Oops! Ex-Top Prosecutor On Terror List

Justice Department's No. 1 Criminal Prosecutor Erroneously Placed On U.S. Terror Watch List

(AP)  The Justice Department's former top criminal prosecutor says the U.S. government's terror watch list likely has caused thousands of innocent Americans to be questioned, searched or otherwise hassled.

Former Assistant Attorney General Jim Robinson would know: he is one of them.

Robinson joined another mistaken-identity American and the American Civil Liberties Union on Monday to urge fixing the list that's supposed to identify suspected terrorists.

"It's a pain in the neck, and significantly interferes with my travel arrangements," said Robinson, the head of the Justice Department's criminal division during the Clinton administration. He believes his name matches that of someone who was put on the list in early 2005, and is routinely delayed while flying — despite having his own government top-secret security clearances renewed last year.

"I suppose if I were convinced that America is a safer place because I get hassled at the airport, I might put up with it," Robinson said. "But I doubt it."

He added: "I expect my story is similar to hundreds of thousands of people who are on this list who find themselves inconvenienced."

The government calls its watch list one of the most effective tools in its fight against terrorism. It was created after the Sept. 11, 2001 attacks to consolidate 12 existing lists and make sure no terrorists slipped through the cracks — whether when entering the country or if otherwise stopped for questioning. Last year, congressional investigators found "general agreement that the watch list has helped to combat terrorism."

Other audits of the watch list over the last several years, however, have concluded that it has mistakenly flagged innocent people whose names are similar to those on it. More than 30,000 airline passengers had asked the Homeland Security Department to clear their names from the list as of October 2006. Additionally, as many as 20 suspected terrorists were left off the list as of last year due to a technology glitch.

Chad Kolton, a spokesman for the FBI's Terrorist Screening Center that maintains the list, said the government is working to fix the gaps.

"We strive to have the watch list contain all appropriately suspected terrorists who represent a threat to the U.S., but only appropriately suspected terrorists," Kolton said.

The ACLU predicted the watch list would include 1 million names as early as Monday. The civil liberties group reached that number by citing the 700,000 records on the watch list as of last September and adding 20,000 names each month, as forecast by the Justice Department's inspector general.

Kolton disputed that number, however, saying that only about 400,000 individuals are on the list — with the rest being records of aliases or other identifiers for those same people. Kolton said that 95 percent of the people on the list are not Americans or legal U.S. residents — and most are not even in the U.S.

The Government Accountability Office, the investigations arm of Congress, similarly concluded last year that the total number of records on the watch list "does not represent the total number of individuals," saying it contains multiple records for the same person.

[anecdote1]

Nah, There'' nothin'' wrong with the system. Wiretaps are workin'' great. Terror watch list is keepin'' track of just the bad guys. Troops will be home soon, mission accomplished, last throes, turning the corner, surge is workin'' etc....

[jlelijah]

Oops! That is just so funny. CBS News is so cute.

[lawyertom1]

He is in good company. My 11 yr. old son is on the list. Shows that the inspector general''s analysis of the farce of the list was right on point.

[sociald63]

no comment - last thing i need is the feds kicking my door @ 2 am

[rushlimpdrug]

Make him talk.

He must have some information
useful to our "Intelligence" community.

[stn_sage]

Folks! Did anyone notice where they said, hundreds of thousands of people---American citizens---are listed as SUSPECTED terrorists?!!

Now, does anyone out there, really believe that there are hundreds of thousands of suspected terrorists in America?

And, this guy should know, right?! He was a former
prosecutor, he''s aware of procedure and numbers etcetera!

The point is: this shows me that the Bush administration doesn''t have clue---they''re grossly incompetent if they believe there are really that many people in America who intend to do harm within our borders!

And this is borne out by the number of false accusations, lawsuits, and payoffs to parties falsely accused by the Bush administration!

In sum, the day this administration ends, is the day we''re all going to be better off! AMEN!

[newsjunky5]

How many of the people mistakenly on the list have become terrorists because they are mistakenly on the list?

[undrmyboot3]

The TSA numbers simply do not add up.

The TSA says there are "only" 400,000 people on the watch list.

The TSA says 5% are American Citizens. So that is 20,000 American Citizens out of 400,000.

30,000 people have petitioned to have their names removed from the list.

Estimates are that 40% of the petitioners are Americans (40% of 30,000 = 12,000).

So out of 20,000 Americans on the TSA list, 12,000 say their names are on the list IN ERROR. THAT IS 60% OF THE NAMES OF AMERICANS ON THE TSA LIST THAT ARE DISPUTED!

It means that MOST AMERICANS ON THE LIST ARE ON THE LIST IN ERROR- 60%!!!

The TSA is simply lying to the American people- something the Bush Administration has turned into a science.

These people (TSA/Bush/Homeland Security are not making us safe. That is just another brand name. They are incompetent boobs with OUR TAX MONEY funding them and their corporate buddies.

[firststate]

Oops is an apt commentary on the entire dickNbush administration. They are the "IN" administration, INtrusive, INeffective, INcompetent and INsane, unfortunately they aren''t INcorruptible.

Whatever happened to getting Osama bin Laden, Dead or Alive?

[vnveteran72]

Since the passage of the "Patriot Act", the Constitution and Rule of Law have been eliminated.
This is why we now allow these Criminals to openly Rendition, Torture, Spy on, Eavesdrop on, and deny Due Process to, any American Citizen they choose.
Welcome to the Neocon Nazi Fascist Police State.
Show us your papers, Swine......

[imnho]

This is either extereme incompetence or an attempt to harass people who do not agree with the adminatration.What is so diffcult about correcting a list when the is a blatent mistake?

[goldsummer]

This doesn''t surprise me in the least. This watch list probably contains the names,finger prints and photo''s of innocent Canadain housewives without criminal records that have proper photo ID and birth certificates.This happened to me this weekend while attempting to cross to the U.S. for a 5 week holiday with an American friend who had managed to get across to come see me in Canada.The trip was 18 mths in the planning and I was denied access.

[anecdote1]

Where can I find this terror watch list? I want to see if I am on it.

[ov442]

They should publish the watch list online with a map, just like the se_ex offender website.

that would be hilarious.

[fixhist]

On our Business email address we keep receiving emails from "Homeland Security Journal" every day.
It got be from "Homeland Security" else Yahoo shouldn''t be allowing it through it''s mail servers,obviously they must be from Bulk-e-Mailer.

[liberalme]

There are 800,000 names on the FBI terror watch list--check if you like, but we will never get to see it.

Bunch of idiots--has anyone heard of catching anyone on that list? I certainly haven''t and I bet most of them are every day Americans who may have flown now and then or ordered or spoke with someone overseas.

800,000 names---what a waste of time.--Useless

[xxunknown]

The Justice Department''s former top criminal prosecutor says the U.S. government''s terror watch list likely has caused thousands of innocent Americans to be questioned, searched or otherwise hassled.
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No! I am shocked. Say it isnt so.

[xxunknown]

Hmmmm, 1 million people on the Terrorists list - 1 million iPhones sold - Hmmmmmm.


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Posted by shado269 at 03:48 AM : Jul 15, 2008

tee hee.

[patriot12436]

I wonder if king george is on the list ?

[patriot12436]

I also would like to know how to check the list. I told an intelligence agent yesterday they are welcome to run any check they want on me. This concerns another matter.