Helen of Troy writes “the [watch list] list is reviewed and scrubbed daily.”

Not only is this wrong, it is hilarious! It took a recent Act of Congress to get Nelson Mandela off the watch list.

“WASHINGTON (CNN) — Former South African President Nelson Mandela is to be removed from a U.S. terrorism watch list under a bill President Bush signed Tuesday. Mandela and other members of the African National Congress have been on the list because of their fight against South Africa’s apartheid regime, which gave way to majority rule in 1994.”

The Bill is H.R. 5690.

Annie Jacobsen

“In my heart of hearts, the Department of Homeland Security is one perceived threat away from becoming BIG BROTHER. Kudos to Ms Jacobsen for single-handedly protecting our rights and Constitution.” — Aztec

Unfortunately…most people didn’t begin to perceive it until the Oklahoma City Bomb. It is a curious fact that at the very same time, there was a proposed Omnibus Anti-Terrorism law put before Congress. Well…actually….it was introduced a bit ahead of the bombing.

Regards,

Chuck(le)
[I believe in coincidence. I just don't trust it. -- Garrick, Cardasian Tinker/Tailor/Soldier/Spy, Star Trek: Deep Space 9]

Javelin: For your benefit, I’m spending a bunch of hard earned dough to try to get TSA to behave. Contrary to your stereotype, I did vote against the Iraq war. Problem was my congressman (Ed Markey D. Massachusetts) is more interested in getting re-elected than doing what’s right, and I guess my sales pitch wasn’t any more convincing than it was for Javelin, so he didn’t listen. But please meet at least one person who isn’t inconsistent by your measure. My guess is I’m not alone.

Helen of Troy:

Why don’t you (and everyone else for that matter) come out from behind the bushes and identify yourself. If you know some stuff that the rest of us don’t about the formation of the watchlist, we’d like to interview you.

Fred Gevalt

Getting someone on a watchlist is not as easy as calling in the name of a reporter when he writes a bad story about you. An agency nominates someone who is a known threat to airplanes – a terrorist – to get on the no-fly list. That alone doesn’t get you on the list – there’s a thorough review but other security agencies before it’s approved, and the list is reviewed and scrubbed daily. Drew Griffin, the CNN reporter, is not a known threat and is not on the No Fly list. He’s just like those guys on 60 Minutes whose name is misidentified with someone who’s really on the list. Odds are he knows that but likes getting his mug on tv so he keeps up his false reporting.

Drew Griffin and anyone else who is told “you’re on a watchlist” can point their finger directly at the airlines. Airlines do the watchlist matching right now – they have the No Fly list and match pasengers’ names against it. They look at similar names and determine who will get hassled because of misidentification. Airlines know that people will be furious with TSA for the inconvenience – not them – and it costs them money to come up with a system to clear people who aren’t really on the list, so there’s no real carrot or stick to cause them to reduce passenger’s hassle.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XPNmxZwhMag