The Epitome of Ineptitude: The US Terrorist Watch List

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The terrorist watch list - a federally supported and maintained record of all people suspected to have terrorist ties - is causing quite a stir. Not because it costs too much to preserve. Not because it hasn't helped catch terrorists. And certainly not because it has been an efficient and effective program.

No, all the fuss is because the terrorist watch list is, to the dictionary definition, inept; that is, "without skill or aptitude, generally awkward, and haplessly incompetent."

With over one million names attached to it, the terrorist watch list has become a headache for many. As a result, the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) has publicly announced its findings and issued a request to both George W. Bush and whoever replaces him in January 2009 to amend the terrorist watch list in an effort to make it, well... useful.

Barry Steinhardt, director of the ACLU Technology and Liberty program had this to say:

"America's new million record watch list is a perfect symbol for what's wrong with this administration's approach to security: it's unfair, out-of-control, a waste of resources, treats the rights of the innocent as an afterthought, and is a very real impediment in the lives of millions of travelers in this country."

His point is far from moot. With commonplace names like Gary Smith, John Williams, and Robert Johnson on the list, many thousands of like-named individuals have had problems with the feds thanks to this ill planned and poorly managed dispatch.

But does the list really not contain any information as to who the suspects are beyond their name? Apparently not. According to ACLU, a six year old child with the name John Williams Anderson was unable to travel by air thanks to his name registering on the no-fly list - a branch of the terrorist watch list.

If that is not ridiculous enough, it appears that the terrorist watch list never updates; among the list's potential threats are Saddam Hussein and fourteen of the 9/11 hijackers, all of whom are deceased.

Other note worthy names on the list include Senator Ted Kennedy, Bolivian President Evo Morales, civil rights leader John Lewis, and Nelson Mandela (not to mention many anti-Bush critics).

The ACLU, in their request to the current and future president, have not asked that the list be scrapped altogether, instead they are asking that it be redesigned to include ways for people who find themselves on the list to clear their names; a feature that is currently unavailable.

Some of the more significant amendments suggest by the ACLU were as follows:

* due process (for those suspected of terrorist ties)
* a right to access and challenge data upon which listing is based
* tight criteria for adding names to the lists
* rigorous procedures for updating and cleansing names from the lists.

Without question, the ACLU will have no fewer than one million supporters in their effort to edit and improve the terrorist watch list; the question is, will their request fall upon deaf ears?

What do you think? Will Bush amend the terrorist watch list? If not, will the future president? Is the terrorist watch list a useful report?

Thanks for reading.

GRMM