No Fly List
Encyclopedia
The No Fly List is a list, created and maintained by the United States
government's Terrorist Screening Center
(TSC), of people who are not permitted to board a commercial aircraft
for travel in or out of the United States
. The list has also been used to divert away from U.S. airspace aircraft not flying to or from the U.S. The number of people on the list rises and falls according to threat and intelligence reporting. As of 2011, the list contained about 10,000 names. The list – along with the Secondary Security Screening Selection
, which tags would-be passengers for extra inspection – was created after the September 11 attacks in 2001.
The No Fly List is different from the Terrorist Watch List, a much longer list of people suspected of some involvement with terrorism. The Terrorist Watch List contained around 400,000 names as of summer 2011, according to the TSC.
The list has been criticized on civil liberties
and due process
grounds, due in part to the potential for ethnic, religious, economic, political, or racial profiling
and discrimination
. It has also raised concerns about privacy
and government secrecy. Finally, it has been criticized as costly, prone to false positives, and easily defeated.
The No Fly List, the Selectee List and the Terrorist Watchlist were created by the administration of George W. Bush and retained by the administration of Barack Obama
. U.S. Senate Intelligence Committee
Chairwoman Dianne Feinstein
(D-CA) said in May 2010: “The no-fly list itself is one of our best lines of defense.”
The list had grown to more than 400 names by November 2001, when responsibility for keeping it was transferred to the Federal Aviation Administration
.
In mid-December 2001, two lists were created: the "No Fly List" of 594 people to be denied air transport, and the "Selectee
" list of 365 people who were to be more carefully searched at airports.
By December 2002, the No Fly List held more than 1,000 names. 60 Minutes
reported on 8 October 2006 that the news program had obtained a March 2006 copy of the list that contained 44,000 names.
TSA officials said that, as of November 2005, 30,000 people in 2005 had complained that their names were matched to a name on the list via the name matching software used by airlines. In April 2007, the United States government "terrorist watch list" administered by the Terrorist Screening Center, which is managed principally by the FBI, contained 700,000 records. A year later, the ACLU estimated the list to have grown to over 1,000,000 names and continues to expand.
However, according to Homeland Security secretary Michael Chertoff
, in October 2008 the No Fly list contained only 2,500 names, with an additional 16,000 "selectees", who "represent a less specific security threat and receive extra scrutiny, but are allowed to fly."
described a simple way for people to defeat the No Fly List:
, who was accused of trying to bomb Northwest Airlines Flight 253
, was not on the No Fly List. Thirty-five days earlier, his father made a report to two Central Intelligence Agency
officers at the U.S. Embassy in Abuja
regarding his son's "extreme religious views", and told the embassy that Abdulmutallab might be in Yemen. Acting on the report, Abdulmutallab's name was added in November 2009 to the 550,000-name U.S. Terrorist Identities Datamart Environment
, a database of the U.S. National Counterterrorism Center
. It was not added to the 4,000-name U.S. No Fly List. Secretary of Homeland Security
Janet Napolitano
stated that the system "failed miserably", because Abdulmutallab had been able to board the flight. President Barack Obama
called the U.S.'s failure to prevent the bombing attempt "totally unacceptable", and ordered an investigation.
, who was convicted of planting a car bomb
in Times Square
, New York City
, was arrested after he had boarded Emirates Flight 202 to Dubai
. He had been placed on the No Fly List earlier in the day. The airline did not check the No Fly List for added names when Shahzad made his reservation that evening, when he later purchased the ticket, or when he was allowed to board the plane. Only after a routine post-boarding check revealed that he was on the No Fly List did agents board the plane and arrest him.
(TSA) officials said in 2005 that they would not use credit score
s to determine passengers' risk score and that they would comply with all rights guaranteed by the First
and Fourth Amendments
.
The European Union
and other non-U.S. government entities have expressed concern about allowing the CAPPS II proposal to be implemented within their borders. During the early testing of the No Fly List and CAPPS II, the TSA privately asked airlines to disclose massive amounts of private information about their passengers. This action has been said to be a violation of the Privacy Act of 1974
, which forbids the government to compile secret databases on U.S. citizens. Spokespeople from several major airlines denied providing TSA the information, then admitted that they had done so. TSA and the United States Department of Homeland Security
(DHS) admitted that the government had inappropriately requested and used this information.
In the midst of this controversy, the Government Accountability Office
of the U.S. Congress
produced a report critical of the CAPPS II system. It characterized the proposal as incomplete and seriously behind schedule, and noted that the TSA had failed to address "developmental, operational, and privacy issues identified by Congress". On July 14, 2004, TSA officials announced that CAPPS II was being pulled from consideration without proceeding to full testing. Critics have alleged that the TSA has merely chosen to start with a less controversial entry point that they are calling the "Registered Traveler
" program. TSA has also begun testing of another program called "Secure Flight
", which is supposed to solve some of the problems of CAPPS I while avoiding the privacy issues of CAPPS II.
In January 2009, Marcus Holmes conservatively estimated the total cost of the program to be $536 million since 9/11, with a reasonable estimation range that approaches $1 billion, and he questioned whether the benefits of the list outweigh the costs.
When an airline ticket is purchased, the reservation system uses software to compare the passenger's name against the No Fly List. If the name matches, or is similar to a name on the No Fly List, a restriction is placed in their reservation that prevents them from being issued a boarding pass until the airline has determined if they are the actual person whose name is on the No Fly List. Passengers are not told when a restriction has been placed on their reservation, and they normally do not find out that anything is unusual until they attempt to check in. "False positive" passengers cannot use Internet check-in or the automatic check-in kiosks in airports. Any attempt to use them will normally result in a message that the check-in cannot be completed and that the passenger needs to see a live check-in agent.
In order to be issued a boarding pass, a "false positive" passenger must present identification that sufficiently differentiates them from the person on the No Fly List. This can include, but is not limited to, date and place of birth, middle name, citizenship, passport number, etc. Depending on the airline, this clearance can be done either electronically, with the check-in agent keying the information into the system, or a manual procedure where the agent telephones a centralized security office to obtain clearance. Once a "false positive" passenger has been cleared for a flight, the clearance will usually, but not always, apply to the remaining flights on that reservation, including the return. However, the next time this passenger purchases an airline ticket, they will have to be cleared all over again. If a passenger's identification is insufficient to differentiate that passenger from a name on the No-Fly List, the airline will refuse to issue a boarding pass and tell the passenger to contact the TSA.
Policies vary from airline to airline as to whether a check-in agent will tell passengers why they must always have additional steps performed when they check-in, or why they are unable to check-in via Internet, kiosk, or at curbside. In some cases, check-in agents will incorrectly tell passengers that they must be cleared because they are "on the No Fly List", when in fact they are simply a "false positive" (having the same name as someone on the No-Fly List). False positive passengers who are ultimately issued boarding passes are not on the No Fly List. In the majority of instances, passengers are not told anything, and it is only through the repeated experience of needing to be cleared or being unable to use curbside, Internet or automatic check-in that they come to suspect that they are a "false positive".
False positive passengers are at a disadvantage when traveling, due to the fact that their documents must be inspected by airline personnel before they can be issued a boarding pass. Because this permanently excludes them being able to use Internet, kiosk, or curbside check-in, they are, at best, required to appear at the airport earlier than they might normally have, because they must wait in line to be cleared. Some airlines provide a special counter for this purpose; others require the passenger to wait in the line for passengers with checked baggage, even if they have no baggage to check. At worst, passengers have actually missed flights because the flights were oversold and all of the available boarding passes were already claimed by other passengers who were able to check-in via the Internet, or because airline personnel could not contact the airline's security department to obtain a clearance, or because the passenger's identification didn't sufficiently differentiate them from a name on the No Fly List.
In an effort to reduce the number of false positives, DHS announced on April 28, 2008 that each airline will be permitted to create a system to verify and store a passenger's date of birth, to clear up watch list misidentifications. Passengers can voluntarily provide this information to the airline, which would have to be verified by presenting acceptable ID at the ticket counter. Once this data has been stored, travelers that were previously inconvenienced on every trip would be able to check-in online or at remote kiosks. It will be up to each individual airline to choose whether they wish to implement such a system.
Travelers who apply for redress through TRIP are assigned a record identifier called a "Redress Control Number". Airline reservations systems allow passengers who have a Redress Control Number to enter it when making their reservation.
DHS TRIP may make it easier for an airline to confirm a traveler's identity. False-positive travelers, whose names match or are similar to the name of a person on the No Fly List, will continue to match that name even after using DHS TRIP, so it will not restore a traveler's ability to use Internet or curbside check-in or to use an automated kiosk. It does usually help the airline identify the traveler as not being the actual person on the No Fly List, after an airline agent has reviewed his identity documents at check-in.
DHS TRIP is often accused of being defunct and existing only to appease civil rights organizations without having any actual effect.
"filed a nationwide class-action challenge to the government's No Fly List", in which they charge that "many innocent travelers who pose no security risk whatsoever are discovering that their government considers them terrorists – and find that they have no way to find out why they are on the list, and no way to clear their names." The case was settled in 2006, when "the federal government agreed to pay $200,000 in attorneys' fees to the ACLU of Northern California" and to "[make] public, for the first time, hundreds of records about the government's secret 'no fly' list used to screen airline passengers after September 11, 2001."
has created its own no fly list as part of a program called Passenger Protect
. The Canadian list incorporates data from domestic and foreign intelligence sources, including the U.S. No Fly List. It contains between 500 and 2,000 names.
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
government's Terrorist Screening Center
Terrorist Screening Center
The Terrorist Screening Center is an FBI organization for identifying suspected or potential terrorists.It maintains a database, the Terrorist Screening Database , the aim of which is to contain information about all known or suspected terrorists, and makes this information available to a number of...
(TSC), of people who are not permitted to board a commercial aircraft
Aircraft
An aircraft is a vehicle that is able to fly by gaining support from the air, or, in general, the atmosphere of a planet. An aircraft counters the force of gravity by using either static lift or by using the dynamic lift of an airfoil, or in a few cases the downward thrust from jet engines.Although...
for travel in or out of the United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
. The list has also been used to divert away from U.S. airspace aircraft not flying to or from the U.S. The number of people on the list rises and falls according to threat and intelligence reporting. As of 2011, the list contained about 10,000 names. The list – along with the Secondary Security Screening Selection
Secondary Security Screening Selection
Secondary Security Screening Selection or Secondary Security Screening Selectee, known by its acronym SSSS, is an airport security measure in the United States and Canada which selects passengers for additional inspection. This may also be known as Selectee, Automatic Selectee or the Selectee list...
, which tags would-be passengers for extra inspection – was created after the September 11 attacks in 2001.
The No Fly List is different from the Terrorist Watch List, a much longer list of people suspected of some involvement with terrorism. The Terrorist Watch List contained around 400,000 names as of summer 2011, according to the TSC.
The list has been criticized on civil liberties
Civil liberties
Civil liberties are rights and freedoms that provide an individual specific rights such as the freedom from slavery and forced labour, freedom from torture and death, the right to liberty and security, right to a fair trial, the right to defend one's self, the right to own and bear arms, the right...
and due process
Due process
Due process is the legal code that the state must venerate all of the legal rights that are owed to a person under the principle. Due process balances the power of the state law of the land and thus protects individual persons from it...
grounds, due in part to the potential for ethnic, religious, economic, political, or racial profiling
Racial profiling
Racial profiling refers to the use of an individual’s race or ethnicity by law enforcement personnel as a key factor in deciding whether to engage in enforcement...
and discrimination
Discrimination
Discrimination is the prejudicial treatment of an individual based on their membership in a certain group or category. It involves the actual behaviors towards groups such as excluding or restricting members of one group from opportunities that are available to another group. The term began to be...
. It has also raised concerns about privacy
Privacy
Privacy is the ability of an individual or group to seclude themselves or information about themselves and thereby reveal themselves selectively...
and government secrecy. Finally, it has been criticized as costly, prone to false positives, and easily defeated.
The No Fly List, the Selectee List and the Terrorist Watchlist were created by the administration of George W. Bush and retained by the administration of Barack Obama
Presidency of Barack Obama
The Presidency of Barack Obama began at noon EST on January 20, 2009 when he became the 44th President of the United States. Obama was a United States Senator from Illinois at the time of his victory over Arizona Senator John McCain in the 2008 presidential election...
. U.S. Senate Intelligence Committee
United States Senate Select Committee on Intelligence
The United States Senate Select Committee on Intelligence is dedicated to overseeing the United States Intelligence Community—the agencies and bureaus of the federal government of the United States who provide information and analysis for leaders of the executive and legislative branches. The...
Chairwoman Dianne Feinstein
Dianne Feinstein
Dianne Goldman Berman Feinstein is the senior U.S. Senator from California. A member of the Democratic Party, she has served in the Senate since 1992. She also served as 38th Mayor of San Francisco from 1978 to 1988....
(D-CA) said in May 2010: “The no-fly list itself is one of our best lines of defense.”
History
On September 11, 2001, the FBI had a list of 16 people deemed "no transport" because they "presented a specific known or suspected threat to aviation."The list had grown to more than 400 names by November 2001, when responsibility for keeping it was transferred to the Federal Aviation Administration
Federal Aviation Administration
The Federal Aviation Administration is the national aviation authority of the United States. An agency of the United States Department of Transportation, it has authority to regulate and oversee all aspects of civil aviation in the U.S...
.
In mid-December 2001, two lists were created: the "No Fly List" of 594 people to be denied air transport, and the "Selectee
Secondary Security Screening Selection
Secondary Security Screening Selection or Secondary Security Screening Selectee, known by its acronym SSSS, is an airport security measure in the United States and Canada which selects passengers for additional inspection. This may also be known as Selectee, Automatic Selectee or the Selectee list...
" list of 365 people who were to be more carefully searched at airports.
By December 2002, the No Fly List held more than 1,000 names. 60 Minutes
60 Minutes
60 Minutes is an American television news magazine, which has run on CBS since 1968. The program was created by producer Don Hewitt who set it apart by using a unique style of reporter-centered investigation....
reported on 8 October 2006 that the news program had obtained a March 2006 copy of the list that contained 44,000 names.
TSA officials said that, as of November 2005, 30,000 people in 2005 had complained that their names were matched to a name on the list via the name matching software used by airlines. In April 2007, the United States government "terrorist watch list" administered by the Terrorist Screening Center, which is managed principally by the FBI, contained 700,000 records. A year later, the ACLU estimated the list to have grown to over 1,000,000 names and continues to expand.
However, according to Homeland Security secretary Michael Chertoff
Michael Chertoff
Michael Chertoff was the second United States Secretary of Homeland Security under President George W. Bush and co-author of the USA PATRIOT Act. He previously served as a judge on the United States Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit, as a federal prosecutor, and as assistant U.S. Attorney...
, in October 2008 the No Fly list contained only 2,500 names, with an additional 16,000 "selectees", who "represent a less specific security threat and receive extra scrutiny, but are allowed to fly."
Failures
In an article in The Atlantic, security expert Bruce SchneierBruce Schneier
Bruce Schneier is an American cryptographer, computer security specialist, and writer. He is the author of several books on general security topics, computer security and cryptography, and is the founder and chief technology officer of BT Managed Security Solutions, formerly Counterpane Internet...
described a simple way for people to defeat the No Fly List:
Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab
Umar Farouk AbdulmutallabUmar Farouk Abdulmutallab
Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab , popularly referred to as the "Underwear Bomber", is a suspected terrorist who attempted to detonate plastic explosives hidden in his underwear while on board Northwest Airlines Flight 253, en route from Amsterdam to Detroit, Michigan, on December 25,...
, who was accused of trying to bomb Northwest Airlines Flight 253
Northwest Airlines Flight 253
Northwest Airlines Flight 253 was an international passenger flight from Amsterdam Airport Schiphol in Haarlemmermeer, Netherlands, to Detroit Metropolitan Wayne County Airport in Romulus, Michigan, United States...
, was not on the No Fly List. Thirty-five days earlier, his father made a report to two Central Intelligence Agency
Central Intelligence Agency
The Central Intelligence Agency is a civilian intelligence agency of the United States government. It is an executive agency and reports directly to the Director of National Intelligence, responsible for providing national security intelligence assessment to senior United States policymakers...
officers at the U.S. Embassy in Abuja
Abuja
Abuja is the capital city of Nigeria. It is located in the centre of Nigeria, within the Federal Capital Territory . Abuja is a planned city, and was built mainly in the 1980s. It officially became Nigeria's capital on 12 December 1991, replacing Lagos...
regarding his son's "extreme religious views", and told the embassy that Abdulmutallab might be in Yemen. Acting on the report, Abdulmutallab's name was added in November 2009 to the 550,000-name U.S. Terrorist Identities Datamart Environment
Terrorist Identities Datamart Environment
The Terrorist Identities Datamart Environment, is the U.S. Government's central database on known or suspected international terrorists, and contains highly classified information provided by members of the Intelligence Community such as CIA, DIA, FBI, NSA, and many others.There are about 550,000...
, a database of the U.S. National Counterterrorism Center
National Counterterrorism Center
The National Counterterrorism Center is a United States government organization responsible for national and international counterterrorism efforts. It is based in a modern complex near McLean, Virginia called Liberty Crossing...
. It was not added to the 4,000-name U.S. No Fly List. Secretary of Homeland Security
United States Secretary of Homeland Security
The United States Secretary of Homeland Security is the head of the United States Department of Homeland Security, the body concerned with protecting the American homeland and the safety of American citizens. The Secretary is a member of the President's Cabinet. The position was created by the...
Janet Napolitano
Janet Napolitano
Janet Napolitano is the third and current United States Secretary of Homeland Security, serving in the administration of President Barack Obama. She is the fourth person to hold the position, which was created after the 9/11 terrorist attacks. A member of the Democratic Party, she was the 21st...
stated that the system "failed miserably", because Abdulmutallab had been able to board the flight. President Barack Obama
Barack Obama
Barack Hussein Obama II is the 44th and current President of the United States. He is the first African American to hold the office. Obama previously served as a United States Senator from Illinois, from January 2005 until he resigned following his victory in the 2008 presidential election.Born in...
called the U.S.'s failure to prevent the bombing attempt "totally unacceptable", and ordered an investigation.
Faisal Shahzad
Faisal ShahzadFaisal Shahzad
Faisal Shahzad is a Pakistani American who attempted the May 1, 2010, Times Square car bombing. On , 2010, in Federal District Court in Manhattan he confessed to 10 counts arising from the bombing attempt...
, who was convicted of planting a car bomb
Car bomb
A car bomb, or truck bomb also known as a Vehicle Borne Improvised Explosive Device , is an improvised explosive device placed in a car or other vehicle and then detonated. It is commonly used as a weapon of assassination, terrorism, or guerrilla warfare, to kill the occupants of the vehicle,...
in Times Square
Times Square
Times Square is a major commercial intersection in the borough of Manhattan in New York City, at the junction of Broadway and Seventh Avenue and stretching from West 42nd to West 47th Streets...
, New York City
New York City
New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...
, was arrested after he had boarded Emirates Flight 202 to Dubai
Dubai
Dubai is a city and emirate in the United Arab Emirates . The emirate is located south of the Persian Gulf on the Arabian Peninsula and has the largest population with the second-largest land territory by area of all the emirates, after Abu Dhabi...
. He had been placed on the No Fly List earlier in the day. The airline did not check the No Fly List for added names when Shahzad made his reservation that evening, when he later purchased the ticket, or when he was allowed to board the plane. Only after a routine post-boarding check revealed that he was on the No Fly List did agents board the plane and arrest him.
Controversy
Among the complaints about the No Fly List is the use of credit reports in calculating the risk score. In response to the controversy, Transportation Security AdministrationTransportation Security Administration
The Transportation Security Administration is an agency of the U.S. Department of Homeland Security that exercises authority over the safety and security of the traveling public in the United States....
(TSA) officials said in 2005 that they would not use credit score
Credit score
A credit score is a numerical expression based on a statistical analysis of a person's credit files, to represent the creditworthiness of that person...
s to determine passengers' risk score and that they would comply with all rights guaranteed by the First
First Amendment to the United States Constitution
The First Amendment to the United States Constitution is part of the Bill of Rights. The amendment prohibits the making of any law respecting an establishment of religion, impeding the free exercise of religion, abridging the freedom of speech, infringing on the freedom of the press, interfering...
and Fourth Amendments
Fourth Amendment to the United States Constitution
The Fourth Amendment to the United States Constitution is the part of the Bill of Rights which guards against unreasonable searches and seizures, along with requiring any warrant to be judicially sanctioned and supported by probable cause...
.
The European Union
European Union
The European Union is an economic and political union of 27 independent member states which are located primarily in Europe. The EU traces its origins from the European Coal and Steel Community and the European Economic Community , formed by six countries in 1958...
and other non-U.S. government entities have expressed concern about allowing the CAPPS II proposal to be implemented within their borders. During the early testing of the No Fly List and CAPPS II, the TSA privately asked airlines to disclose massive amounts of private information about their passengers. This action has been said to be a violation of the Privacy Act of 1974
Privacy Act of 1974
The Privacy Act of 1974, 5 U.S.C. § 552a, Public Law No. 93-579, establishes a Code of Fair Information Practice that governs the collection, maintenance, use, and dissemination of personally identifiable information about individuals that is maintained in systems of records by federal agencies...
, which forbids the government to compile secret databases on U.S. citizens. Spokespeople from several major airlines denied providing TSA the information, then admitted that they had done so. TSA and the United States Department of Homeland Security
United States Department of Homeland Security
The United States Department of Homeland Security is a cabinet department of the United States federal government, created in response to the September 11 attacks, and with the primary responsibilities of protecting the territory of the United States and protectorates from and responding to...
(DHS) admitted that the government had inappropriately requested and used this information.
In the midst of this controversy, the Government Accountability Office
Government Accountability Office
The Government Accountability Office is the audit, evaluation, and investigative arm of the United States Congress. It is located in the legislative branch of the United States government.-History:...
of the U.S. Congress
United States Congress
The United States Congress is the bicameral legislature of the federal government of the United States, consisting of the Senate and the House of Representatives. The Congress meets in the United States Capitol in Washington, D.C....
produced a report critical of the CAPPS II system. It characterized the proposal as incomplete and seriously behind schedule, and noted that the TSA had failed to address "developmental, operational, and privacy issues identified by Congress". On July 14, 2004, TSA officials announced that CAPPS II was being pulled from consideration without proceeding to full testing. Critics have alleged that the TSA has merely chosen to start with a less controversial entry point that they are calling the "Registered Traveler
Registered Traveler
The Registered Traveler Pilot Program was an airline passenger security assessment system tested in the United States air travel industry in 2005. It was used in several U.S. airports in a voluntary pilot phase and continues in operation in several airports around the country...
" program. TSA has also begun testing of another program called "Secure Flight
Secure Flight
Secure Flight is an airline passenger pre-screening program to be implemented starting in August 2009 by the Transportation Security Administration . Secure Flight will match passenger information against blacklists maintained by the federal government...
", which is supposed to solve some of the problems of CAPPS I while avoiding the privacy issues of CAPPS II.
In January 2009, Marcus Holmes conservatively estimated the total cost of the program to be $536 million since 9/11, with a reasonable estimation range that approaches $1 billion, and he questioned whether the benefits of the list outweigh the costs.
False positives
A "false positive" occurs when a passenger who is not on the No Fly List has a name that matches or is similar to a name on the list. False positive passengers will not be allowed to board a flight unless they can differentiate themselves from the actual person on the list, usually by presenting ID showing their middle name or date of birth. In some cases, false positive passengers have been denied boarding or have missed flights because they could not easily prove that they were not the person on the No Fly List.When an airline ticket is purchased, the reservation system uses software to compare the passenger's name against the No Fly List. If the name matches, or is similar to a name on the No Fly List, a restriction is placed in their reservation that prevents them from being issued a boarding pass until the airline has determined if they are the actual person whose name is on the No Fly List. Passengers are not told when a restriction has been placed on their reservation, and they normally do not find out that anything is unusual until they attempt to check in. "False positive" passengers cannot use Internet check-in or the automatic check-in kiosks in airports. Any attempt to use them will normally result in a message that the check-in cannot be completed and that the passenger needs to see a live check-in agent.
In order to be issued a boarding pass, a "false positive" passenger must present identification that sufficiently differentiates them from the person on the No Fly List. This can include, but is not limited to, date and place of birth, middle name, citizenship, passport number, etc. Depending on the airline, this clearance can be done either electronically, with the check-in agent keying the information into the system, or a manual procedure where the agent telephones a centralized security office to obtain clearance. Once a "false positive" passenger has been cleared for a flight, the clearance will usually, but not always, apply to the remaining flights on that reservation, including the return. However, the next time this passenger purchases an airline ticket, they will have to be cleared all over again. If a passenger's identification is insufficient to differentiate that passenger from a name on the No-Fly List, the airline will refuse to issue a boarding pass and tell the passenger to contact the TSA.
Policies vary from airline to airline as to whether a check-in agent will tell passengers why they must always have additional steps performed when they check-in, or why they are unable to check-in via Internet, kiosk, or at curbside. In some cases, check-in agents will incorrectly tell passengers that they must be cleared because they are "on the No Fly List", when in fact they are simply a "false positive" (having the same name as someone on the No-Fly List). False positive passengers who are ultimately issued boarding passes are not on the No Fly List. In the majority of instances, passengers are not told anything, and it is only through the repeated experience of needing to be cleared or being unable to use curbside, Internet or automatic check-in that they come to suspect that they are a "false positive".
False positive passengers are at a disadvantage when traveling, due to the fact that their documents must be inspected by airline personnel before they can be issued a boarding pass. Because this permanently excludes them being able to use Internet, kiosk, or curbside check-in, they are, at best, required to appear at the airport earlier than they might normally have, because they must wait in line to be cleared. Some airlines provide a special counter for this purpose; others require the passenger to wait in the line for passengers with checked baggage, even if they have no baggage to check. At worst, passengers have actually missed flights because the flights were oversold and all of the available boarding passes were already claimed by other passengers who were able to check-in via the Internet, or because airline personnel could not contact the airline's security department to obtain a clearance, or because the passenger's identification didn't sufficiently differentiate them from a name on the No Fly List.
In an effort to reduce the number of false positives, DHS announced on April 28, 2008 that each airline will be permitted to create a system to verify and store a passenger's date of birth, to clear up watch list misidentifications. Passengers can voluntarily provide this information to the airline, which would have to be verified by presenting acceptable ID at the ticket counter. Once this data has been stored, travelers that were previously inconvenienced on every trip would be able to check-in online or at remote kiosks. It will be up to each individual airline to choose whether they wish to implement such a system.
False positives and other controversial cases
False positives and abuses that have been in the news include:- Numerous children (including many under the age of five, and some under the age of one) have generated false positives.
- Daniel Brown, a United States MarineUnited States Marine CorpsThe United States Marine Corps is a branch of the United States Armed Forces responsible for providing power projection from the sea, using the mobility of the United States Navy to deliver combined-arms task forces rapidly. It is one of seven uniformed services of the United States...
returning from IraqIraqIraq ; officially the Republic of Iraq is a country in Western Asia spanning most of the northwestern end of the Zagros mountain range, the eastern part of the Syrian Desert and the northern part of the Arabian Desert....
, was prevented from boarding a flight home in April 2006 because his name matched one on the No Fly List. - David Fathi, an attorney for the ACLU of Iranian descent and a plaintiff in the ACLU lawsuit.
- Asif Iqbal, a management consultant and legal resident of the United StatesUnited StatesThe United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
born in PakistanPakistanPakistan , officially the Islamic Republic of Pakistan is a sovereign state in South Asia. It has a coastline along the Arabian Sea and the Gulf of Oman in the south and is bordered by Afghanistan and Iran in the west, India in the east and China in the far northeast. In the north, Tajikistan...
, plans to sue the U.S. government because he is regularly detained when he tries to fly, because he has the same nameAsif Iqbal (Guantanamo detainee 87)Asif Iqbal in West Bromwich, is a British citizen who was held, in extrajudicial detention, as a terror suspect in the United States Guantanamo Bay detainment camps, in Cuba.-Background:...
as a former Guantanamo detainee. Iqbal's work requires a lot of travel, and, even though the Guantanamo detainee has been released, his name remains on the No Fly List, and Iqbal the software consultant experiences frequent, unpredictable delays and missed flights. He is pushing for a photo ID and birthdate matching system, in addition to the current system of checking names. - Robert J. Johnson, a surgeon and a former lieutenant colonel in the U.S. ArmyUnited States ArmyThe United States Army is the main branch of the United States Armed Forces responsible for land-based military operations. It is the largest and oldest established branch of the U.S. military, and is one of seven U.S. uniformed services...
, was told in 2006 that he was on the list, although he had had no problem in flying the month before. Johnson was running as a DemocratDemocratic Party (United States)The Democratic Party is one of two major contemporary political parties in the United States, along with the Republican Party. The party's socially liberal and progressive platform is largely considered center-left in the U.S. political spectrum. The party has the lengthiest record of continuous...
against U.S. Representative John McHughJohn M. McHughJohn Michael McHugh is the 21st United States Secretary of the Army and a former Republican politician from the state of New York, formerly representing the state's 23rd congressional district in the United States House of Representatives.On June 2, 2009, President Barack Obama nominated him to...
, a RepublicanRepublican Party (United States)The Republican Party is one of the two major contemporary political parties in the United States, along with the Democratic Party. Founded by anti-slavery expansion activists in 1854, it is often called the GOP . The party's platform generally reflects American conservatism in the U.S...
. Johnson wondered whether he was on the list because of his opposition to the Iraq War. He stated, "This could just be a government screw-up, but I don't know, and they won't tell me." Later, a 60 Minutes60 Minutes60 Minutes is an American television news magazine, which has run on CBS since 1968. The program was created by producer Don Hewitt who set it apart by using a unique style of reporter-centered investigation....
report brought together 12 men named Robert Johnson, all of whom had experienced problems in airports with being pulled aside and interrogated. The report suggested that the individual whose name was intended to be on the list was most likely the Robert Johnson who had been convicted of plotting to bomb a movie theater and a Hindu temple in TorontoTorontoToronto is the provincial capital of Ontario and the largest city in Canada. It is located in Southern Ontario on the northwestern shore of Lake Ontario. A relatively modern city, Toronto's history dates back to the late-18th century, when its land was first purchased by the British monarchy from...
. - In August 2004, Senator Ted KennedyTed KennedyEdward Moore "Ted" Kennedy was a United States Senator from Massachusetts and a member of the Democratic Party. Serving almost 47 years, he was the second most senior member of the Senate when he died and is the fourth-longest-serving senator in United States history...
(D-MA) told a Senate Judiciary Committee discussing the No Fly List that he had appeared on the list and had been repeatedly delayed at airports. He said it had taken him three weeks of appeals directly to Homeland Security SecretaryUnited States Secretary of Homeland SecurityThe United States Secretary of Homeland Security is the head of the United States Department of Homeland Security, the body concerned with protecting the American homeland and the safety of American citizens. The Secretary is a member of the President's Cabinet. The position was created by the...
Tom RidgeTom RidgeThomas Joseph "Tom" Ridge is an American politician who served as a member of the United States House of Representatives , the 43rd Governor of Pennsylvania , Assistant to the President for Homeland Security , and the first United States Secretary of Homeland Security...
to have him removed from the list. Kennedy said he was eventually told that the name "T Kennedy" was added to the list because it was once used as an alias of a suspected terrorist. There are an estimated 7,000 American men whose legal names correspond to "T Kennedy". (Senator Kennedy, whose first name was Edward and for whom "Ted" was only a nickname, would not have been one of them.) Recognizing that as a U.S. Senator he was in a privileged position of being able to contact Ridge, Kennedy said of "ordinary citizens": "How are they going to be able to get to be treated fairly and not have their rights abused?" Former mayor of New York City Rudy GiulianiRudy GiulianiRudolph William Louis "Rudy" Giuliani KBE is an American lawyer, businessman, and politician from New York. He served as Mayor of New York City from 1994 to 2001....
pointed to this incident as an example for the necessity to "rethink aviation security" in an essay on homeland security published while he was seeking the Republican nomination for the 2008 presidential election. - U.S. Representative John LewisJohn Lewis (politician)John Robert Lewis is the U.S. Representative for , serving since 1987. He was a leader in the American Civil Rights Movement and chairman of the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee , playing a key role in the struggle to end segregation...
(D-GA), widely known for his civil rights advocacy, has been stopped many times. - Canadian journalist Patrick MartinPatrick Martin (journalist)Patrick Martin is a Canadian journalist who is the Jerusalem-based Middle East bureau chief for The Globe and Mail, a national newspaper....
has been frequently interrogated while traveling, because of a suspicious individual with the same name. - Walter F. MurphyWalter F. MurphyWalter Francis Murphy, Jr. was a 20th century American political scientist and writer.-Biography:Born in Charleston, South Carolina, he won a Distinguished Service Cross for his service as a Marine in Korea, eventually retiring with the rank of colonel. He held the chair of McCormick Professor of...
, McCormick Professor of Jurisprudence at PrincetonPrinceton UniversityPrinceton University is a private research university located in Princeton, New Jersey, United States. The school is one of the eight universities of the Ivy League, and is one of the nine Colonial Colleges founded before the American Revolution....
, reported that the following exchange took place at Newark on 1 March 2007, where he was denied a boarding pass "because I [Professor Murphy] was on the Terrorist Watch list." The airline employee asked, "Have you been in any peace marches? We ban a lot of people from flying because of that." "I explained," said professor Murphy, "that I had not so marched but had, in September 2006, given a lecture at Princeton, televised and put on the web, highly critical of George Bush for his many violations of the constitution." To which the airline employee responded, "That'll do it." - David NelsonDavid Nelson (actor)David Oswald Nelson was an American actor, director, producer. He was the elder son of bandleader/TV actor Ozzie Nelson and singer Harriet Hilliard and the older brother of singer Eric "Ricky" Nelson.-Career:...
, the actor best known for his role on The Adventures of Ozzie and HarrietThe Adventures of Ozzie and HarrietThe Adventures of Ozzie and Harriet is an American sitcom, airing on ABC from October 3, 1952 to September 3, 1966, starring the real life Nelson family. After a long run on radio, the show was brought to television where it continued its success, running on both radio and TV for a couple of years...
, is among various persons named David Nelson who have been stopped at airports because their name apparently appears on the list. - Jesselyn RadackJesselyn RadackJesselyn Radack is a former ethics adviser to the United States Department of Justice who came to prominence as a whistleblower after she disclosed that the Federal Bureau of Investigation committed an ethics violation in its interrogation of John Walker Lindh , without an attorney present, and...
, a former United States Department of JusticeUnited States Department of JusticeThe United States Department of Justice , is the United States federal executive department responsible for the enforcement of the law and administration of justice, equivalent to the justice or interior ministries of other countries.The Department is led by the Attorney General, who is nominated...
ethics adviser who argued that John Walker LindhJohn Walker LindhJohn Phillip Walker Lindh is a United States citizen who was captured as an enemy combatant during the United States' 2001 invasion of Afghanistan. He is now serving a 20-year prison sentence in connection with his participation in Afghanistan's Taliban army...
was entitled to an attorney, was placed on the No Fly List as part of what she believes to be a reprisal for her whistle-blowing. - In September 2004, former pop singer Cat StevensCat StevensYusuf Islam , commonly known by his former stage name Cat Stevens, is an English singer-songwriter, multi-instrumentalist, educator, philanthropist, and prominent convert to Islam....
(who converted to Islam and changed his name to "Yusuf Islam" in 1978) was denied entry into the U.S. after his name was found on the list. - In February 2006, U.S. Senator Ted StevensTed StevensTheodore Fulton "Ted" Stevens, Sr. was a United States Senator from Alaska, serving from December 24, 1968, until January 3, 2009, and thus the longest-serving Republican senator in history...
(R-AK) stated in a committee hearing that his wife Catherine had been subjected to questioning at an airport as to whether she was Cat Stevens due to the similarity of their names. - U.S. Representative Don YoungDon YoungDonald Edwin "Don" Young is the U.S. Representative for , serving since 1973. He is a member of the Republican Party.Young is the 6th most senior U.S. Representative and the 2nd most senior Republican Representative, as well as the 2nd most senior Republican in Congress as a whole...
(R-AK), the third-most senior Republican in the House, was flagged in 2004 after he was mistaken for a "Donald Lee Young". - Some members of the Federal Air Marshal ServiceFederal Air Marshal ServiceThe Federal Air Marshal Service is a United States federal law enforcement agency under the supervision of the Transportation Security Administration of the United States Department of Homeland Security...
have been denied boarding on flights that they were assigned to protect because their names matched those of persons on the no-fly list. - Until July 2008, Nelson MandelaNelson MandelaNelson Rolihlahla Mandela served as President of South Africa from 1994 to 1999, and was the first South African president to be elected in a fully representative democratic election. Before his presidency, Mandela was an anti-apartheid activist, and the leader of Umkhonto we Sizwe, the armed wing...
and other members of the African National CongressAfrican National CongressThe African National Congress is South Africa's governing Africanist political party, supported by its tripartite alliance with the Congress of South African Trade Unions and the South African Communist Party , since the establishment of non-racial democracy in April 1994. It defines itself as a...
were on the list, something that U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza RiceCondoleezza RiceCondoleezza Rice is an American political scientist and diplomat. She served as the 66th United States Secretary of State, and was the second person to hold that office in the administration of President George W. Bush...
called "rather embarrassing". On July 5, 2008, the U.S. removed Mandela and the ANC from the list. - In August 2008, CNN reported that an airline captain and retired brigadier general for the United States Air ForceUnited States Air ForceThe United States Air Force is the aerial warfare service branch of the United States Armed Forces and one of the American uniformed services. Initially part of the United States Army, the USAF was formed as a separate branch of the military on September 18, 1947 under the National Security Act of...
has had numerous encounters with security officials when attempting to pilot his own plane. - After frequent harassment at airport terminals, a CanadianCanadaCanada is a North American country consisting of ten provinces and three territories. Located in the northern part of the continent, it extends from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west, and northward into the Arctic Ocean...
businessman changed his name to avoid being delayed every time he took a flight. - In October 2008, the Washington Post reported that Maryland State PoliceMaryland State PoliceThe Maryland State Police is the official state police force of the state of Maryland. The Maryland State Police is headquartered at 1201 Reisterstown Road in the Pikesville CDP in unincorporated Baltimore County.-Organizational structure:...
classified 53 nonviolent political activists as terrorists, and entered their names and personal information into state and federal databases, with labels indicating that they were terror suspects. The protest groups were also entered as terrorist organizations. During a hearing, it was revealed that these individuals and organizations had been placed in the databases because of a surveillance operation that targeted opponents of the death penalty and the Iraq war. - In April 2009, TSA refused to allow an Air France flight from Paris to Mexico to cross U.S. airspace because it was carrying Colombian journalist Hernando Calvo OspinaHernando Calvo OspinaHernando Calvo Ospina is a Colombian journalist and writer. He lives in France.-Life and work:On September 1985 while he was studying journalism at the Central University of Quito, Ecuador, Hernando Calvo Ospina, was detained and "disappeared"...
. Air France did not send the passenger manifest to the US authorities, they did however send it to Mexico and they forwarded it to the US. - BollywoodBollywoodBollywood is the informal term popularly used for the Hindi-language film industry based in Mumbai , Maharashtra, India. The term is often incorrectly used to refer to the whole of Indian cinema; it is only a part of the total Indian film industry, which includes other production centers producing...
actor Shah Rukh Khan was held for extensive questioning by US Immigration and Customs officials in August 2009, because as he reported, "his name came up on a computer alert list." Customs officials claimed he "was questioned as part of a routine process that took 66 minutes." Ironically, Khan was visiting the United States to promote his film My Name is KhanMy Name is KhanMy Name Is Khan ; commonly referred to as MNIK, is a 2010 Bollywood film directed by Karan Johar, with a screenplay by Shibani Bathija, produced by Hiroo Yash Johar and Gauri Khan, and starring Shahrukh Khan and Kajol, who reunite after nine years...
, which concerns racial profilingRacial profilingRacial profiling refers to the use of an individual’s race or ethnicity by law enforcement personnel as a key factor in deciding whether to engage in enforcement...
of Muslims in the United States. - In June 2010, The New York TimesThe New York TimesThe New York Times is an American daily newspaper founded and continuously published in New York City since 1851. The New York Times has won 106 Pulitzer Prizes, the most of any news organization...
reported Yahya Wehelie, a 26 year-old Muslim-American man was being prevented from returning to the United States, and trapped in CairoCairoCairo , is the capital of Egypt and the largest city in the Arab world and Africa, and the 16th largest metropolitan area in the world. Nicknamed "The City of a Thousand Minarets" for its preponderance of Islamic architecture, Cairo has long been a centre of the region's political and cultural life...
. Despite Wehelie's offer to FBI agents to allow them to accompany him in the plane, while shackled, he was not permitted to return. The ACLU has argued that this constitutes banishmentExileExile means to be away from one's home , while either being explicitly refused permission to return and/or being threatened with imprisonment or death upon return...
. - A U.S. citizen, stranded in ColombiaColombiaColombia, officially the Republic of Colombia , is a unitary constitutional republic comprising thirty-two departments. The country is located in northwestern South America, bordered to the east by Venezuela and Brazil; to the south by Ecuador and Peru; to the north by the Caribbean Sea; to the...
after being placed on the no-fly list as a result of having studiedStudy abroadStudying abroad is the act of a student pursuing educational opportunities in a country other than one's own. This can include primary, secondary and post-secondary students...
in YemenYemenThe Republic of Yemen , commonly known as Yemen , is a country located in the Middle East, occupying the southwestern to southern end of the Arabian Peninsula. It is bordered by Saudi Arabia to the north, the Red Sea to the west, and Oman to the east....
, sought to re-enter the U.S. through MexicoMexicoThe United Mexican States , commonly known as Mexico , is a federal constitutional republic in North America. It is bordered on the north by the United States; on the south and west by the Pacific Ocean; on the southeast by Guatemala, Belize, and the Caribbean Sea; and on the east by the Gulf of...
but was returned to Colombia by Mexican authorities. - Michael Migliore, a 23-year-old Muslim convert and dual citizen of the United StatesUnited StatesThe United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
and ItalyItalyItaly , officially the Italian Republic languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Italy's official name is as follows:;;;;;;;;), is a unitary parliamentary republic in South-Central Europe. To the north it borders France, Switzerland, Austria and...
, was detained in the United KingdomUnited KingdomThe United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
after traveling there from the U.S. by train and then cruise ship because he was not permitted to fly. He said that he believes he was placed on the no-fly list because he refused to answer questions about a 2010 Portland car bomb plot2010 Portland car bomb plotThe 2010 Portland car bomb plot involved an incident in which Mohamed Osman Mohamud , a Somali-American student, was arrested in an FBI sting operation on November 26, 2010, after attempting to set off what he thought was a car bomb at a Christmas tree lighting in Portland, Oregon. He was charged...
without his lawyer present. He was released eight or ten hours later, but authorities confiscated his electronic media items including a cell phone and media player.
DHS Traveler Redress Inquiry Program
The DHS Traveler Redress Inquiry Program (TRIP) is a procedure for travelers who are delayed or denied boarding of an aircraft, consistently receive excess scrutiny at security checkpoints, or are denied entry to the U.S. because they are believed to be or are told that they are on a government watch list. The traveler must complete an online application at the Department of Homeland Security website, print and sign the application, and then submit it with copies of several identifying documents. After reviewing their records, DHS notifies the traveler that if any corrections of data about them were warranted, they will be made.Travelers who apply for redress through TRIP are assigned a record identifier called a "Redress Control Number". Airline reservations systems allow passengers who have a Redress Control Number to enter it when making their reservation.
DHS TRIP may make it easier for an airline to confirm a traveler's identity. False-positive travelers, whose names match or are similar to the name of a person on the No Fly List, will continue to match that name even after using DHS TRIP, so it will not restore a traveler's ability to use Internet or curbside check-in or to use an automated kiosk. It does usually help the airline identify the traveler as not being the actual person on the No Fly List, after an airline agent has reviewed his identity documents at check-in.
DHS TRIP is often accused of being defunct and existing only to appease civil rights organizations without having any actual effect.
ACLU lawsuit
On April 6, 2004 the American Civil Liberties UnionAmerican Civil Liberties Union
The American Civil Liberties Union is a U.S. non-profit organization whose stated mission is "to defend and preserve the individual rights and liberties guaranteed to every person in this country by the Constitution and laws of the United States." It works through litigation, legislation, and...
"filed a nationwide class-action challenge to the government's No Fly List", in which they charge that "many innocent travelers who pose no security risk whatsoever are discovering that their government considers them terrorists – and find that they have no way to find out why they are on the list, and no way to clear their names." The case was settled in 2006, when "the federal government agreed to pay $200,000 in attorneys' fees to the ACLU of Northern California" and to "[make] public, for the first time, hundreds of records about the government's secret 'no fly' list used to screen airline passengers after September 11, 2001."
Other lawsuits
On August 18, 2008, the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals in San Francisco issued a ruling on behalf of Rahinah Ibrahim, overturning a lower court decision and allowing her case against inclusion in the No Fly List to proceed through the court system.No fly lists in other countries
The government of CanadaGovernment of Canada
The Government of Canada, formally Her Majesty's Government, is the system whereby the federation of Canada is administered by a common authority; in Canadian English, the term can mean either the collective set of institutions or specifically the Queen-in-Council...
has created its own no fly list as part of a program called Passenger Protect
Passenger Protect
Passenger Protect, commonly referred to as the Canadian no-fly list, is the Canadian government initiative to identify individuals who may be an "immediate threat to aviation security" and prevent them from boarding a flight....
. The Canadian list incorporates data from domestic and foreign intelligence sources, including the U.S. No Fly List. It contains between 500 and 2,000 names.
Satirical responses
- In the SimpsonsThe SimpsonsThe Simpsons is an American animated sitcom created by Matt Groening for the Fox Broadcasting Company. The series is a satirical parody of a middle class American lifestyle epitomized by its family of the same name, which consists of Homer, Marge, Bart, Lisa and Maggie...
episode "We're on the Road to D'ohwhereWe're on the Road to D'ohwhereWe're on the Road to D'ohwhere is the eleventh episode of the seventeenth season of The Simpsons. It first aired in the USA on January 29, 2006 on FOX.-Plot:...
", it is revealed BartBart SimpsonBartholomew JoJo "Bart" Simpson is a fictional main character in the animated television series The Simpsons and part of the Simpson family. He is voiced by actress Nancy Cartwright and first appeared on television in The Tracey Ullman Show short "Good Night" on April 19, 1987...
is on the No Fly List. It is implied that this is because on a recent flight Bart removed his seat beltSeat beltA seat belt or seatbelt, sometimes called a safety belt, is a safety harness designed to secure the occupant of a vehicle against harmful movement that may result from a collision or a sudden stop...
, in defiance of the captain's instruction. - In an episode of Boston LegalBoston LegalBoston Legal is an American legal dramedy created by David E. Kelley, which was produced in association with 20th Century Fox Television for the ABC...
entitled "Nuts", lawyer Denny Crane is prohibited from flying to Hawaii because his name is on the no-fly list. Attorney Alan Shore wins the lawsuit by filling the courtroom audience with people named "Denny Crane" and arguing that America is capable of amazing technical innovation such as the iPodIPodiPod is a line of portable media players created and marketed by Apple Inc. The product line-up currently consists of the hard drive-based iPod Classic, the touchscreen iPod Touch, the compact iPod Nano, and the ultra-compact iPod Shuffle...
and should be able to develop a solution that does not result in so many false positives. - In the movie Due DateDue DateDue Date is a 2010 American comedy road film directed by Todd Phillips, co-written by Alan R. Cohen, Alan Freedland, and Adam Sztykiel, and starring Robert Downey, Jr. and Zach Galifianakis. The film was released on November 5, 2010...
the two primary characters Ethan Tremblay/Chase and Peter Highman were allegedly put in the no fly list by the airlines authorities due to their repeated talk about terrorism in the aircraft. - In a "Modern FamilyModern FamilyModern Family is an American television comedy series created by Christopher Lloyd and Steven Levitan, which debuted on ABC on September 23, 2009. Lloyd and Levitan serve as showrunner and executive producers, under their Levitan-Lloyd Productions label...
" episode called Airport 2010, twelve-year-old Manny Delgado was banned from flying with his family to Hawaii when his named matched one on the No-Fly List.
See also
- Computer Assisted Passenger Prescreening SystemComputer Assisted Passenger Prescreening SystemThe Computer Assisted Passenger Prescreening System is a counter-terrorism system in place in the United States air travel industry...
- Hollywood blacklistHollywood blacklistThe Hollywood blacklist—as the broader entertainment industry blacklist is generally known—was the mid-twentieth-century list of screenwriters, actors, directors, musicians, and other U.S. entertainment professionals who were denied employment in the field because of their political beliefs or...
- Interpol Terrorism Watch ListInterpol Terrorism Watch ListInterpol launched the Interpol Terrorism Watch List on 11 April 2002 for access by Interpol offices and authorized police agencies in its 186 member countries, during the 17th Interpol Regional Conference for the Americas in Mexico City...
- Office of Foreign Assets ControlOffice of Foreign Assets ControlThe Office of Foreign Assets Control is an agency of the United States Department of the Treasury under the auspices of the Under Secretary of the Treasury for Terrorism and Financial Intelligence. OFAC administers and enforces economic and trade sanctions based on U.S...
- Secondary Security Screening SelectionSecondary Security Screening SelectionSecondary Security Screening Selection or Secondary Security Screening Selectee, known by its acronym SSSS, is an airport security measure in the United States and Canada which selects passengers for additional inspection. This may also be known as Selectee, Automatic Selectee or the Selectee list...
- Terrorist Identities Datamart EnvironmentTerrorist Identities Datamart EnvironmentThe Terrorist Identities Datamart Environment, is the U.S. Government's central database on known or suspected international terrorists, and contains highly classified information provided by members of the Intelligence Community such as CIA, DIA, FBI, NSA, and many others.There are about 550,000...
- FBI IndexFBI IndexThe FBI Indexes were a series of personnel databases used by the FBI before the adoption by the Bureau of computerized databases. They were based on paper index cards. They were used to track US citizens and others believed by the Bureau to be dangerous to national security...
External links
- "Terrorist Screening Center" http://www.fbi.gov/about-us/nsb/tsc/tsc
- "Terrorist Watchlist Checks and Air Passenger Prescreening," Congressional Research Service, December 30, 2009. http://www.fas.org/sgp/crs/homesec/RL33645.pdf
- "Homeland Insecurity: Why 'No-Fly' Just Doesn't Fly" by Randall AmsterRandall AmsterRandall Amster is an author, activist, and educator in areas including peace, ecology, homelessness, and anarchism. Born in Brooklyn, New York in 1966, Amster has worked as an attorney, judicial clerk, professor, and academic administrator during his professional career...
, Truthout, February 3, 2010. - "Meet Mikey, 8: U.S. Has Him on Watch List" New York Times, January 14, 2010.
- "Unlikely Terrorists On No Fly List" 60 Minutes, October 8, 2006.
- ACLU Challenges Government No-Fly List
- 1,600 are Suggested Daily for FBI's List by Walter Pincus, Washington Post, November 1, 2009
- Plaintiff in ACLU Suit Challenging Government No-Fly List Describes Struggle - video report by Democracy Now!Democracy Now!Democracy Now! and its staff have received several journalism awards, including the Gracie Award from American Women in Radio & Television; the George Polk Award for its 1998 radio documentary Drilling and Killing: Chevron and Nigeria's Oil Dictatorship, on the Chevron Corporation and the deaths of...