their legal status:
The detainees have not been charged with a crime and they have not been
given prisoner-of-war status.

"It is not clear that they will free their prisoners if they get term
sentences or even free those that aren't convicted," Schmitt said.

"How deep is this database?" added Nathaniel Raymond of Physicians for Human
Rights. "There needs to be more information about the DNA they have and how
they got it."

Another specialist fears that the database could be expanded to create
ethnic profiles. "If you are afraid of a group of people, you can create an
ethnic data base and the great danger is people will seek to define
ethnic-specific DNA and not necesarily for the best of reasons," said Bruce
Jackson, of Boston University Medical Center.

LOAD-DATE: May 14, 2002