When the Department of Defense proposed a database on U.S. citizens last year, called Terrorism Information Awareness (TIA), public reaction was overwhelmingly negative and Congress prohibited funding for TIA.

That's when the Department of Justice and the Department of Homeland Security came up with MATRIX, which stands for Multistate Anti-Terrorism Information Exchange, which combines public and confidential databases into a new crime-fighting tool.

The database is managed and maintained by Seisint, and the financial aspects are handled by the nonprofit Institute for Intergovernmental Research. White sat on the MATRIX board of directors until Walker suspended the state's involvement.

Some legislators and watch-dog groups are upset that former Gov. Mike Leavitt signed up the state's residents for the pilot program without ever informing them. And lawmakers on both sides of the aisle are trying to find out more about MATRIX and whether the state should ever have been involved.

"Many of us are deeply concerned about privacy, for privacy is part of our liberty," said Senate Minority Whip Ron Allen, D-Stansbury Park. "We'll work at every turn to see that Utahns' privacy is not violated."

Privacy concerns led lawmakers several years ago to classify motor vehicle records as "private."

Speaker of the House Marty Stephens, who was appointed to the president's Homeland Security Task Force in October, said he is worried about reports that Utahns' privacy might have been compromised, but he reiterated his assertion he knows "very little to nothing about MATRIX." He said it has never been discussed at the Homeland Security meetings he has attended.

On Friday, Walker appointed an oversight committee to review privacy issues and address public concerns. Included on the committee are Sens. Mike Waddoups, R-Taylorsville, and Gene Davis, D-Salt Lake; Rep. John Dougall, R-American Fork; her chief of staff Gary Doxey; the state's chief information officer Val Oveson; and Kirk Torgensen, chief deputy to Attorney General Mark Shurtleff. She also plans to appoint a citizen representative.

MATRIX will remain unplugged until Walker's concerns are addressed, she promised.

The missing voice in all of this, of course, is Mike Leavitt, who signed the state up in the MATRIX program to begin with. Numerous attempts to contact him over the past few days have failed, with phone messages going unanswered and queries going without response. Leavitt was finally contacted at the Moscow-Utah Youth Games opening ceremonies Friday night — he flew in for the festivities — but he refused comment on MATRIX.

"I have made a commitment not to comment on things going on under Gov. Walker," he said. "She doesn't need me interfering in her administration. . . . I'm not going to comment on that. I'm simply not going to do it."

Contributing: Alan Edwards

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