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Terrorist Screening Database

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The Terrorist Screening Database or TSDB is the central terrorist watchlist consolidated by the FBI's Terrorist Screening Center and used by multiple agencies to compile their specific watchlists and for screening. As of June 2016 the list is estimated to contain over 2,484,442 records, consisting of 1,877,133 individual identities.[1][2]

History, sources, uses, and scope

The TSDB is overseen by the FBI Terrorist Screening Center. It was created after the September 11 attacks.[3]

According to 2009 data, approximately 1,600 nominations are suggested daily, 600 names are removed and 4,800 records are modified by the U.S. intelligence community. Approximately one out of twenty of the people on the list are U.S. citizens or legal permanent residents.[4]

The TSDB is massive in size and includes names of people identified as potential security risks.[3] It is distinct from the much smaller No Fly List.[3] Those on the TSDB are not actively monitored because doing so would be impracticable and would raise civil liberty issues; those on the TSDB are also not automatically barred from boarding airplanes or traveling.[3]

The purpose of the TSDB is to promote information-gathering and information sharing different agencies, and to flag individuals of interest for closer scrutiny when interacting with investigators or others, such as border agents or state police. Although the government uses TSDB as both an investigative database and an "early warning" tool, inclusion on the list does not invariably prevent attacks or threats.[3] A person familiar with the database told the Washington Post that the database has "silent hit" capability, so that if a person on the list is stopped by police (for example, for speeding), the event will be logged into the TSDB without the knowlege of the person who was stopped or even the officer who made the stop.[3]

Dozens of people listed in TSDB, mostly those flagged in connection with past concerning white supremacist connections, were present in Washington, D.C., during the January 6, 2021 attack on the Capitol building by a violent pro-Trump mob.[3]

Accuracy

The Justice Department's Office of Inspector General has criticized the list for frequent errors and slow response to complaints. An audit by the Office of Inspector General found that 38% of a 105 record sample contained inaccuracies.[5] The Federal Bureau of Investigation has said it is redressing errors, and a 2006 review of the No Fly List reduced its size by half, from 71,872 records to 34,230 records.[5][6]

In 2016, a group of about 20 Muslim Americans sued the government in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia, arguing that the government's maintainance of the unconstitutional in its current form. In September 2019, U.S. District Judge Anthony Trenga found that "the TSDB fails to provide constitutionally sufficient procedural due process, and thereby also violates the Administrative Procedures Act. The court based its ruling on the lack of an "independent review of a person's placement on the TSDB by a neutral decisionmaker" and the lack of an available remedy to fix mistakes, as persons listed "are not told whether or not they were or remain on the TSDB watchlist and are also not told the factual basis for their inclusion."[7] The government is appealing to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit.[8]

See also

References

  1. ^ "Audit Report 07-41: Follow-up Audit of the Terrorist Screening Center" (PDF). Audit Division. Office of the Inspector General, U.S. Department of Justice. September 2007. 724,442 records, growth rate 16,000/mo.
  2. ^ "Federal Bureau of Investigation - Congressional Testimony". FBI. Archived from the original on August 5, 2009. Retrieved 2009-12-27.
  3. ^ a b c d e f g Devlin Barrett, Spencer S. Hsu & Marissa J. Lang, Dozens of people on FBI terrorist watch list came to D.C. the day of Capitol riot, Washington Post (January 14, 2021).
  4. ^ Pincus, Walter (November 1, 2009). "1,600 are suggested daily for FBI's list". Washington Post. Retrieved December 27, 2009.
  5. ^ a b "Audit Report 07-41: Follow-up Audit of the Terrorist Screening Center" (PDF). Audit Division. Office of the Inspector General, U.S. Department of Justice. September 2007. "our examination of 105 records subjected to the single review queue or post-encounter quality assurance reviews revealed that 38 percent of these tested records continued to contain errors or inconsistencies that were not identified through the TSC's quality assurance efforts."
  6. ^ Nakashima, Ellen. "Terrorism Watch List Is Faulted For Errors; Justice Dept. Official Urges Improvement". The Washington Post. September 7, 2007. p. A12.
  7. ^
  8. ^ Suzanne Monyak, Advocates Urge 4th Circ. To Strike Down Terrorist Watchlist, Law360 (June 3, 2020).
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