August 12, 2004
Why Federal Watch Lists Don't Work
Unfairly Targets Those with Controversial Political and Religious Beliefs
- Rebecca Gordon and Jan Adams learned they were on a ""No-Fly"" list from the San Francisco International Airport ticket counter. The ticket agent "came back and said 'you turned up on the FBI no-fly list. We have called the San Francisco police.' We were shocked, really shocked,"" recalled Adams. Gordon and Adams may have been targeted for their work on War Times, a free bilingual newspaper that has been critical of the war and the Bush administration's policies on terrorism. -- CBS, February 5, 2004
- John Dear, a 43-year-old Jesuit priest, member of the Catholic peace group Pax Christi and a former executive director of the Fellowship of Reconciliation, an interfaith global peace organization has also been targeted. ""I fly just about every week,"" Dear says. ""Since 9/11, I've been taken aside at the boarding gate every single time and searched and questioned."" -- In These Times, Dave Lindorff, November 22, 2002
- Virgine Lawinger, a 74-year-old nun and a member of Peace Action, was stopped at the Milwaukee airport along with some 20 other members of the group on their way to Washington to lobby the Wisconsin congressional delegation against military aid to Colombia. She says they were told at the time by local sheriff's deputies and Midwest Express ticketing personnel that one or several of them were ""on a list,"" and that the TSA had instructed airport security to keep the group off the plane. -- In These Times, Dave Lindorff, November 22, 2002
Mistaken Identities, Unjustly Targets Foreign Names
- Jack Baldwin, 81, is an imposing six foot tall former WWII Navy submariner. A porter told him, "'You'll have to take these inside. You're on a no-fly list," he said, as he placed a call at the counter. "It really shouldn't be called that. We'll give them your identification from your driver's license and your date of birth, and they'll clear you through. It's a pain for everybody. Somebody out there has a name similar to yours that somebody wants to talk to." -- Houston Chronicle, Rick Casey, July 13, 2004
- ""As someone who has served her country in the United States Air Force for nearly 16 years and who obeys the laws of the land, I was shocked to discover that I am on this list. I am even more disturbed to find out that there is no way to get off the list. I was scheduled to fly from Seattle to Honolulu. When I tried to check in, the agent asked me if I had experienced any problems the previous day. I told the agent that there had been a computer glitch that delayed my boarding. The agent began laughing in full view of other passengers and explained that the reason I had been delayed was not due to a computer problem, but rather because I was on the No-Fly list. He indicated that I was likely to experience problems every time I flew.""- Statement of Michelle D. Green, plaintiff in ACLU challenge to No-Fly lists
- ""As a law-abiding citizen who is a retired member of the clergy, I was shocked to discover that I have been placed on the No-Fly list. I immediately became alarmed to be told I was on an FBI list, even though I did not have a criminal record and had never done anything that would make me a suspect."" - Statement of John F. Shaw, plaintiff in ACLU challenge to No-Fly lists
- For years, Mr. Kobayashi has regularly flown to Las Vegas. Then at the gate, his name was called, and for another half-hour his ID was scrutinized again. When he asked what the problem was, no one would tell him. "It was embarrassing," Kobayashi said. "Everybody was watching me.. I don't have a police record ? I worked for the federal government for 44 years. And now they treat me like this," he said. "It's scary." -- Honolulu Advertiser, Yasmin Anwar, March 14, 2004
- ""As a civil liberties lawyer, I am usually on the other side of the table when it comes to filing cases. But today, I am here as a plaintiff in the ACLU's challenge to the No-Fly list because I have repeatedly been delayed, detained, interrogated, and searched by airport personnel. On one particularly unpleasant occasion, I was led away by police and detained until the FBI verified that I was not a terrorist."" -- Statement of David C. Fathi, plaintiff in ACLU challenge to No-Fly lists
- ""I am a patriot, and I would never stand by and let anyone say or even imply otherwise. And yet someone in my government has done exactly that: someone I have never met has branded me a potential terrorist - a person who would harm his fellow Americans - because my name is on a No-Fly list. When my young children see a police officer-a ""good guy""-asking questions of me, I can see them wondering: Is Daddy a bad guy? Why else would the police officer be asking Daddy all those questions? And then I have to explain that the good guys made a mistake."" - Statement of David C. Nelson, plaintiff in ACLU challenge to No-Fly lists
No Way for Innocent People to Correct Errors
- The lack of recourse for those who find themselves singled out by the no-fly list makes for a truly Kafkaesque situation. Innocent victims are unable to face their accusers - the source of the information that has made them a target - unable to see that information, or the criteria by which it was judged, and have no meaningful way to appeal their status -- Statement of Barry Steinhardt, Associate Director, ACLU Technology and Liberty Program
Cost Consumers Time and Money
- The Patriot Act of 2001 requires that anyone purchasing property must be checked against a list of names of known and suspected terrorists. Increasingly, as part of the settlement process, the title company now runs the homebuyer's names against the list. The cost is passed onto the homebuyer ranging anywhere from $3 to $35 per name checked. Additionally, if a name is on the list and it is a mistaken identity, this can delay the process for several days to ensure the proper checks take place to guarantee the individual's credentials. - Newsweek, June 3, 2004
For more information on no-fly lists, go to www.aclu.org/nofly
