Here's the problem with relying on counter terrorism watchlists for assumptions of guilt and I imagine other national intelligence agencies operate similar to FBI:
How Does the FBI Watch List Work? And Could It Have Prevented Orlando?
Whatās the Criteria for Getting on the Watch List?
According to a
2013 watch list guideline produced by the Terrorist Screening Center and
obtained by The Intercept, engaging in terrorism or having a
direct connection to a terrorist organization is not necessary for inclusion on the list.
Parents, spouses, siblings, children and āassociatesā of a suspected terrorist can appear on the list without any suspicion of terrorist involvement. āIrrefutable evidenceā of terrorist activity and connections is also not necessary, the document states. Reasonable suspicion is sufficient, though this isnāt clearly defined.
ā
These lists are horribly imprecise,ā a former federal prosecutor, who asked to remain anonymous, told WIRED. āThey are based on rumor and innuendo, and
itās incredibly easy to get on the list and incredibly difficult to get off the list. Thereās no due process for getting off the list.ā
The guidelines also reveal that the Assistant to the President for Homeland Security and Counterterrorism can temporarily authorize placing entire ācategoriesā of people on to the No-Fly and Selectee lists based on ācredible intelligenceā that indicates a certain category of individuals may be used to conduct an act of terrorism.
āInstead of a watch list limited to actual, known terrorists, the government has built a vast system based on the unproven and flawed premise that it can predict if a person will commit a terrorist act in the future,ā Hina Shamsi, head of the ACLUās National Security Project, told The Intercept. āOn that dangerous theory, the government is secretly blacklisting people as suspected terrorists and giving them the impossible task of proving themselves innocent of a threat they havenāt carried out.ā
What Is the No-Fly List?
This narrower list, derived from the terrorist watch list, includes people who havenāt done anything to warrant being arrested, yet the government deems too dangerous to allow onto commercial aircraft. Mateen reportedly did not appear on this list. The list
included 2,500 individuals when Homeland Security chief Michael Chertoff released the tally for the first time in 2008. Six years later, Christopher Piehota, director of the Terrorist Screening Center, told a House subcommittee it had 64,000 names on it. That sounds like a lot, but the list
includes dead people and multiple versions of names.