Terrorism Screening Database (TSDB)
The Terrorism Screening Database (TSDB), commonly known as the Terrorist Watch List, comprises over a million names of individuals suspected of terrorism-related activities. Established in 2003 as a counter-terrorism measure, the TSDB consolidates various existing U.S. government lists and is maintained by the FBI's Terrorist Screening Center. It serves as a critical tool for law enforcement and security agencies, including the Transportation Security Administration (TSA) and Customs and Border Protection, to enhance the screening of individuals during visa applications, international travel, and police encounters.
The TSDB includes both foreign nationals and U.S. citizens, and its records are used to track encounters with individuals listed within it. A subset of the TSDB, the No Fly List, specifically restricts certain individuals from boarding flights within or to the U.S. While the TSDB has been acknowledged for preventing potential terrorist activities, it has also drawn criticism regarding civil liberties violations and the accuracy of the information it contains, with concerns raised about errors and inconsistencies in the database. The government maintains confidentiality regarding the inclusion of specific names on the list, and individuals seeking to contest their inclusion face challenges in obtaining confirmation of their status.
Terrorism Screening Database (TSDB)
Summary: The Terrorism Screening Database (TSDB), popularly called the Terrorist Watch List, is a list of more than a million names of suspected terrorists who are subject to extra security screening when trying to obtain a visa, board an aircraft, or when stopped by police. Started in 2003, the list is a consolidation of several US government lists of people suspected of ties to terrorism, including foreign suspects and US citizens. It is made available to multiple law enforcement agencies, notably the Customs and Border Protection agency, the Transportation Security Administration (TSA), and local police departments, and it is maintained by the Federal Bureau of Investigation's (FBI) Terrorist Screening Center (TSC). The TSDB records all positive hits, called encounters, and makes them part of the record of individual names to help track the location of people in the database. A small subset of the database, known as the No Fly List, disables airline passengers from traveling within, to, from, and over the United States. Critics have complained that the list contains many characters inappropriately or that different versions allow legitimate terrorism suspects to slip through checkpoints. Other critics say the database can result in violations of civil liberties. The government does not confirm whether specific individuals are included in the database.
Origins of the TSDB
The Terrorism Watch List was created as a counter-terrorism tool by President George Bush's Homeland Security Presidential Directive 6 in 2003. Its purpose was described by the Justice Department as to "integrate all existing US government terrorist watchlists and assist in the screening of individuals who, for example, apply for a visa, attempt to enter the United States through a port-of-entry, attempt to travel internationally on a commercial airline, or are stopped by a local law enforcement officer for a traffic violation." The presidential directive also specified that "only individuals who are known or appropriately suspected to be or have been engaged in conduct constituting, in preparation for, in aid of, or related to terrorism are included" in the Terrorism Screening Database.
Before creating the database, government agencies—such as the FBI, State Department, and the CIA—kept separate lists of suspected terrorists. The TSDB was designed to coordinate anti-terrorist activities under the newly created Department of Homeland Security. It is maintained jointly by the Justice Department (the FBI) and the Department of Homeland Security. The consolidated list includes inputs from about a dozen pre-existing lists, including the FBI's Violent Gang and Terrorist Organizations File and the State Department's Consular Lookout and Support System. The United States also cooperates with several other countries in maintaining the list.
The TSDB includes names of foreigners and Americans. Details about individual names on the list, or exact procedures followed in adding new names, are classified.
According to figures published by USA Today, the number of names in the database grew exponentially between 2004 and the early 2020s:
2004
158,374 names
2013
500,000
2017
more than 1,160,000
2023
2,000,000
The numbers reflect separate names rather than individuals who may appear under several different names or spellings of the same name.
Congress mandated one use of the list under the Security Flight Program, which requires that the names of all passengers on domestic flights and international flights entering the United States be checked by the Transportation Security Administration (TSA) against the TSDB. Passengers whose names appear on the TSDB are subjected to closer scrutiny but not necessarily barred from flying. In some cases, flights en route to the United States have been turned back when it was discovered they were carrying passengers whose names appeared in the database.
Effectiveness
Most details about the TSDB are classified, including whether individual names are on the list and whether security checks are conducted because an individual's (e.g., an airline passenger's) name is on the list.
In August 2007, The Washington Post reported 20,000 encounters logged in 2006, slightly over half of them by the Customs and Border Protection agency. Customs turned back or over to other authorities, 550 people, or about five percent. The Washington Post reported that about half the encounters are logged at airports or border crossing points; other common places for encounters include consular offices that issue visas and stops by state and local police. The Washington Post report said, "Few specifics are known about how the system operates, how many people are detained or turned back from borders, or the criteria used to identify suspects. The government will not discuss cases, nor will it confirm whether an individual's name is on its list."
In October 2007, Leonard Boyle, director of the FBI's Terrorist Screening Center, which maintains the TSDB, testified to the Senate that in fiscal year 2006, 269 foreigners were denied entrance to the United States "because they were determined to present an unacceptable risk of committing a terrorist act." Boyle also said that "thousands of other individuals listed in the TSDB were encountered at our borders, or within the United States, and their whereabouts were made known to the FBI and other law enforcement agencies. These encounters often yield valuable information not only about the subject's whereabouts, but also his or her associates, interests, and intentions."
Michelle Petrovich, a spokesman for the Terrorist Screening Center, told the Washington Post that the list prevented "numerous attempts" by Omar Ahmed Ali, an Egyptian, to enter the United States. Ali eventually committed suicide in a bombing in Qatar in 2005. Security advocates have urged further applications, such as screening applicants for potentially sensitive jobs in select industries, such as chemical factories.
By September 2023, the US Border Patrol reported apprehending more than 160 individuals listed on the TSDB at the US-Mexico border, compared to only 100 the prior year.
Criticism and Controversy
In September 2007, the Justice Department's Inspector General faulted the agency maintaining the list for keeping two different database versions. The Inspector General's report said a study of 105 records showed that 38 percent had errors or inconsistencies that the TSDB's auditing efforts had failed to detect. According to the Inspector's General report:
"The TSC is relying on two interconnected versions of the
watchlist database. As a result of this and other conditions,
we identified several known or suspected terrorists who were
not watchlisted appropriately. Specifically, we identified 20
watchlist records on suspected or known terrorists that were
not made available to the frontline screening agents (such as
a border patrol officer, visa application reviewer, or local
police officer) for use during watchlist screening encounters
(such as at a border crossing, through the visa application
process, or during a routine traffic stop). We also found that
the number of duplicate records in the database has significantly
increased since our last review [in 2005]."
Another Government Accounting Office report said that the Transportation Security Administration (TSA) did not know how many people on that list might have slipped through security checks and boarded domestic flights. The GAO also reported that the TSA acknowledged that "a number" of people on the no-fly list had boarded international flights headed for the United States; in some cases, their planes were ordered to turn around.
The NTDB also came under criticism from civil liberties organizations, including the Illinois chapter of the ACLU and the Federation of American Scientists' Project on Government Secrecy, because the criteria for including names were too loose, resulting in placing names on the list without sufficient cause. Civil liberties advocates complained that using the list to detain people could violate their civil liberties.
The government does not confirm whether any specific name is in the database. Individuals who believe they have been unjustly subjected to extra security checks at airports, for example, may request that their names be removed from the database without confirmation that they were listed in the first place. Each month, the NTSB receives thousands of requests to remove names.
Bibliography
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Cauchi, E. D., and Imtiaz Tyab. “U.S. Terrorist Watchlist Grows to 2 Million People — Nearly Doubling in 6 Years.” CBS News, 14 Dec. 2023, www.cbsnews.com/news/us-terrorist-watchlist-grows/. Accessed 26 Sept. 2024.
“DHS Traveler Redress Inquiry Program.” Transportation Security Administration, www.tsa.gov/travel/security-screening/travel-redress-program. Accessed 26 Sept. 2024.
"Kennedy Victim of Terrorist Watch List." Toronto Star, 20 Aug. 2004,
"Legal Challenges to the Terrorist Screening Database." Congressional Research Service, 20 July 2023, crsreports.congress.gov/product/pdf/LSB/LSB11009. Accessed 26 Sept. 2024.
Nunn, Sam. "Preventing the Next Terrorist Attack: The Theory and Practice of Homeland Security Information Systems." Journal of Homeland Security & Emergency Management, vol. 2, no. 3, 2005, p. 30.
Taylor, Gus. "US Terror Watch List Keeps Eye on all Groups." Washington Times, 20 Feb. 2004. pA02.
"Terrorist Watch Screening: Recommendations to Promote a Comprehensive and Coordinated Approach to Terrorist-Related Screening. Statement of Eileen R. Larence, Director Homeland Security and Justice Issues." Government Accountability Office. Prepared statement for Congressional hearing, 8 Nov. 2007. www.gao.gov/new.items/d08253t.pdf. Accessed 26 Sept. 2024.
"US-Bound British Jet Returns to UK After US Refuses To Admit Passenger." Agence-France-Presse, 12 Jan. 2005.