# Operation TIPS **Expanded name:** Terrorism Information and Prevention System **Entity class:** Prohibited federal program proposal ## Definition **Operation TIPS** was a 2002 [[wiki/USA Freedom Corps|USA Freedom Corps]] proposal for a national mechanism through which workers with routine access to homes, businesses, transportation, and infrastructure could report suspicious activity. The policy book described “millions” of truckers, letter carriers, train conductors, ship captains, transportation workers, utility employees, and others, with a ten-city pilot expected to affect more than one million workers. Congress prohibited all federal activities to implement the proposal in section 880 of the [[wiki/Homeland Security Act of 2002|Homeland Security Act of 2002]], now codified at 6 U.S.C. § 460. The proposed population must not be counted as an implemented source or agent network. ## Relationships - **parent initiative:** [[wiki/USA Freedom Corps|USA Freedom Corps]] and [[wiki/Citizen Corps|Citizen Corps]]. - **successor comparison:** [[wiki/If You See Something, Say Something|If You See Something, Say Something]], [[wiki/Highway Watch|Highway Watch]], and [[wiki/First Observer Plus|First Observer Plus]]. - **analytic category:** [[wiki/Occupational Collection Surface|Occupational Collection Surface]]. - **source:** [[research/Distributed Human-Sensor and Reporting Ecology|The Distributed Human-Sensor and Reporting Ecology]]. ## Sources / Provenance - [White House Archive — USA Freedom Corps Policy Book, January 2002](https://georgewbush-whitehouse.archives.gov/news/releases/2002/01/freedom-corps-policy-book-05.html) - [6 U.S.C. § 460 — Prohibition of Operation TIPS](https://uscode.house.gov/view.xhtml?edition=prelim&num=0&req=granuleid%3AUSC-prelim-title6-section460)