Shahzad on U.S. Travel Security List Since 1999

By: CBS News Investigates
Topics: News

Sources tell CBS News that would-be Times Square bomber Faisal Shahzad appeared on a U.S government travel travel lookout list - Traveler Enforcement Compliance System (TECS) - between 1999 and 2008 because he brought approximately $80,000 cash or cash instruments into the United States.

TECS is a major law enforcement computer system that allows its approximately 120,000 users from 20 federal agencies to share information. The database is designed to identify individuals suspected of or involved in violation of federal law.

CBS News Exclusive Picture of Shahzad

The system has been recently called inefficient by members of Congress. In late March, Senator Joe Lieberman of Connecticut and Susan Collins of Maine criticized the system in a letter to DHS, writing that, "Current functionality does not allow interoperability among databases, fast searching of information, modern interfaces for users of the system, or sufficient security to protect critical terrorist travel data."

A modernization of the system began in 2008 and is expected to be completed by 2015.

Editor's Note: an earlier version of this story referred to Shahzad's name appearing on a Department of Homeland Security travel list from 1999 to 2008. That list was part of the Traveler Enforcement Compliance System (TECS), which was managed until 2003 by the U.S. Customs Service which become part of the Department of Homeland Security.

Faisal Shahzad's Near Escape

Shahzad's Story

Faisal Shahzad's Motive a Mystery

No-Fly List Procedures Changed

Lawmakers Ask How Suspect Boarded Plane

How Close Until He Got Away?

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by tecki8 May 7, 2010 12:11 PM EDT

Am I the only one that reads the text of the story as stating he was removed from the database in 2008? In my mind that makes the headline somewhat misleading...

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by IlovetheUS May 9, 2010 12:06 AM EDT: Actually, since it uses the word 'between' and not 'through' the literal translation of that sentence is that he was put on the list in 2000 and removed from it in 2007. It's unclear if this was the writer's intention or not. Unfortunately the lack of exact dates means the removal could have occurred any time from 2007 to 2009. I've found plenty of other sites quoting this article but nothing that gives any hard information. Saying that "Sources tell..." actually tells us nothing and in no way validates the statement following it. I've found that both liberal and conservative reporters tend to use vague statements to lead us by our emotions instead of giving us the facts we need to make a truly educated decision. And no, I really don't believe there is any such thing as a truly unbiased reporter.

by CHReed May 7, 2010 10:09 AM EDT

"Faisal Shahzad on Homeland Security List Since 1999"

I believe it has already been stated earlier but bears repeating, how can this guy have been on DHS' watch list since 1999 considering that the agency was formed on 25 Nov 2002?

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by IlovetheUS May 9, 2010 12:17 AM EDT: An Editor's Note has been added clarifying and correcting that statement.

by inslaw May 7, 2010 8:17 AM EDT

TECS is based on an unauthorized, copyright-infringing derivative of the 1980s generation of INSLAW, Inc.'s PROMIS case management software. Two different federal courts made fully-litigated findings of fact in the late 1980s that the Department of Justice, during the first term of the Reagan Administration, "took, converted, stole" PROMIS "through trickery, fraud, and deceit" and then set out to force INSLAW out of business so the Company would be incapacitated from litigating the government's theft of its software product. The inability to obtain software upgrades is one of the unintended consequences of the government's theft and continuing cover-up.

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by IlovetheUS May 9, 2010 12:18 AM EDT: Inslaw, can you cite your sources please? I'd like to investigate your statement further. Thanks.


by inslaw May 9, 2010 7:37 AM EDT: If lovetheUS can tell me how I can attach documents to an email, I will send several documents, together with a further explanation.


by gkuhl May 7, 2010 7:25 AM EDT: Being on a list only works if someone looks at the list. With all the politically correct speech about not profiling coming from the Secretary of Homeland Security, I would imagine this got overlooked in the interest of "fairness".
Our enemies are radical Islamic extremists...The MAJORITY of radical Islamic extremists ARE Middle Eastern and Far Eastern. It does precious little good to have the TSA scan white males between the ages of 15 and 50 at the gate in the interest of "fairness". I am a 50 year old white male and when I travel I am asked to step aside for futher inspection bacause I fot a profile...I have shrapnel in my arms that tends to make the scanner go off. If I see the value in that and think it is a minor inconvenience to be pulled aside, why is it taboo to do so with those who fit another profile?; Reply to this comment

by truck9009 May 6, 2010 10:49 PM EDT

So this (alleged?) terrorist not only strolled aboard an airplane this week? He has made how many trips to Pakistan, while being on a watchlist? So if the $80k wasn't meant for making the payments on his foreclosed home, what do you think it may have been for? Just more proof that government is inept, at anything besides enslaving its citizens in the chains of entitlement dependency. The bufoons in DC won't be happy, until there is blood running in our streets.

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by biggoofer May 7, 2010 1:00 AM EDT: Hey, Have a little faith in our Government, ok!

Shahzad slipped through cracks because DHS thought he is an American citizen simply distraught over his foreclosed house.

If that Time Square T-shirt vendor was hawking his wares in front of Shahzad's House, this kid would have been apprehanded long time ago.

I know you will change your tunes once you experience the Government controlled dispensation of Health care.

by jltules May 6, 2010 10:20 PM EDT

Looks like Napolitano is doing a real bang up job? How many does this make now 4?

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by trochilus-2009 May 7, 2010 9:36 AM EDT: jltules May 6, 2010 10:20 PM EDT

I agree with you entirely, but it sure makes me nervous when you use terms like "bang up job." These O-bots have gone back to the pre-9/11 mentality, and have given away the ability to detect anything before it happens. They think their mission is to engage in "law enforcement" after the fact.

They also think their mission is to grant American citizenship to people like Faisal Shahzad -- that is, after first taking them off the Department of Homeland Security "travel lookout list." They did both of those things last spring!

Must have been around the time of the President's apology tour.

Big Sis sure is looking out for us, huh?

The truth is that one of these times, one of these idiots is going to get it right, and is going to kill dozens of Americans.

Oh, wait . . . Major Hasan DID kill 13 Americans, and is under indictment for attempting to kill dozens of others!

But at least this Faisal Shahzad guy has no connection to someone like the terror-inspiring "former" Imam, Anwar al-Awlaki like Hasan did, right?

Oh wait . . . he does have such a connection? Hmmmm . . . probably nothing!

Well, I guess it's time for all of us to embrace the official Obama foreign policy on terrorism -- cross your fingers and hope for the best!


by mari1963 May 6, 2010 9:57 PM EDT: Our government is doing such a great job, aren't they? They let anyone become US citizens! Cut off the borders now! Don't let any more foreigners in !!! If you weren't born here - GET OUT !; Reply to this comment

by maistir May 6, 2010 5:19 PM EDT

What the writer apparently means is that the suspect was in the TECS listing after 1999, a listing that is now a part of HSD. The editing at CBS is abysmal.

More important questions: where did Shahzad get his cash? will Congress question AG Holder over his claim that the fleeing suspect was never "lost"? were his communications to Pakistan being tapped? where are his in-laws? do not 13 round trips to Peshawar in a few years raise any suspicion? is there a pattern in the way Shahzad, Mutallab and Zazi were financed?

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by OldProfessor May 7, 2010 10:37 AM EDT: Do you really think those questions have not been asked by the investigators? Do you really think the investigators will share with the public and the Taliban the things they have learned? I would pose to you that much of the information that is leaked by unidentified sources is in fact misinformation or information leaked for an agenda. Sit back and relax. The things they want us to really know will be in the Court proceedings.


by maistir May 7, 2010 2:27 PM EDT: Dear Old Prof., I think that the media and the Congress, not just police agencies, need to investigate some of these things (as well as taking a look at the question of Shahzad's citizenship application process, as Sen Grassley suggested yesterday).

And I think the public pressure on Congress and the media should be intense. Otherwise, if we don't demand answers, all we get from the press is handwringing over Shahzad's motives or his poor, unhappy life and from Congress we get inaction on border security, of which immigration is only one part.

I'm delighted to see that there are good leads on the courier who brought money to Shahzad, but the sources of the cash also need to be identified whether they are Pakistani, Saudi, Russian, Chinese, or even American.

Pressure from the public sometimes encourages openness or even leaks. Public anger against the financiers of terror could be decisive.


by PurpleHaze52 May 6, 2010 4:32 PM EDT: An FBI agent was interviewed about Shalzad being allowed to get on the plane. He believed that this was purposely done to see if the suspected bomber had made contact with anyone else and were fleeing the country together. I thought that was a valid point and a strategic manuever.
Being on the HS list, since 1999 definitely threw up a flag because I also thought Homeland Security wasn't formed until after 9/11. Was HS a branch of another department prior to then?; Reply to this comment


by grammasusan May 6, 2010 4:28 PM EDT: I thought one of the reasons for the First Amendment freedom of speech protections was to enable the press to keep our government open and transparent. If the press or media doesn't even know that DHS was nonexistent in 1999 how can they do their job? Can an entity designating itself as "investigative" have any credibility if they don't have any knowledge of what they are investigating?; Reply to this comment