1,600 Names Suggested Daily For FBI's Watch List

schwit1 writes with this excerpt from the Washington Post: "During a 12-month period ended in March this year... the US intelligence community suggested on a daily basis that 1,600 people qualified for the list because they presented a 'reasonable suspicion,' according to data provided to the Senate Judiciary Committee by the FBI in September and made public last week. ... The ever-churning list is said to contain more than 400,000 unique names and over 1 million entries. The committee was told that over that same period, officials asked each day that 600 names be removed and 4,800 records be modified. Fewer than 5 percent of the people on the list are US citizens or legal permanent residents. Nine percent of those on the terrorism list, the FBI said, are also on the government's 'no fly' list."

Comments

91% of terrorists are allowed on planes

[SSpade]

If 9% of the list o' terrorists are also on the no-fly list, that means that the feds are happy with 91% of terrorists being on airplanes.

bummer

[tommeke100]

a socialist (caucasian) Belgian politician got on that list because the immigration officer thought he had too much South American stamps on his passport. So after taking him into a small office, they googled his name and found his articles to be too "left wing" to their taste and he was refused access and said that if he wanted to come to the US he had to apply for a visa. He did just that and of course it was refused. Lately, he took the plane to Brazil (a direct flight), and they had to detour the whole plane for hundreds of miles, because he was on it and they weren't allowed to fly over US territory (the crew told him afterwards) . And of course, there is no way to get off that list.

Watch list?

[girlintraining]

I'd be more interested in knowing what the average length of time a person remains on the list, and a demographic breakdown. The problem with compiling lists like this is the same as with sex offender registries: Even after people are removed from it (sometimes winding up on it for petty reasons in the first place), they continue to be linked to it. Computers don't forget, and there's always some bureaucrat who wants to keep a list of everyone that's ever been on the list available and searchable. There is a point at which even justice becomes injust.

So what are the numbers, Big Brother?

Re:How do they define "reasonable suspicion"?

[MagusSlurpy]

How do they define "reasonable suspicion"?

That's their euphemism for "foreign."

Re:Fucking-a.

[Hatta]

Try making your own, it's a quality condiment. It's just the stuff in stores that they call mayonnaise that's disgusting. It's just some egg yolks and a bit of lemon juice in a blender, and you slowly drizzle oil in until it's stiff. You can add some flavor too, a bit of nice mustard and black pepper is good. Sometimes I'll add garlic, capers, or a touch of cayenne. Whatever I have on hand really, it's fun to play around with. Of course, everyone's tastes vary, but I'm of the opinion that you shouldn't decide you don't like something until you've tasted it done right.