We're All Terrorists! Watch List Makes 20k 'Matches' in '06. 500,000 names on the list now

[Ian David]

hey may never know it, but U.S. air travelers and others set off silent terrorist warning alarms nearly 20,000 times in 2006 when their names matched against the government's centralized terrorist watch list, according to a statistic buried in a Department of Justice document.

The number represents a 27 percent jump over 2005, and points to the growth in the federal Terrorist Screening Center, a joint FBI and DHS operation that controls the government's master list of suspected terrorists. Agencies from the FBI to the NSA nominate names to the database and assign threat level codes to each name. The criteria for inclusion is considered classified.

The list now reportedly includes more than 500,000 names, according to a similar document reported on by ABC News in June. (The Justice Department has since removed that document from its website.)

<snip>

The center is asking for a $1.3 million budget increase in 2008 to fund additional employees, including some who will vet names submitted to the agencies. The TSC also wants to station an agent at Chicago's O'Hare airport to help clear up mismatches. New York's JFK, Washington Dulles, Miami and Los Angeles already have such agents.

More:
http://www.wired.com/politics/security/news/2007/07/watchlists

[KC for Obama]

1. Terrorist List

Is there a link to access the name of those placed on the Terrorist List. I'm sure this could not dare be public since is a breach to our national security, but it wouldn't hurt to ask.

[EVDebs]

2. FBI urges police to watch for people carrying almanacs

http://www.cnn.com/2003/US/12/29/fbi.almanacs.ap/

Dec 29, 2003

"WASHINGTON (AP) -- The FBI is warning police nationwide to be alert for people carrying almanacs, cautioning that the popular reference books covering everything from abbreviations to weather trends could be used for terrorist planning."

[begood]

3. There was a lawyer...

That sued the Government because he was placed on that list. He found out because he was stopped on an airport, something related to no-fly list. He sued with the help of ACLU and won close to 300,000 dollars. I believe also that 60 minutes mentioned way back that Ted Kennedy was also on that "no-fly list.

[Echo In Light]

4. Anyone have a list of high profile people w/unfavorable political views who just happened to...

End up on the "no fly" list? I know I've heard several recognizable names over the yrs.

[Black Max]

5. Civil Liberties Info

I run the Civil Liberties project at the History Commons ( http://www.cooperativeresearch.org ). We've got a ton of material on this subject, if you're looking for more info.

[Echo In Light]

6. Thanky

[wogget]

7. I just wonder

how much political activity bleeds into the generation of those lists. I guess I'm reading too much Naomi Wolf. Well, I'm going to fly tonight - I'll find out if those emails I wrote got me tagged . . .

[BrianOfKingsport]

8. It makes life hard on the employees too

I used to work in one of the bookstores at Dulles International Airport as an assistant manager. Aside from the growing problems getting certain essential materials through security (liquid supplies, sharp scissors, and boxcutters are all forbidden outright) the requirements to receive the security clearance to even just get through security at all have increased dramatically.

I applied initially two and a half years after 9/11 and since then their requirements on ID and reccomendations have risen dramatically (requiring the store I worked in to manufacture its own letterhead)