Pardon Me For Asking...

[danalwyn]

The FBI has been getting a lot of flak over their latest version of the No-Fly list after CBS managed to get their hands on it. The list is reported to have some problems. Airport personnel are ordered to turn away, for instance, fourteen of the 9/11 hijackers (but not the other five), although how they're supposed to do this is left as somewhat of a mystery. After all, if you flew a plane into the World Trade Center and managed to walk away, I doubt a United flight attendent is going to be much of a barricade. Perhaps the FBI will begin issuing holy water to its operatives.

The list also contains Saddam Hussein and Bolivian President Evo Morales (who is totally likely to crash a plane into the White House). There is also apparently a Robert Johnson, a name shared by perhaps 19% of Americans.

The BBC pointed out the gaping problem with the list almost immediately:


However, the names of the 11 British suspects recently accused of a plot to blow up airliners flying to the US were not included on the list.

Cathy Berrick, director of Homeland Security investigations for the General Accounting Office told CBS that this was due to concerns that the list could end up in the wrong hands.

"The government doesn't want that information outside the government," she said.


In other words, since the list is distributed to airports all around the world, it is too insecure to risk compromising an active investigation. Dead people, famous people, and people who would never put a bomb on a plane in a million years are all on the list. However, information on active terrorists who are actually seeking to explode airplanes in midair is confidential, and cannot be revealed as it would compromise our war on terror.

So, and pardon me for asking, precisely what is the point of putting names on the list at all?

Comments

[silverjackal.livejournal.com]

I suspect the point is to be seen as doing *something*. Actually doing something effectual is, of course, a different matter.

[danalwyn.livejournal.com]

I've had days like that.

[mergle.livejournal.com]

I dunno, it all seems reasonable enough. I mean, until now, I totally lost sleep at nights worrying that dead people and famous dictators travelling under their real names would hijack commercial airline flights using tweezers and chapstick.


...er, that is to say, I'm in agreement with silverjackal. They made a list so they can say they Did Something. It's like banning tweezers and diaper cream.

[danalwyn.livejournal.com]

But they didn't go far enough. Don't you realize that Adolf Hitler could get aboard an airplane? Or Atila the Hun? Or how about that crazy Jesus guy? He was Middle-Eastern and advocated massive social change - he's probably a terrorist too.

Why aren't they on the list. I pay taxes! I demand protection!

[elaryn.livejournal.com]

Shhhh...be vewy quiet. They're hunting dead people. *snerk*

[aries-ascendant.livejournal.com]

Why are terrorists' identities considered classified? Is it just b/c the government doesn't want them to know that they are being investigated?

This whole thing is strange with a side-order of stupid.

[danalwyn.livejournal.com]

I suppose because they don't want the terrorists to change identities and disappear. If I was a terrorist and I found my name on the no-fly list, I certainly wouldn't use that name in the US.

I still think it's stupid.

[ithmarvin.livejournal.com]

Just another thing the government has put up just to look busy and keep the sheep rounded up

TERROR