Report: Thousands Wrongly Listed on Terror Watchlist

http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,218483,00.html :

"Report: Thousands Wrongly Listed on Terror Watch List

WASHINGTON — Thousands of people have been mistakenly linked to names on terror watch lists when they crossed the border, boarded commercial airliners or were stopped for traffic violations, a government report said Friday.

More than 30,000 airline passengers have asked just one agency — the Transportation Security Administration — to have their names cleared from the lists, according to the Government Accountability Office report."

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Felony stop, anyone? Pete

"The watch list was the first stage of building a security net for the aviation system," Chertoff said.

He said an agreement reached Friday between the U.S. and the European Union would help prevent people from being misidentified.

The agreement calls for airlines to submit 34 pieces of data — including names, addresses and credit card details — about passengers flying from Europe to the United States.

The report said agencies are working to minimize the effect on people who are frequently misidentified.

It is regrettable that misidentification has and does occur. What do you think should be done?

At the very least, the names on the list need to be verified (to make sure they're not the names of dead persons, foreign officials or Ted Kennedy!

If you have the time to actually read a sober, dis-passionate assessment of both the "watch-list" problem (and, by extension, the "SecureFlight" program) check this out:

http://www.aclu.org/safefree/general/27013res20061006.html

It's a fairly long read, but well worth a thinking individuals' time. Pete