Terrorist Watch List Hits One Million Names

Terrorist Watch List Hits One Million Names

aclu.org

Putting a million names on a watch list is a guarantee that the list will do more harm than good by interfering with the travel of innocent people and wasting huge amounts of our limited security resources on bureaucratic wheel-spinning," said Steinhardt. "I doubt this thing would even be effective at catching a real terrorist."

Controls on the watch lists called for by the ACLU included:

* due process
* a right to access and challenge data upon which listing is based
* tight criteria for adding names to the lists
* rigorous procedures for updating and cleansing names from the lists.

(visit the link for the full news article)

A perfect example of the totally ineffective anti-terrorism but very effective police state measures of this government. We need to scrap this boondoggle and do something that actually works and is in keeping with a free society.

aclu.org
(visit the link for the full news article)

One million people!

How does one go about finding out if... uhh *cough* someone he may know maybe on it? *cough*

More from the article

"Members of Congress, nuns, war heroes and other 'suspicious characters,' with names like Robert Johnson and Gary Smith, have become trapped in the Kafkaesque clutches of this list, with little hope of escape," said Caroline Fredrickson, director of the ACLU Washington Legislative Office. "Congress needs to fix it, the Terrorist Screening Center needs to fix it, or the next president needs to fix it, but it has to be done soon."

Fredrickson and Barry Steinhardt, director of the ACLU's Technology and Liberty Program, spoke today along with two victims of the watch list: Jim Robinson, former assistant attorney general for the Civil Division who flies frequently and is often delayed for hours despite possessing a governmental security clearance and Akif Rahman, an American citizen who has been detained and interrogated extensively at the U.S.-Canada border when traveling for business.

"America's new million record watch list is a perfect symbol for what's wrong with this administration's approach to security: it's unfair, out-of-control, a waste of resources, treats the rights of the innocent as an afterthought, and is a very real impediment in the lives of millions of travelers in this country," said Barry Steinhardt, director of the ACLU Technology and Liberty Program. "It must be fixed without delay."

reply to post by Techsnow


Get them to try to board any commercial flight originating in the US. You'll find out real fast.

[edit on 14-7-2008 by metamagic]

1 out of every 300 people in the United States is considered a potential Pinko....

Oops, I meant terrorist.

I wonder if there is a way to ever get off that list once you are on it.
Doubt it.

DocMoreau

People on the Terrorist Watch List

Nelson Mandela, winner of the Nobel Peace Prize and a household name all over the world, nonetheless is listed on the U.S. watchlist and needs special permission to enter the United States.

Evo Morales, president of Bolivia.

U.S. Senator Edward Kennedy (D, Mass.) After repeated delays at airport security, the senator had trouble getting removed from the airline watch list despite calls to Homeland Security and eventually a personal conversation with the Secretary of DHS

Representative John Lewis (D, Georgia). Being a hero of the Civil Rights Movement isn't enough to keep off the aviation watch lists, apparently.

Marine Staff Sgt. Daniel Brown was blocked from flying while on his way home from an 8-month deployment in Iraq. He was listed as a suspected terrorist due to a previous incident in which gunpowder was detected on his boots, most likely a residue of a previous tour in Iraq.

James Moore, author of a book critical of the Bush Administration, Bush's Brain

Catherine ("Cat") Stevens, wife of Senator Ted Stevens (R, Alaska).

Yusuf Islam, a singer and pop star formerly known as Cat Stevens. Author of song "Peace Train." His flight from London was diverted and forced to land in Maine once the government realized he was aboard, and he was barred from entering United States.

Major General Vernon Lewis (Ret.); a recipient of the Army's highest medal for service, the Distinguished Service Medal who served in the Korean and Vietnam wars

Captain Robert Campbell, US Navy-retired, Commercial Airline pilot of 22 years

David Nelson. Attorney David C. Nelson (right) is one of many men named David Nelson around the U.S. who have been caught up on the list, including a former star of the television show "Ozzie and Harriet." (Nelson was also a plaintiff in the ACLU suit in 2004).

John William Anderson, age 6;

Rep. Don Young, (R, AK);

Sister Glenn Anne McPhee, the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops' secretary for education.

Congresswoman Loretta Sanchez, D-CA

I think this speaks for itself...

I have a feeling the target for this list is around 7 billion people, give or take.

I wonder if I am on this watch list for the simple fact I have posted critical texts about both the bush administration and some aspects of United states economy, culture and politics. Is there any way, as a foreign citizen for me to find out? Is there any way to find out who the hell is adding these names? Or do I have to wait untill some lapse of judgement and the CIA lands a plane at my local airport and takes me for an interview in Damascus?

This list thing stinks to high heaven and needs to be dealt with at the public level.

Assuming the effort to compile a 'Terrorist watch list' is a sincere security-minded government initiative; Does it include the names of Mexicans and Canadians with which we share an open border?

Or is the list of 'those we fear' restricted to American citizens?

(I know there are internationally recognized 'exceptions' but it seems the Americans on this list outnumber the foreigners, no?)

I know if you're on the no-fly list, you just have to contend it and wait for them to give you the all clear.

My father was on the no-fly list. Doesn't make sense considering he's one of the project managers on the freedom tower engineering staff. Not exactly someone who intends to do "harm" to the US.

He was held up at the airport after going to the gate. Told he was on the no-fly list. He just had to wait for them to clear it, he was of course late for his flight, and as such, being a businessman, pretty peeved at the delay.


Now, I know the no-fly list is different from the terror watch list. But they might as well be one in the same with those kinds of numbers.

Seriously, do they really think there's over a million terrorists out there? Pffft. If there were, I guarantee you the attacks that happened a few years ago in Britain, the US, etc. wouldn't have been carried out by a mere handful of terrorists. You'd see small armies pulling it off.



[edit on 14-7-2008 by johnsky]

reply to post by metamagic


He, he, this is not a terrorist list it sounds like Nixon drity black book.

I bet Bush has his own personal black book too.

I'm not surprised the list is so long. If there really are that many people who want to violently overthrow the government, then it must be doing something wrong.

when does the ritualistic, blood drinkers, human sacrificers, mass murderers list come out? i can't imagine how many names would be on that list. can you george bush?

Does anyone else see the ACLU watch list counter

I really find it hard to believe that it could be growing that fast, but IDK.

aha

So that's what those secret haliburton camps are for

You know, they say that even if you don't already have an FBI dossier, if you request a copy of yours they will start one on you forthwith.

It occurs to me that the list would be useless if everyone tried to get onto it.

If everyone found a way to use words like "bomb", "plutonium", "assassinate", and "POTUS" in their telephone conversations and made it a habit of ending each conversation with "Allah hw'ackba" or "Allah is Great", then we could maybe get onto the list. And it doesn't matter if we all get onto the list. What is important is that enough people of good reputation make it onto the list. What would it do to the overall reliability of the list?

Ok, I have an idea that will get you all put on the list. If you live in a college town, organize a waterboarding party! Hire or conscript a doctor or medic on hand, and invite college students to allow themselves to be waterboarded with full intensity. The idea would be to bypass intellectual arguments over whether it constitutes torture, and simply prove what it is in a hurry. If the parents get upset, BAM! you've brought them in whether they wanted to call it torture or not.

Come up with your own way to get on the list. Consider it an exclusive club for intense performance artists, and only those who are willing to spit in the all-seeing eye with humor, love, peace, and intellect are to be included.

Originally posted by Techsnow
One million people!

How does one go about finding out if... uhh *cough* someone he may know maybe on it? *cough*

I believe this may be one way if you're willing to pay for the opportunity..

Terrorist Watch list software


[edit on 7/14/08 by LLoyd45]

Is there anywhere I can find a complete list?

Soon this List will be merged with people In debt to create the

International Terror Debt List. Will 5 billion names on it.

This is Rubbish.... Lets go do something a little more useful.... Light Build a Wall around america LOL about the same Useless Measure as this list.

The Great Anti- Terror Wall...

I support The Great Anti- Terror Wall!

It has to be at least two stories high though! And don't forget the east and west coasts in case the terrorists learn how to swim!