Terrorist watch list at airports tops 1 million names

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The terrorist watch list was created after 9/11 to alert airport personnel to potential threats to national security. Now, according to the American Civil Liberties Union, the list has grown to over one million names.

"America's new million-record watch list is a perfect symbol for what's wrong with the administration's approach to security," said Barry Steinhardt, who heads the ACLU's technology and liberty program. "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,"

The ACLU is calling on the next president to review the list and pare it down to only "credible" threats. In the meantime, for the tens of thousands of Americans wrongly flagged for additional scrutiny, the Department of Homeland Security -- which once famously put Sen. Edward Kennedy of Massachusetts on the list -- has helpfully placed a link on its Web page for appeals.

-- Johanna Neuman

Photo: Nick Ut/Getty Images

Comments

[Elizabeth]

I really hope that the next president reviews this list. I can't get check in early and get hassled because my name is on the list, because "it is a common name" according to one TSA employee. To fix this they want me to file a packet that costs me money and takes up to 9 months to even clear. Last time I checked, I'm a little college co-ed with no threat to national security.

[Eziani Adake]

It is important to prevent another terrible attack like the one we have seven years ago by watching people with devil mind. By collecting the right names will help not only the US government to crack down Terrorists but protect the nation. I am in favor for reasonable and effective names collection.

[Russ]

I want to reply to Eziani Adake's comment.

The only reason you have said what you said on your comment is because you are probably not on the list unlike the millions (including me) that are honest citizen's that have to go through incredible pains and hassles to get our name off the list. I suggest you let someone who HAS thier name on the list to be commenting about this issue. Doing what the TSA is doing is just un-American. How dare you say something like that to the millions of inocent people who have to go through so much pain and misery to just get onto a plane.

[Greg K]

The nature of this list lends itself to abuse and misuse. There is no oversight of this list. There are no checks and balances in place to assure that the people on this list should be on this list. There are way too many "errors" and coincidences where those opposed to the Bush Administration have been added to that list. A few examples of those on the list that clearly are not a threat to the safety of Americans are, Nobel Peace Prize winner Nelson Mandela, former Assistant Attorney General Jim Robinson, Senator Ed Kennedy, author and outspoken Bush critic James Moore, CNN Investigative reporter Drew Griffin (who was investigating the DHS when his name was added) and probably the most dangerous of the list 6 year old John William Anderson. Of those that I mentioned that have been removed, it took high ranking government officials to do personal favors to get that accomplished. It took Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice to get Nelson Mandela off the list and the Secretary of DHS to remove Senator Kennedy. This list, while a good idea in theory, needs to a complete and total overhaul. There clearly has been abuse of this list and there are clearly many people that that should not be on that list now find themselves having to defend themselves. The Constitution of the United States has been turned into nothing more than a historic relic. We are starting to see the freedoms our forefathers fought and died to provide for us being eroded in the name of so-called security. In the 1950’s we were told to be afraid of the Godless communists. We were told that the Reds were out to destroy us and we could be the victims of a nuclear attack or see Soviet tanks running wild in Europe at any time. Now that the Soviet Union has collapsed a new threat quickly popped up to take its place. We are now told that terrorists could attack us at any time. We must now worry about a hijacked plane, a dirty bomb or a biological attack. In the wake of 9/11 we have caved to that fear and surrendered some of freedoms. With that surrender, the Bush Administration took as much as they could whether it was legal or not. It is time for us to stand up and tell our government no more lists. No more taking our liberties away while trying to scare us into fearing attack. It is time to serve the people of this country or it is time to be replaced one way or another.

[Eziani Adake]

As I am speaking now I am not aware if my name is on that list or not and I wish I will know and correct as soon as possible. For those who have their names on this lists unfortunately by error, I totally agree with you and I believe that's the reason why the issue was brought for discussion. However we should all agree that it is because TSA is doing something while the tax payers money is going in their pocket. My comments came
just to support the work their doing by tracking the wrong people inside or outside the United States not the good citizens living peacefully in the country. On my understanding , TSA should work hand to hand with other agencies related in other to address those issues as quickly as possible to ease the painful situation innocent travelers are going through.
According to you remarks I am speaking I don't know if my name is there or not.

[Trish Hunt]

I agree with Eziani Adake. There needs to be something, subject to reviews and ongoing monitoring. The problem with there being too much "noise" in the system and too many exceptions is that the system could inappropriately allow the wrong person in. This is not its intent. Hence, constant vigilance should not end at the immigration gate. It should be maintained throughout the system to assure the highest standards of integrity. National security is a serious issue and should be given the focus and resources that it deserves so that it can be executed efficiently (i.e. reduce false positive identifications, increase granularity, improve detection systems include the ability to detect false passports/identificaiton/names that could be used to circumvent the system).