[Infowarrior] - The Non-Terrorist Watchlist

[Richard Forno]

House Approves Whitelist of People Who Aren't Terrorists
By David Kravets EmailFebruary 04, 2009 | 4:02:24 PM

http://blog.wired.com/27bstroke6/2009/02/house-approves.html

The House overwhelmingly adopted legislation this week mandating the  
creation of a new kind of terrorist watchlist: a database of people  
who aren't terrorists, but are routinely flagged at airports anyway.

The U.S. government maintains a list of about a million names of  
suspected terrorists that is crosschecked with passenger names ahead  
of airline boarding. The list has been dogged for years by sloppy name  
matches that have ensnared innocent travelers, children, prominent  
politicians and government officials, the U.S. Conference of Catholic  
Bishops' secretary of education and all men named David Nelson.

Under the new plan, approved late Tuesday 413-3, innocent victims of  
the terrorist watchlist must prove to the Department of Homeland  
Security, through an undetermined appeals process, that they are not  
terrorists. They would then get their names put on what the  
legislation calls the "Comprehensive Cleared List."

The legislation is another attempt to assist wrongly flagged  
passengers and would supersede the troubled DHS Traveler Redress  
Inquiry Program, which has been criticized for being slow or  
unresponsive to flier complaints.

The FAST Redress Act, if approved by the Senate, requires the  
government to report within 240 days on its progress in implementing  
the new list.