The No Fly List contains the names of individuals who are not permitted to board an aircraft for travel in the United States. There is also a selectee process by which individuals who meet certain criteria are set aside for additional screening.[1]
Stuart Taylor went on to explain the controversy; Government entities external to the U.S., such as the European Union, expressed concerns about allowing the CAPPS II proposal to be implemented within their respective borders. During the early testing of the No Fly List, and CAPPS II, the TSA privately requested airlines disclose massive amounts of private information about their passengers. Though intended only for testing, this action was likely a violation of the Privacy Act of 1974, which forbids the government from compiling secret databases on Americans. Though spokespeople from several major airlines initially denied these allegations, they later reneged and admitted they had disclosed the information, revealing they had not only lied to their own customers, but also to the government and the public. These admissions were followed by further admissions from the Transportation Security Administration and the United States Department of Homeland Security, revealing 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 critical report on the CAPPS II system. The report 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 said 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 they are calling the "Registered Traveler" program. They have 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.
The TSA's Office of Transportation Security Redress provides information about its redress procedures here.
Size
It is known that the size of the FBI/FAA list on September 11, 2001 was 16 names. By December 2001, the list had grown to 594 names, and a year later (December 2002), there were over 1,000 names. CBS reported on the 8 October2006 edition of 60 Minutes that they had obtained a copy of the list dated March 2006 that contains 44,000 names.[2]
According to the TSA, as of November 2005, 30,000 people in 2005 alone had complained their names were matched to a name on the list via the name matching software used by airlines.[3]
Less commonly known is that the list, while very long, also includes many duplicates. Some are common misspellings and some are different dates of birth.
False positives and alleged misuses
A "false positive" occurs when a passenger is not on the No-Fly list, but he has a name that matches or is similar to a name on the list.
When an airline ticket is purchased, the reservation system compares the passenger's name to the No-Fly list. "False positive" passengers will find a restriction placed in their reservation that prevents them from being issued a boarding pass until the airline has determined whether or not 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 for their flight. The passenger must present identification that sufficiently differentiates themselves from the name 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. Though, the next time a passenger purchases a ticket, they will have to be cleared all over again. Airline personnel will rarely tell a person the reason that they have to be cleared, and it is generally through the experience of having "something wrong" with their reservation that most passengers realize that they are a "false positive". If a passenger's identification is insufficient to differentiate them from a name on the "No-Fly" list, the airline will refuse to board the passenger and tell them to contact the TSA.
Since "false positive" passengers must be cleared before being issued a boarding pass, they are normally unable to utilize Internetcheck-in, which is offered by most airlines, nor can they use the automatic check-in kiosks or curbside check-in. In some cases, travellers, especially business travellers, have found this to be an extreme disadvantage. At best, they are required to appear at the airport earlier than they might normally otherwise have done so, since they are usually required to wait in line to be cleared. At worst, some passengers have missed their flights because airline personnel could not obtain a clearance in time, or they were denied boarding because their identification didn't sufficiently differentiate them from a name on the "No Fly" list.
Some false positives and abuses that have been in the news include, In alphabetical order:
Numerous children (including many under the age of five, and some under the age of one) have generated false positives.[4]
Daniel Brown, a United States Marine returning from Iraq, was prevented from boarding a flight home in April 2006 because his name matched one on the No Fly List. The rest of his company refused to leave the airport until Brown was allowed to board.[5]
Asif Iqbal, a management consultant and legal resident of the United States born in Pakistan, plans to sue the US government because he is regularly detained when he tries to fly, because he has the same name as a former Guantanamo detainee.[6][7] 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, highly unpleasant, unpredictable delays and missed flights.[8] He is pushing for a photo ID and birthdate matching system, in addition to the current system of checking names. [9]
Dr. Robert J. Johnson, a surgeon and a former lieutenant colonel in the U.S. Army, was told in 2006 he was on the list, although he had had no problem in flying the month before. Johnson was running as a Democrat against U.S. Representative John McHugh, a Republican. 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."[10] Later, a 60 Minutes 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 Toronto.[2]
In August 2004, Senator Ted Kennedy (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 SecretaryTom Ridge 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 is Edward and for whom 'Ted' is only a nickname, would not be one of them.) Recognising that as a U.S. Senator he was in a privileged position in 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?"[11]
U.S. Representative John Lewis (D-GA), widely known for his civil rights advocacy, has been stopped many times.[12]
David Nelson, the actor best known for his role on The Adventures of Ozzie and Harriet, is among various persons named David Nelson who have been stopped at airports because their name apparently appears on the list. [14][15]
In September 2004, former pop singer Cat Stevens (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.[16]
In February 2006, U.S. Senator Ted Stevens 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.[14][17]
U.S. Representative Don Young (R-AK), the 3rd most senior Republican in the House, was flagged in 2004 after he was mistaken for a "Donald Lee Young".[19]
ACLU Lawsuit
On April 6, 2004 the American Civil Liberties Union "filed a nationwide class-action challenge to the government's No Fly List", in which they charge "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."[20] The case was settled in 2006.[3]
No fly lists in other countries
The government of Canada is developing its own no fly list, called Passenger Protect. The Canadian list will incorporate data from domestic and foreign intelligence sources, including the US No Fly List.[21] Passenger Protect is set to take effect for domestic flights in early 2007, and for international flights passing through Canada later in the year.[22]
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