Feingold Calls On Rumsfeld to Stop Collecting Personal Information of High School Students
Pentagon Reportedly Retained Private Marketing Firm to Gather and Analyze Personal Information of High School Students

Washington, D.C. – U.S. Senator Russ Feingold (D-WI) joined Senator Jon Corzine (D-NJ) and other Senate colleagues in asking Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld to immediately stop efforts by a private marketing firm hired by the Pentagon to collect and analyze personal information about high school students between the ages of 16 and 18. The Pentagon reportedly hired the firm to collect students’ birth dates, social security numbers, ethnicities, grade-point averages and other information, and to use the data to target potential recruits. In the letter, Senators conveyed their concern about the collection and dissemination of the most private information about the nation’s youth.


“Our military’s strength depends on good recruiting,” Feingold said, “but relying on commercial data and hiring a private marketing firm to collect other very sensitive personal information about students opens the door to a whole host of potential problems.”


In addition to calling for the Pentagon to immediately stop the private company from collecting and disseminating students’ personal information, the Senators asked the Department of Defense to post on its website a standard “opt out” letter that students can use to prevent military recruiters from contacting them at home.


“We are concerned with both the potential violation of privacy interests and with the potential for identity theft and other misuses of this personal information,” the letter read.

(Text of the Letter follows.)
WASHINGTON, DC 20510
June 24, 2005
Dear Secretary Rumsfeld:
Weare writing in response to recent reports that the Pentagon has retained a private
marketing firm to gather and analyze extensive personal information from high school
students between the ages of 16 and 18 for the purpose of identifying potential military
recruits. We ask that you immediately cease these efforts.
We are particularly troubled by the fact that you plan to rely on commercial data and
have hired a private marketing firm to assist with the collection and analysis of this sensitive
information. As you know, this private company is being given the responsibility to collect,
and to disseminate to the Pentagon, personal information of students such as birth dates,
social security numbers, ethnicity, grade-point averages, address and telephone information,
and areas of study. This personal information, which would be obtained from schools as well
as from commercial data brokers, state drivers' license records, and other sources, could then
be used to formulate and execute a targeted "marketing" campaign to identify and recruit
individuals based on these personal factors.
We recognize the need for a strong military and support the efforts undertaken by the
Pentagon to recruit individuals to serve in our Armed Forces. However, we cannot condone
the hiring of a private company to collect and disseminate the most private information about
our youth. We are concerned both with the potential violation of privacy interests and with
the potential for identity theft and other misuses of this personal information. We fail to see a
legitimate need for the creation of a database containing such personal information and are
concerned that it may be an inappropriate effort to profile students based on ethnicity and
other personal factors. We are certain that you share this concern and are not in favor of a
private marketing campaign conducted on behalf of the military that could improperly use
personal information to do just that.
Again, we ask that you immediately cease the creation of this database and stop this
private company from collecting and disseminating students' personal information. We also
ask that you immediately post, on the Department of Defense website, a standard "opt out"
letter that students may execute to stop military recruiters from using their personal
information to contact them at home. Thank you for your attention to this important matter.
Sincerely,