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Advocacy Blog
Thursday, November 08, 2007
Watch Lists: "Placebo, Not a Protection"
The House Homeland Security Committee held a hearing today (Nov.8) titled "The Progress and Pitfalls of the Terrorist Watch List," to examine how the Terrorist Screening Center (TSC) watch list is being used and managed. This follows a hearing covering the same topic held in the Senate Homeland Security and Government Affairs Committee on Oct. 24. A Government Accountability Office (GAO) report was released at that time which concluded that the administration is not using the TSC list as effectively as it should be. The TSC list is rapidly growing in size to include about 860,000 names and is expected to soon go over a million. A recent USA Today article reported that 15,000 people wanted off the list. As Committee Chairman Bennie Thompson (D-MS) said, if there is no accountability with the watch lists, the American people will not trust it. "It will be viewed as a placebo, not a protection." From Thompson's opening remarks:
We can do better — and we have to do better — than to have a system that flags United States Congressmen and 2 year olds as potential terrorists. Every day, the watch list impacts real people who are traveling by air, land, and sea. An accurate watch list keeps our nation safe and keeps the bad guys out. An inaccurate and incomplete watch list creates more and more misidentifications — which in turn creates fear and frustration. The American people will support the watch list if there is accountability — if they are confident that mistakes are being fixed and there is a real redress process. If there is accountability, they will trust it's being done right, not fear that they're being monitored by Big Brother.
Posted by Amanda Adams
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