FBI provided flawed data for terrorism watch list, audit says: Innocent on list, real threats not on

[DeepModem Mom]

Source: Los Angeles Times

A Justice Department study says inaccurate and outdated information resulted in innocent people being kept on the list while real threats were not added in a timely fashion.
By Josh Meyer, Los Angeles Times Staff Writer
March 18, 2008

WASHINGTON -- Adding to the litany of complaints about one of the nation's primary counter-terrorism safety nets, a Justice Department audit has concluded that the FBI provided the government-wide terrorism watch list with incomplete, inaccurate and outdated information about suspects for almost three years.

As a result, many innocent people stayed on the terrorism watch list long after they were cleared of any wrongdoing, and real threats to national security were sometimes left off the list or not added in a timely manner, according to the audit, released Monday by Justice Department Inspector General Glenn A. Fine.

The watch list was established by presidential directive in September 2003 so that law enforcement and intelligence officials could have a uniform database of terrorism suspects, enabling agencies to screen out those trying to get into the country and flag others domestically.

It is managed by the Terrorist Screening Center, which is overseen by the Justice Department and staffed through the Justice, Homeland Security and State departments and other agencies.

The audit also found problems in the way other law enforcement agencies within the Justice Department contributed to the watch list -- primarily they did not ensure that individuals were removed once cleared of suspicion or wrongdoing. Those agencies include the Drug Enforcement Administration, the U.S. Marshals Service, the Bureau of Prisons and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives....

Read more: http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/nation/la-na-watchlist18mar18,0,2142359.story

[suffragette]

1. 900,000 names

The list has soared to more than 900,000 names by some government estimates, and it has been criticized in the past by Fine's office and other government watchdog agencies.

Marc Rotenberg, executive director of the Electronic Privacy Information Center, described the watch list as "Kafka-esque," saying he was aware of many individuals who could not get off the list no matter how strenuously they complained.

"It is like a lobster trap -- it's very easy to get in, much harder to get out," Rotenberg said. "I'm glad the inspector general has issued the report. But it doesn't solve the problem."

That's a lot of names. I wonder how many were illegally wiretapped after being wrongly placed on the lists.

And the "Terrorist Screening Center." Just how many new agencies do we have that are participating in this?

[DeepModem Mom]

3. Yep, 900,000! Good questions, suffragette. nt

[suffragette]

9. "the sprawling list was growing by 20,000 names a month"

http://blog.wired.com/27bstroke6/2008/02/us-terror-watch.html




Puts McCarthy's blacklist to shame and I don't doubt it's just as political as his was.

[DeepModem Mom]

16. Wow. Thanks for the chart! nt

[Deny and Shred]

6. It's no oversight. Casting a wide net and deciding later is common

for Rovian politics. In 2000, FLA had a law that felons couldn't vote in FLA , so Rove found the list of felons who had moved there. Instead of identifying them, the law was changed to allow any voter matching 75% (maybe80%) of the felon's information could and did have their votes challenged.
So 5 guys named Joe Johnson, for example, had their votes invalidated. Somehow, one Joe Johnson, who should have been caught in the same dragnet, had his vote count, and he just so happened to live in Repub stronghold. That story is in Greg Palast's 'The Best Democracy Money Can Buy'. They went through those lists with a fine tooth comb.
They are preparing similar lists for '08 as well, even excluding troops fighting in Iraq.

http://www.brasschecktv.com/page/167.html

[suffragette]

8. No oversight is right

And it does smack of Rovian politics dressed up in a false and shiny security suit.

[bobthedrummer]

13. There's a GD thread that is discussing these agencies, past and present

"The Pike Committee"
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=389x2990965

[Supersedeas]

2. Bushstone cops

[Arctic Dave]

4. In other words, it's only fun to put people on the list,

not taking them off.

[uppityperson]

5. My tax dollars at work, keeping me safe? Wasting time, money, resources.

I am glad that this is being looked at more.

[postulater]

7. If only they had listened in on more phone calls.

Then they would have been more accurate.

[annabanana]

10. I hope, at least, they found this out WHILE fixing the list to reflect

a closer realtionship with reality...

[sarcasmo]

11. Take me off the list!

[LiberalEsto]

12. Back in 1971

I briefly lived in Worcester, Mass., a cheap hypocritical craphole of an ugly town.

There were a lot of prostitutes in town -- they and their pimps were out on street corners all over downtown every night. There was heavy public pressure on the cops and the city government to clean up the streets and get rid of the hookers, but somehow, nothing ever happened.

If you were a young female hippie/college student, the cops would bust you on any pretext and charge you with prostitution. Especially if you were hitchhiking. We hippies/college students were terrified to walk around town on everyday business, fearing we would get arrested and charged as hookers. Luckily I never got arrested.

This practice of busting innocent college students allowed the cops to point out the huge number of prostitution arrests they were making every week. However, the real prostitution business continued to flourish just as it always had, undisturbed by the police.

I was reminded of this in reading about all the innocent people stuck on the government's terrorism watch list. The same kind of mentality is involved.

[pitohui]

15. i'm guessing the real whores gave the cops pay offs

hence they had no choice but to bust innocents to prettify their stats

i've seen the same thing around here with crack sellers, they'll arrest any fucking body except a REAL crack seller

[LiberalEsto]

21. It was the pimps

who paid off the cops

[pitohui]

14. wow what was their first clue?

they told my husband they knew he wasn't the guy on the list but they could never remove his name permanently only on a temporary basis and then the computer would automatically return it to the no fly list again


the hours they've wasted clearing him are hours that could have been spent screening for real drug couriers, money launderers, and terrorists who have already moved onto the next clean name

as an honest person my husband is stuck with the name he was born with

[slackmaster]

17. I remind people that is the same list some wanted to be used to deny people their civil rights

http://www.bradycampaign.org/issuesarchive/terrorgap/

Senator Frank Lautenberg (D-NJ) and Representative Peter King (R-NY) have introduced the “Denying Firearms and Explosives to Dangerous Terrorists Act.” Based on an Administration proposal, this legislation would:

• Provide the Attorney General (AG) with discretionary authority to deny the transfer of a firearm or an explosives license or permit when a background check reveals that the purchaser is a known or suspected terrorist and the AG reasonably believes that the person may use a firearm or explosives in connection with terrorism;

• Implement due process safeguards so an affected person would have an opportunity to challenge a denial by the AG; and

• Protect the sensitive information providing the basis for terrorist watch lists.

I don't understand why an intelligent man like Senator Lautenberg would sign on to a Republican effort to arbitrarily increase police powers without any due process or any recourse for people flagged as terror suspects.

[ConcernedCanuk]

18. This reminds me of the "red" list decades ago, people suspected of supporting Communism

.
.
.

They made lists, then put these people under scrutiny, and even blacklisted them to employers and the like.

It's the US government against its own citizens

Again/still

[appleannie1]

19. Link to the actual audit. A real eyeopener given all the warrantless

wiretapping that was going on in that time frame. Leaves one to wonder what 'vital' information they were gathering. It certainly could not have anything to do with terrorism.

http://www.usdoj.gov/oig/reports/plus/a0720/final.pdf

After our initial review of the 192 statistics, we excluded 133 statistics from our detailed review because: (1) the sources of the statistics could not be determined;3 (2) the statistics or supporting systems were previously reviewed by the OIG and recommendations were made to correct deficiencies identified; and (3) the statistics were used for informational as opposed to operational purposes.4
Of the remaining 59 terrorism-related statistics, we selected 26 to test whether the statistics were accurate. We selected these 26 statistics based on our assessment of the significance of the statistic to the Department’s counterterrorism efforts and based on the risk associated with reporting the statistic inaccurately.5 The statistics selected included 10 from the FBI (reported 13 times), 11 from the USAOs (reported 20 times), and 5 from the Criminal Division (reported 9 times).
To test the accuracy of these 26 statistics, we analyzed documentation and conducted interviews with Department officials to determine if the information reported for each statistic was accurate. In some cases we reviewed documentation for each item counted in the statistic reported. In other cases we reviewed documentation for a sample of the items counted.6
As summarized in the following table, we determined that the FBI, EOUSA, and the Criminal Division did not accurately report 24 of the 26 statistics we reviewed.

[DBoon]

20. hey, the no-fly lists are keeping us safe

think of all the people on the list who will never die in a plane crash.