FBI WHISTLEBLOWER
Bush orders integration of US terrorist watch lists ...
Fri Jun 25, 2004 16:58
64.140.158.4

Bush orders integration of US terrorist watch lists ...
The FBI will be charged with maintaining the master list
http://www.computerworld.com/databasetopics/data/story/0,10801,85233,00.html

News Story by Dan Verton

SEPTEMBER 22, 2003 (COMPUTERWORLD) - WASHINGTON -- On Sept. 16, two years and five days after one of the worst intelligence failures in U.S. history led to the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks, the White House directed that a multitude of federal terrorist watch lists be integrated into a single master list that will be maintained by the FBI.

Signed last week by the president, Homeland Security Presidential Directive-6 on the integration and use of screening information directs the attorney general to work with the departments of State and Homeland Security and the joint FBI-CIA Terrorist Threat Integration Center (TTIC) to create by Dec. 1 a master list of "known and suspected terrorists." The master database would then become the primary tool used by federal consular officials to screen visa applicants and the primary terrorism data mart for state and local law enforcement agencies.

In response to the presidential directive, Secretary of State Colin Powell, Secretary of Homeland Security Tom Ridge, CIA Director George Tenet and Attorney General John Ashcroft signed an eight-page document creating a new FBI-run Terrorist Screening Center to maintain the master watch list. According to that memorandum, the new screening center will consolidate data from more than a dozen existing terrorist watch lists. That master list will then become a subset of the identities database maintained by the TTIC.

"The job of the new Terrorist Screening Center is to make sure we get this information out to our agents on the borders and all those who can put it to use on the front lines -- and to get it there fast," said Ridge in a statement.

The memorandum requires the TTIC and the FBI to incorporate all available biometric data on known or suspected terrorists and envisions the use of future biometric technology as it becomes available. And it instructs the FBI to make sure its IT infrastructure can accept continuous, real-time data feeds from federal agencies that maintain their own watch lists.

The DHS will review all additions to the database and will manage which records are made available to state and local law enforcement officials and to private-sector owners and operators of critical infrastructure facilities. Likewise, the TTIC has been tasked to "promptly assume responsibility" for the State Department's TIPOFF database, which contains more than 110,000 names of known and suspected terrorists. TIPOFF is used by consular officials to screen foreign visitors to the U.S.

"Right now, there are several major watch lists and related systems. But with each separate watch list comes the potential for another seam," said Ashcroft. "The Terrorist Screening Center will provide 'one-stop shopping' so that every federal antiterrorist screener is working off the same page -- whether it's an airport screener, an embassy official issuing visas overseas or an FBI agent on the street."

In a written statement, Rep. Christopher Cox (R.-Calif.), chairman of the House Homeland Security Committee, said, "Consolidating our nation's terrorist watch lists will address a major problem cited in virtually every review of the performance of the U.S. intelligence community prior to 9/11."

Two of the 19 hijackers involved in the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks were on a CIA watch list, but that data was not shared with the FBI in time to stop them from entering the country.

The Terrorist Screening Center is the latest in a series of data sharing and integration initiatives started by the federal government since the attacks. For example, the State Department and the CIA are working together to ensure the accuracy of the TIPOFF database, which will form the basis of the new master watch list. In addition, the FBI has made information on subjects of its terrorism investigations accessible through the National Crime Information Center system to 650,000 state and local law enforcement officers nationwide. Likewise, the Transportation Security Administration has established a "no-fly" list, which has led to the successful apprehension of several terrorist suspects.
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... Bush’s amnesty will also legalize the status of what is estimated to be some 300,000 individuals from countries on the terrorist watch list. ...


Results 1 - 10 of about 425,000 for Terrorist Watch List.

‘Fahrenheit 9/11’ ban?
Ads for Moore’s movie could be stopped on July 30
By Alexander Bolton
http://www.thehill.com/news/062404/moore.aspx

FBI 'lost control' of terrorist watch list
11:02 AM +1000, Nov 20 2002

According to CNN, an obsolete FBI list of 370 people wanted for questioning in the September 11 terrorism investigation has been widely circulated and is still in use despite many errors.

Additionally, agency officials acknowledged that the list, which has gone through several manifestations, has "taken on a life of its own." and has shown up on several Web sites and contains names of people who have been cleared of any possible connection to last year's attacks.

The FBI said the list was not a list of suspects, but people who agents wanted to talk to.

[...]

The FBI said it is aware that some companies have used the list in lieu of background checks, but the agency said it has no control over company decisions.

One industry trade group official suggested it made "good economic sense" to use the list instead of running individual checks on all employees. He also suggested it would cover liability issues.

- CNN, U.S. watch list has 'taken on life of its own, FBI says.

A WSJ article posted at Politech says some companies and financial institutions are using the list, errors and all, for background checks on customers and employees.

A year later, the list has taken on a life of its own, with multiplying -- and error-filled -- versions being passed around like bootleg music. Some companies fed a version of the list into their own databases and now use it to screen job applicants and customers. A water-utilities trade association used the list "in lieu of" standard background checks, says the New Jersey group's executive director.

[...]

Then there's the problem of getting off the list. At first the FBI frequently removed names of people it had cleared. But issuing updated lists, which the FBI once did as often as four times a day, didn't fix the older ones already in circulation. Three brothers in Texas named Atta -- long since exonerated, and no relation to the alleged lead hijacker -- are still trying to chase their names off copies of the list posted on Internet sites in at least five countries.

- WSJ, Post-Sept. 11 Watch List Acquires Life of Its Own.

The watch list is supposedly circulating the net, but it's a little hard to find. Here's a copy of the www.segured.com version mentioned in the WSJ article. In case that disappears, here's a local copy, and a plain text version. Please note that even if it is genuine, this list is obsolete and inaccurate, as described in the articles above. Note also that it appears to have been modified and translated by segured.com.

update: Here's a different version of the list, dated October 11 2001 (local copy, plain text version), which again may or may not be genuine. This one is significantly longer, but contains less detail about each name.
http://vigilant.tv/article/2442

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