Of some 13,000 entries in a classified Defense Department database used to track threats against military assets, almost two percent, or 260, were either wrongly retained or never should have been reported in the first place, according to a DoD memo (PDF) dated March 30. (Props.)

This is much lower than the 1,500 number originally reported on NBC News back in December for the Threat and Local Observation Notice (TALON) database, which the Defense Department uses to track suspicious activity or potential threats to military bases and other assets.

In the memo, which resulted from a review of the program ordered in December, Deputy Secretary of Defense Gordon England said that the program “has detected international terrorist interest in specific military bases and has led to and supported counterterrorism investigations.” Reports which don’t turn out to be credible threats are supposed to be purged from the system after 90 days.

England also noted, however, that the system should only be used to report information about “possible international terrorist activity.” And he said that to insure the program is working properly, he ordered an annual review of the system, and set up a working group to examine how well Pentagon agencies are coordinating their collection and use of the data. — Associated Press

According to Pentagon spokesman Bryan Whitman, DoD employees who use the system have received refresher training on what should or should not be included in the database, and entries must now be reviewed by a supervisor, and by the Counterintelligence Field Activity, before being added.

In December, NBC News had reported that the database contained reports of anti-war protests and meetings of anti-war groups such as Quakers.