The surveillance authority granted under the program, according to some legal experts, can be invoked by investigators to access and read an American's online communications, without a warrant, if they do something as benign as promote a climate change protest abroad or attend an academic conference on international affairs.
The only latitude local authorities have under the program, officials said, is to decide whether to look at the immigration information that Homeland Security sends back in response to the fingerprint data.
"Illuminated Station" was commissioned in 1995 by the transportation authority under the Creative Stations program, now defunct, which provided temporary works of art.
People familiar with the discussions said the administration wanted to provide financial assistance to the deeply troubled Big Three Detroit automakers, possibly by using the Treasury Department's wide-ranging authority under the $700 billion bailout program that Congress approved this month.
AOL, which owns The Huffington Post, was named in the Washington Post as being among the companies tapped by federal authorities under the PRISM program.
The CIA, under then-Director Michael V. Hayden, lent its covert operation authority to the program.
Plaintiffs had claimed that the state program to pay nuclear generators for an "out of market" service of clean energy generation was preempted by federal authority under the Federal Power Act and that the program violated the dormant Commerce Clause that gives Congress the power to regulate trade among the states.
Spending authority under the Troubled Asset Relief Program, as the bailout is called, would be redirected instead to pay for the financial regulation legislation nearing the finish line.
Charter advocates quickly challenged the new rule, and ultimately a judge said the department did not have the authority to bring charter schools under the program.
Any emergency, unusual or additional payment deemed necessary under the program if allowable under existing authority, may be authorized whether or not specifically provided for by this part.
