Above: Attorney General Luther Strange discusses the ‘volunteer’ saliva and blood traffic stops on the Matt Murphy Show
On Matt Murphy’s radio show on Tuesday on FM 100 WAPI in Birmingham, Alabama Attorney General Luther Strange reiterated what he had told Yellowhammer on Monday night, which was he had no prior knowledge of a federal program that was collecting blood and saliva samples on a volunteer basis at traffic stops in St. Clair and Bibb Counties.
But he elaborated on why this has his concern and vowed to get more information on The Pacific Institute for Research and Evaluation, the organization conducting the study.
“I was totally unaware of this program and I talked to the governor about it. But it…raises a lot of red flags,” Strange said. “I’m looking to getting to the bottom of exactly what this institute is and any issues that might have been raised. You know Matt, in this environment — I’ve been very vocal about this, I am concerned about this IRS scandal. I’m concerned about, you know what the government is doing with information. It’s a huge issue nationally. And then this pops up right in our backyard. It just concerns me.”
Strange expressed confidence in the St. Clair Sheriff’s Department, but said that the program when put in context with other federal government privacy concerns in recent days was something that should have raised red flags.
“I think you’re raising the concerns we all should have,” Strange said. “You know, first of all the St. Clair Co. Sheriff’s Office is a fantastic operation. The sheriff there is great. It’s one of the best in the state. Their district attorney is fantastic. The fact that this is coming — what gets back in my mind to the real root of the problem, is this is coming out of Washington. It’s being funneled through the state of Alabama. We don’t even know what this organization is. And I just have a very low threshold of confidence in the national government taking personal information. What are they going to do with it? I mean we have already seen it in so many different contexts. It ought to send up a red flag.”
“We have to recognize we want to keep our streets safe, our highways,” he added. “There’s maybe a noble purpose here. But you know we have to guard our liberties.”
What else is going on?
1. Obama Seeks to Transform Second Highest Court
2. Feds collect blood and saliva at Alabama roadblocks, Governor & AG vow to get to the bottom of it
3. Rep. Mo Brooks sounds off on NSA surveillance revelations
4. Beeker challenging Dunn in PSC Republican primary
5. Sessions fires opening salvo in Senate floor debate on immigration reform
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