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Tweaking the Terrorist Watch List
The ACLU says there are one million names on the list. The fact that they are wrong doesn't discredit many of the solutions they offer to fix the real flaws of the program.
The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) has sounded the alarm that the government’s terrorist watch list has reached one million names:
The nation’s terrorist watch list has hit one million names, according to a tally maintained by the American Civil Liberties Union based upon the government’s own reported numbers for the size of the list.
“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.”
Painfully, I must agree with this organization. They are correct in pointing out that there are many flaws with this program that need to be fixed. However, I believe there are reasons to be skeptical about many of the claims and exaggerations from this purely partisan organization.
The ACLU makes many good points on this issue that we can not ignore. The sheer size of this list is something that should concern us. A list this large would be a bureaucratic nightmare to manage, and many mistaken identities are reported to happen with this program. I also agree with the ACLU that many innocent people are greatly inconvenienced by this well-intentioned but mistake-prone system. There is no doubt this program needs to be fixed.
On September 16, 2003, Homeland Security Presidential Directive-6 ordered that the Terrorist Screening Center (TSC) combine all existing government terrorist watch lists to screen individuals trying to enter the U.S. This combined list became known as the consolidated watch list, and is the single list used to protect our airlines and port-of-entries.
Many people were shocked when artist Yusuf Islam, formerly known as pop singer Cat Stevens, was deported after appearing on the watch list. Others pointed out several logical reasons why the U.S. had him on the list, such as his donating thousands of dollars to the terrorist organization Hamas. Other high profile characters and ordinary citizens have found their names on the list, and many have been delayed or even denied their flights.
I have given the ACLU credit on this issue; now I will give reasons to be skeptical. The claim that there are one million individuals on the terror watch list is a myth created through the exaggerated “estimations” of the ACLU. The truth is there are less than 400,000 individuals on the consolidated terrorist watch list, and less than 50,000 on the no-fly and selectee lists.
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John Stephenson blogs at Stop the ACLU.
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29 Comments
1. ACLU Exaggerate Watch List Numbers : Stop The ACLU:[...] Read the entire article! [...]
Jul 18, 2008 - 10:51 am 2. Two Dogs:Jay, wasn’t Teddy kept from boarding once before because his name was on a certain flight list? I seem to recall that happening and laughing.
The ACLU and their platform/opinions are decidedly un-American. This is just another in the never ending list of silly stuff that they get their panties bunched about. I think that you were too kind to them in the article.
Jul 18, 2008 - 11:15 am 3. Susan:I can tell a lot of work went into this John, good job!
I agree that while not perfect the watch list is very important.
I used to say when people complained about being “assessed” when they flew that I expect to be assessed when I fly and I damn well expect everyone on the plane with me to be assessed as well.
These tools are there for a reason, to keep us safe.
Thanks for pointing out how the ACLU, once again, twisted data for their own agenda.
Jul 18, 2008 - 11:19 am 4. Big Dog:The ACLU exaggerates about a number of things so this should surprise no one. If it were up to them there would be no list.
Admittedly, the list needs work so they are, at least, correct about that.
Jul 18, 2008 - 11:20 am 5. dinosaur:You were more than fair to the ACLU, fair a word I don’t think is in their vocabulary.
But the number a million sounds good, big, if a bit of a phantom.
Jul 18, 2008 - 11:43 am 6. Layla Elizabeth:I am sure there are flaws Jay and those flaws must be addressed. However, having said that I do not trust anything that comes out of the ACLU, not even this statement, which is spewed with liberalism and leftist bi-partisanship.
Jul 18, 2008 - 12:03 pm 7. Debbie:Sure there needs to be refinement of the process, but it’s a work in progress. I’ve been pulled over for ‘inspection’, and I’m certainly nothing like a terrorist in looks, name, or anything. But I was the 10th person in line, and so I was checked out. The guy in front of me could have been the next terrorist in looks and name, but was he pulled over? Nope, he was number 9 in line.
So the terrorist watch list has errors also. We have a very good friend, his family was from India, his name is Mohammed Ali Kahn.
He doesn’t speak any language except English, he runs a nice dinner club where our band plays sometimes. He laughs about traveling, being pulled over because of his name. But he doesn’t care, because AMERICA is HIS country, and he wants us to be safe.
His wife is white-bread Southern American, a physician, but she refused to take his last name when they got married because she did not want to end up on a watch list. Everyone to their own.
Nothing’s perfect.
Jul 18, 2008 - 1:36 pm 8. Jay:Thanks for the comments guys…make sure to read both pages of the article.
Jul 18, 2008 - 2:03 pm 9. Cletus:The ACLU needs to be dealt with. Gather up your torches and pitchforks, and lets march on these commies and show them how we really feel.
Jul 18, 2008 - 3:25 pm 10. vb:If 95% of the names are not US citizens, the problem is clear. The US has been negotiating tirelessly with others countries to get some sort of standard for verifying IDs. Each country has its own idea of what is acceptable and what violates privacy. Biometric IDs require infrastructure, whic takes time to set up and costs money. This is not an easy problem to solve.
Jul 18, 2008 - 3:46 pm 11. GM Roper:Well done John, I might also note that the ACLU typically stands up for “the little guy” as evidenced by their “concern” when there is a Republican in charge of the White House. If Obama wins (which really is questionable) I wonder if their stance will change?
Jul 18, 2008 - 4:17 pm 12. July 18th Link Roundup | THE HOT JOINTS:[...] Tweaking the terrorist watch list addthis_pub = ‘cmj1981′; [...]
Jul 18, 2008 - 4:25 pm 13. thespis:Great Article.
The media and most voters have forgotten that we have been largely protected and safe since September 11, 2001. We should thank Bush, Cheney and all the others who have kept America safe.
It is a good thing that the far leftist ACLU hasn’t been in charge of homeland security.
Jul 18, 2008 - 4:31 pm 14. Political Debris:The ACLU exagerate something? Say it aint so. I dont trust anything that comes from these people. Good artcle.
Jul 18, 2008 - 5:12 pm 15. Mike J:I understand that the program needs to be fixed or reshaped or what ever but at the end of the day if some one was stopped by mistake well i rather have that person or even myself delayed for an hour or 2 then to have 3000+ people die because a terrorists got through and did his damaged. The many out weigh the few. And at the end of the day what ever working seems to be keeping us from being attacked and that’s the main thing people need to understand. Yea it’s a pain in the butt and people get mad but we all go home safe and that’s what matters! No one said this was going to be easy. We all need to just work together and the ACLU is not an organization out there to help make things better for Americans but the ACLU is out there helping the terrorists anyway they can. We all want to go home to be with love ones and that’s what these programs are in place to do and so far they have done the job. Bush has made this country safer then what the ACLU or the liberal MSM will tell you!
Jul 18, 2008 - 5:38 pm 16. Wild Bill:The ACLU should be brought up on federal RICO charges. Most if not all of the members and directors of the ACLU should be put on the list. Great job on this article John.
Jul 18, 2008 - 5:39 pm 17. cedarford:Despite their exaggerations, the ACLU does have a point about unwieldy mega-lists compiled by arrogant unaccountable “heroes” now elevated from their store detective, gate security jobs.
Any law-abiding citizen denied visas or free movement should have the ability to immediately challenge their blacklisting, at little or no cost.
Jul 18, 2008 - 5:43 pm 18. cedarford:Despite their exaggerations, the ACLU does have a point about unwieldy mega-lists compiled by arrogant unaccountable “heroes” now elevated from their store detective, gate security jobs. And ensnaring citizens or innocent foreign visitors Kafkaesque just as a 75-year old black woman was made to miss a flight and wait 27 extra hours in the airport because TSA wanted to disassemble her wheelchair.
Or planes kept passengers on the runway 10 hours with no AC, no water, no food and toilets overfowing and sewage spilling into the aisles
for profit…And repeatedly informed passengers threatening to leave and get back to the airport for another flight that they would face 10 years in Federal prison for “terrorist acts” of “unsafely” leaving a plane in a “passenger- forbidden high security tarmac area” without “security heroes” authorization.
Any law-abiding citizen denied visas or free movement should have the ability to immediately challenge their blacklisting, at little or no cost.
Jul 18, 2008 - 5:57 pm 19. Mike J:Cedaford the system needs working on but sitting in a plane for 10 hours with no water, AC , Food etc…Is better then 3000+ laying in a grave. You can argue the point of discomfort all you want and people are going to have bad days but whatever saves lives in the key here. These Terrorists are not dumb and they will seek out every weakness the United States has. And they want people to complain so mistakes can be made and i bet you and the ACLU and the MSM would be the first one’s to complain if an attack got through that the United States is not doing enough to keep us safe. People need to just deal with it! It will get better or it may get worse depending on situations. It’s better to be safe then SORRY! And sorry turned out to be a 9/11 and that’s what the government is trying to prevent. And i agree what you said about “Any law-abiding citizen denied visas or free movement should have the ability to immediately challenge their blacklisting, at little or no cost.” If they are on the list and it’s a mistake fix it. If they are on the list and they are a Terrorists great job! Another day saved! There is no easy solution. If it was the terrorists would gave up on attacking Americans along time ago. Terrorists are like cockroaches you can do tons of things to get rid of them but they will never be gone and will continue to seek out a way back into your home.
Jul 18, 2008 - 7:18 pm 20. cedarford:MikeJ – Cedaford the system needs working on but sitting in a plane for 10 hours with no water, AC , Food etc…Is better then 3000+ laying in a grave… i bet you and the ACLU and the MSM would be the first one’s to complain if an attack got through that the United States is not doing enough to keep us safe. People need to just deal with it!
Allowing innocent people to deplane because companies overbooked flight times and decide it is cheaper to just let people sit hours rather than deplane – and hold them captive with laws that say they are terrorists themselves if they attempt to free themselves? It has nothing to do at all with terrorist evildoers, flight safety. It has everything to do with not losing
revenue from foolhardy bookings – and foisting the pain onto paying customers.
It is one thing to accept reasonable security. It is another to accept abuse of citizens with NO security risk – out of blind fascistic fervor that if people do not automatically do as “heroes in uniform who keep us all perfectly safe” wish on whim. Or ordering the masses about with an eye to profit or government pork or empire-building their shitty little corner of Homeland Security bureaucracy , then the Terrorists Win! The Terrorists Win!
Libertarianism has it’s points..So do American traditions of freedom and liberty.
Anyone saying they would go naked on their hands and knees onto a flight and accept being chained to their seats if “it only makes us a little bit safer from the 30,000 radical Muslims that want us dead” is absolutely outside American tradition – and frankly, not worth keeping alive…
We can’t debase ourselves endlessly for “perfect safety” and listen to sub-100 IQ law enforcement/security people bragging about how everyone “must comply with whatever your Heroes ask” because otherwise, the Heroes can’t be perfect everytime and the few thousand terrorists “out there” might “get lucky once” and kill more Americans.
Which they assure us, after 9/11, that any more deaths by that small band of “evildoers” – will destroy our civilization..And the Terrorists Win! The Terrorists Win!
Actually, we need reasonably effective, but not perfect security at a level we can afford and still operate efficiently with. Not security that cripples us competively and which costs so much we must ask China to loan us the money to pay for.
Jul 18, 2008 - 8:20 pm 21. reliapundit:And if the terrorists wipe out some more Americans?
We pay them back…
1,000,000 names on list = “fake but accurate” = agw = iraq lost = europe hates usa/bush = the lies of the left.
if the truth was on their side and if their policies could work, then there’d still be a ussr.
Jul 18, 2008 - 8:39 pm 22. Rosemary:Excellent post, as usual. Very well written. The content is very usual, especially those links. Great job!
Jul 19, 2008 - 9:06 am 23. David:I don’t understand this concept that the government “war on terror” is keeping us safe. I perceive the whole concept to be a cruel joke. The government is running around acting like it is doing something yet they are doing little other than killing our rights and culture. Maybe that was the object of the terrorist all along, do something extremely bad and watch as we self distruct. The “list” is obviously an intrusion into liberty concepts that is worse than anything Lincoln, Wilson, and FDR ever thought of.
Jul 19, 2008 - 3:05 pm 24. Saturday Afternoon - REAL Late - Laundry Time , An Ol’ Broad’s Ramblings:Our government should be finding countries that are the problem and taking the pain to them. If Islam is the culpert, then declare war on Islam. But to declare war on terror is like declaring war on the atom bomb. Terror is only an instrutment. We used it at Dresden and in Japan. So rather than declare innocent citizens terrorist or go around feeling up grandmothers in the airport, get the job done.
The fact that we have not had a serious incident since 2001 only means the terrorist either got the job done or are not in the mood to do anything at this time. After all, in our “brave” country all they would have to do is pop a firecraker in downtown Washington and everyone will kill themselves trying to escape the city.
[...] Tweaking the Terrorist Watch List – Pajamas Media [...]
Jul 19, 2008 - 5:44 pm 25. Stourley K:400,000 terrorists in this country? Why haven’t they been arrested?! Actually, the list just a political tool used to harass patriotic Americans who stand up for constitutional rights.
Jul 19, 2008 - 6:43 pm 26. Rubicon:Airline takeoff delays have nothing at all to do with the DHS watch-list. That is an airline industry issue & the airlines have long fought any action by any Congress to fix it.
Jul 19, 2008 - 7:23 pm 27. Kender:So long as the govt provides an easily accessible, easily resolved, format to correct errors, and so long as once a correction is submitted the user can go forth with no additional delays, what’s the big deal. I have neighbors who were on the list. The name, Martin. Not a typical name. They missed their flight to Texas & were delayed for over 24 hours w/ no compensation. The govt provides no compensation & the airlines cannot be held accountable for a govt list they are forced to enforce.
The issue the ACLU “should” be moaning about is that the system has no way to be corrected quickly & no way for it to be refined on a regular basis to correct what will surely be errors through no fault of anyone, but goof-ups!
Now, if they want to complain about the reporter who did a negative story on the govt & ended up on the list, THEN, they have a leg to stand on.
The fact that some want us to always error on the side of “they are innocent until proven guilty so let them on the plane immediately,” is crazy. There is no way we can rely on that method because flights are right now, at the moment. Resolving a name issue will take awhile. So, to protect others, that person “must” be denied access, until there is a reasonable review & clearance, even if only a temporary clearance based on some sort of info someone has been able to easily verify.
No method will be perfect, but erring on the side of safety of the general public is more important than inconveniencing someone.
In addition, many on the list are foreigners. We have limited ability to correct or verify info about them. And, many on the list are people we “never” want on “any” plane,
“anywhere” in the world!
My response to those we cannot trust but would abuse our system of kindness to their advantage, is “TOUGH.” Become a human being who does not act irrationally & the world will one day trust you again!
Great article John. The ACLU really needs to learn to be more honest in their bulletins and stances. To run around saying there are a million names on a list when they KNOW they are mistaken means they either don’t have the honesty to admit and correct their mistake or they are deliberately being dishonest about their press release.
If they don’t have the honesty that’s one thing, as we know to watch for it and can act accordingly. If they are deliberately keeping a lie in the public arena it just shows their partisan, anti-American colors.
Jul 19, 2008 - 11:58 pm 28. Jay:Stourley K obviously didn’t bother to read the article before making ignorant comments. 95% of the list are not American citizens and are outside of the United States.
Jul 20, 2008 - 8:48 pm 29. R>B.:It is fact most terrorist attacks are done by muslims. Then we should go after muslims. HOW HARD IS THAT TO FIGURE OUT
Sep 1, 2008 - 10:53 pm