Lawson for Congress

In recent months a lot has been said about the seemingly ever increasing list of potential terrorist threats we call the “terrorist watch list.”

The Terrorist Screening Database (TSDB), better known as the terrorist watch list, is operated by the National Security Branch of the FBI. The list is mainly compiled from names and aliases from the National Counterterrorism Center, which provides international terrorist information, and the FBI, which provided domestic terrorist information. The TSDB, terrorist watch list, was created to “provide ‘one-stop shopping’ so that every government screener is using the same terrorist watch list.”

Many of you have probably heard the numerous stories of delays, interrogations, and canceled flights from legitimate, law-abiding U.S. citizens whose name happens to match or resemble a name on the Federal Government’s terrorist watch list.

James Robinson is a commercial airline pilot and a retired brigadier general with the Air National Guard. Despite his credentials as a commercial pilot, he is forced to jump through hurdles to board his own plane because his name matches that of another on the watch list. This story is made more ironic by the fact that he is held up by the TSA, the same administration which certified him to carry a weapon in the cockpit of his plane.

I highlight this story to draw attention to the inadequacies of the current terrorist watch list, not to advocate its removal. I believe that a properly functioning watch list is vital to domestic safety in America’s terminals and ports as well as at the local level. While I feel safer flying knowing that James Robinson, the pilot, will be checked to insure he is not James Robinson, the terrorist, the simple fact that more than 1,000,000 names and aliases comprise this list deters its effectiveness.

In July of this year the watch list, which was created after 9/11, reached the million mile marker. The sheer size of the list is counterproductive to its mission. As the list continues to grow, more and more innocent citizens are having their rights impeded upon. I am in no way advocating that individuals with names on the list should be ushered through airport terminals around the country, but I am advocating changes to the system.

Nelson Mandela, recipient of America’s highest civilian award, the Presidential Medal of Freedom, as well as the Nobel Peace Prize was on the terrorist watch list until he was recently removed by a bill signed by George W. Bush. When men such as Nelson Mandela and Jim Robinson, head of the Justice Department’s criminal division during the Clinton administration, are on the terror watch list it seems there is gross negligence in the system. If notable characters like these are hassled by the current system of the terrorist watch list, you can imagine its ramifications for ordinary citizens.

More important than the delays and hassles at the airport caused by such a list is its encroachment on the Fifth Amendment of the United States Constitution.

No person shall be held to answer for a capital, or otherwise infamous crime, unless on a presentment or indictment of a Grand Jury, except in cases arising in the land or naval forces, or in the Militia, when in actual service in time of War or public danger; nor shall any person be subject for the same offense to be twice put in jeopardy of life or limb; nor shall be compelled in any criminal case to be a witness against himself, nor be deprived of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law; nor shall private property be taken for public use, without just compensation.

Is the Due Process clause of this Amendment being adhered to when the government can place practically anyone on the list? The Terrorist Screening Center explains its guidelines for who is included on the list by staing, “Per HSPD-6, only individuals who are known or appropriately suspected to be or have been engaged in conduct constituting, in preparation for, in aid of, or related to terrorism are included in the TSDB.” Looking through the hazy vagueness of what defines “appropriately suspected,” it apparent that anyone can placed on the list without being formally charged. The lack of legitimacy to whose is named on the list is furthered by the fact that “the TSC (Terrorist Screening Center) cannot reveal whether a particular person is in the TSDB.” The fact that you cannot determine if you are on the list is of little importance because the TSC does not accept redress inquires for removing names from the list directly from the public.

I wish to close with a few facts from the Government Accountability Office’s (GAO) report on the terrorist watch list from an article in USA Today.

The Transportation Security Administration (TSA) could not specify how many people on its no-fly list, which is a small subset of the watch list, might have slipped through screening and been allowed on domestic flights.

Homeland Security has not done enough to use the list more broadly in the private sector, where workers applying for jobs in sensitive places such as chemical factories could do harm.

TSA data show “a number of individuals” on the no-fly list passed undetected through screening and boarded international flights bound for the United States. Several planes have been diverted once officials realized that people named on the watch lists were on board.

Be sure to check out the ACLU’s Watch List Counter and read a few stories of the innocent individuals who have found themselves running into problems because of the Federal Government’s terrorist watch list.

Also, take at the article, Feds Set to Take Over Airline Watch List Checking, Again, on the Wired Blog Network.

Matt Barber is a junior at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, and a volunteer with Lawson for Congress. He is working towards a double major in Political Science and Business Administration.

Tags: Due Process, Terrorist Watch List

This entry was posted on Sunday, September 14th, 2008 at 9:44 pm and is filed under good government, human rights, restore liberty. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.