Wednesday, December 29, 2010
Whoopee! Now it's just like the Stassi
No more scrounging around digging up multiple bits of evidence to get the job done. Now all it takes is one well received tip to put someone on The Great Central Terrorist Watch List.
The failure to put Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab on the watch list last year renewed concerns that the government's system to screen out potential terrorists was flawed. Even though Abdulmutallab's father had told U.S. officials of his son's radicalization in Yemen, government rules dictated that a single-source tip was insufficient to include a person's name on the watch list.As your average Foxsucker would say, If you are innocent, what does it matter. They can't get their heads around the fact that being on the list effectively removes the innocent part. One thing is sure, this list will never get smaller. Perhaps the only solution is to put everybody on the list to eliminate any possibility of discrimination. I have a list of names I would like to see on the list, where do I sign them up?
Since then, senior counterterrorism officials say they have altered their criteria so that a single-source tip, as long as it is deemed credible, can lead to a name being placed on the watch list.
The government's master watch list is one of roughly a dozen lists, or databases, used by counterterrorism officials. Officials have periodically adjusted the criteria used to maintain it.
But civil liberties groups argue that the government's new criteria, which went into effect over the summer, have made it even more likely that individuals who pose no threat will be swept up in the nation's security apparatus, leading to potential violations of their privacy and making it difficult for them to travel.
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