Earlier in this column I discussed the rash of data thefts in light of current planetary events (particularly the retrograde turn of Pluto back in March and the Pluto Station (where Pluto’s motion slowed down before changing direction) of the preceding several months since the beginning of the year. Attrition.org has an incredibly comprehensive list of data thefts over the past five years. The pace of these thefts has been steadily increasing since March, with June the most active month of all. However, data thefts did not begin this year or even last.

Conspiracy Theorist Wayne Madsen reports that sources have informed him that these thefts are part of a covert US program (secrets are of course a big highlight of Pluto) to populate the Total Information Awareness database that are being maintained by the National Security Agency. Funding for the TIA program was killed by Congress on September 24, 2003, but a little sleuthing on my part turned up an old interview with John Poindexter entitled “The Short Life … and [Secret] Resurrection of Total Information Awareness” includes this paragraph: “One of the reasons Poindexter talks about TIA in the present tense is because large portions of the work begun at the IAO are continuing—a fact that at least one GAO attorney says might surprise even some members of Congress. But the ongoing work has been moved onto classified, or “black,” parts of the defense budget—where it’s free from public scrutiny.”

Once again, Pluto’s retrograde turn takes us into the dark side and exposes the underbelly of the truth.