Gold9472
05-07-2009, 09:10 AM
400,000 still on terror watchlist, including author of book on Rove
Over 1 million records on government’s combined watch list
http://rawstory.com/08/news/2009/05/06/terrorist-watchlist-exceeds-400000/
Published: May 6, 2009
Updated 17 hours ago
The US government’s consolidated terrorist watch list has exceeded an estimated 400,000 “unique” records of “known or suspected terrorist identities,” according to a Justice Department report released today.
The controversial list, according to the report issued by the Office of the Inspector General Audit Division, is a combined database of various federal law enforcement agencies, administered by the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) via its Terrorist Screening Center (TSC).
As of 31 December 31 2008, 1.1 million records exist on the government’s combined watch list, according to the Inspector General’s report. That number, however, includes duplicate files and aliases and does not reflect the actual number of people on the terrorist watch list.
The TSC estimated, as of 9 September 2008, that the total number of “unique” individuals on the watch list was approximately 400,000.
The report is the result of an investigation by the Audit Division and discusses findings related to three objectives:
(1) [D]etermine whether subjects of FBI terrorism investigations are appropriately and timely watchlisted and if these records are updated with new identifying information as required; (2) determine whether subjects of closed FBI terrorism investigations are removed from the consolidated terrorist watchlist in a timely manner when appropriate; and (3) examine the FBI’s watchlist nomination practices for individuals that were not associated with current terrorism case designations.
What about those wrongly listed?The current report does not, however, address issues where individuals have been flagged as a result of mistaken identity or due to various other reasons not related to terrorism or any form of illegal activity.
James Moore, a Texas journalist who wrote two searing books on former Bush White House Deputy Chief of Staff Karl Rove, found himself included on a no-fly list, a component of the combined terrorist watch list, and has not been able to get his name removed. It is unclear why Moore was listed and why he remains on the list — but Moore told RAW STORY that the list hasn’t made anyone safer.
“The terrorist watchlist is an icon for government malfunction and abuse,” Moore wrote in an email message Wednesday. “Politicians can seemingly nominate their enemies for the list or have it done by proxy using their bureaucratic influence. And the lists are maintained using outdated matching software that is incapable of finding discrepancies in all of the various data formats used by federal agencies. The list has made a lot of work for a lot of bureaucrats but it hasn’t caught a single terrorist or made safer one American soul.”
According to a March 2004 USA Today article, “51,000 have filed ‘redress’ requests claiming they were wrongly included on the watchlist.” USA Today also noted at that time that in the vast majority of cases reviewed so far, it had turned out that the petitioners were not actually on the list, with most having been misidentified at airports because their names resembled others on it.
There have been 830 redress requests since 2005 where the person in question was, in fact, confirmed to be on the watch list. Further review by the screening center led to the removal of 150, or 18% of them.
The most visible case of consequences for an individual wrongly placed on the watchlist was Canadian software engineer Maher Arar. In 2002, Arar was detained at a New York City airport, then rendered without a court order to Syria, where he was imprisoned and tortured—all because Canadian officials had wrongly asked for his name to be included on a watchlist.
More often, however, those wrongly identified have merely had to endure the hassles of being on the no-fly list. In 2004, it was reported that both Sen. Edward Kennedy (D-MA) and Rep. John Lewis (D-GA) had been inconvenienced in this manner.
These misidentifications are generally explained as affecting only individuals with common names which they might share with actual terrorism suspects. However, last year Rep. Sheila Jackson-Lee (D-TX) called for a probe after learning that the name of CNN correspondent Drew Griffin had appeared on the no-fly list shortly after he had done an investigative report on weaknesses in the federal air marshal system. A TSA spokesperson insisted that any connection between the two events was “absolutely fabricated.”
Griffin’s case raises questions similar to Moore’s. Both seemingly ended up on the no-fly list after publishing something unfavorable about the Bush administration or administration officials.
The ACLU has called for the list to be reviewed and pared down to only “credible” threats.
Calls to the TSC for comment were not returned.
The government’s consolidated terrorist watch list was created in March 2004 by Homeland Security Presidential Directive 6, issued by then-President George W. Bush.
Internally the consolidated database of “known or suspected terrorists” is called the Terrorist Screening Database (TSDB). It acts as the central registry for various federal departments and state agencies.
The Inspector General’s report released today reaffirms the findings of the Government Accountability Office’s report from February of last year, with a slight difference in the non-unique individuals count.
####
Larisa Alexandrovna is managing editor of investigative news for Raw Story and regularly reports on intelligence and national security stories. Contact: larisa@rawstory.com.
Muriel Kane contributed to the reporting for this article.
Over 1 million records on government’s combined watch list
http://rawstory.com/08/news/2009/05/06/terrorist-watchlist-exceeds-400000/
Published: May 6, 2009
Updated 17 hours ago
The US government’s consolidated terrorist watch list has exceeded an estimated 400,000 “unique” records of “known or suspected terrorist identities,” according to a Justice Department report released today.
The controversial list, according to the report issued by the Office of the Inspector General Audit Division, is a combined database of various federal law enforcement agencies, administered by the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) via its Terrorist Screening Center (TSC).
As of 31 December 31 2008, 1.1 million records exist on the government’s combined watch list, according to the Inspector General’s report. That number, however, includes duplicate files and aliases and does not reflect the actual number of people on the terrorist watch list.
The TSC estimated, as of 9 September 2008, that the total number of “unique” individuals on the watch list was approximately 400,000.
The report is the result of an investigation by the Audit Division and discusses findings related to three objectives:
(1) [D]etermine whether subjects of FBI terrorism investigations are appropriately and timely watchlisted and if these records are updated with new identifying information as required; (2) determine whether subjects of closed FBI terrorism investigations are removed from the consolidated terrorist watchlist in a timely manner when appropriate; and (3) examine the FBI’s watchlist nomination practices for individuals that were not associated with current terrorism case designations.
What about those wrongly listed?The current report does not, however, address issues where individuals have been flagged as a result of mistaken identity or due to various other reasons not related to terrorism or any form of illegal activity.
James Moore, a Texas journalist who wrote two searing books on former Bush White House Deputy Chief of Staff Karl Rove, found himself included on a no-fly list, a component of the combined terrorist watch list, and has not been able to get his name removed. It is unclear why Moore was listed and why he remains on the list — but Moore told RAW STORY that the list hasn’t made anyone safer.
“The terrorist watchlist is an icon for government malfunction and abuse,” Moore wrote in an email message Wednesday. “Politicians can seemingly nominate their enemies for the list or have it done by proxy using their bureaucratic influence. And the lists are maintained using outdated matching software that is incapable of finding discrepancies in all of the various data formats used by federal agencies. The list has made a lot of work for a lot of bureaucrats but it hasn’t caught a single terrorist or made safer one American soul.”
According to a March 2004 USA Today article, “51,000 have filed ‘redress’ requests claiming they were wrongly included on the watchlist.” USA Today also noted at that time that in the vast majority of cases reviewed so far, it had turned out that the petitioners were not actually on the list, with most having been misidentified at airports because their names resembled others on it.
There have been 830 redress requests since 2005 where the person in question was, in fact, confirmed to be on the watch list. Further review by the screening center led to the removal of 150, or 18% of them.
The most visible case of consequences for an individual wrongly placed on the watchlist was Canadian software engineer Maher Arar. In 2002, Arar was detained at a New York City airport, then rendered without a court order to Syria, where he was imprisoned and tortured—all because Canadian officials had wrongly asked for his name to be included on a watchlist.
More often, however, those wrongly identified have merely had to endure the hassles of being on the no-fly list. In 2004, it was reported that both Sen. Edward Kennedy (D-MA) and Rep. John Lewis (D-GA) had been inconvenienced in this manner.
These misidentifications are generally explained as affecting only individuals with common names which they might share with actual terrorism suspects. However, last year Rep. Sheila Jackson-Lee (D-TX) called for a probe after learning that the name of CNN correspondent Drew Griffin had appeared on the no-fly list shortly after he had done an investigative report on weaknesses in the federal air marshal system. A TSA spokesperson insisted that any connection between the two events was “absolutely fabricated.”
Griffin’s case raises questions similar to Moore’s. Both seemingly ended up on the no-fly list after publishing something unfavorable about the Bush administration or administration officials.
The ACLU has called for the list to be reviewed and pared down to only “credible” threats.
Calls to the TSC for comment were not returned.
The government’s consolidated terrorist watch list was created in March 2004 by Homeland Security Presidential Directive 6, issued by then-President George W. Bush.
Internally the consolidated database of “known or suspected terrorists” is called the Terrorist Screening Database (TSDB). It acts as the central registry for various federal departments and state agencies.
The Inspector General’s report released today reaffirms the findings of the Government Accountability Office’s report from February of last year, with a slight difference in the non-unique individuals count.
####
Larisa Alexandrovna is managing editor of investigative news for Raw Story and regularly reports on intelligence and national security stories. Contact: larisa@rawstory.com.
Muriel Kane contributed to the reporting for this article.