Is it time to abandon the terrorist watch list and find another means of screening for terrorists?

No. We should not completely give up on the list, but we should filter out the “non-threats”. With the onset of using biometrics in Homeland Security, a database listing screenable information for potential terrorists will become very important.

Keep the list active. The terrorist mean to kill us and it would be stupid to stop the list and then find out after a major event, i.e. 911 who the terrorist were that we let in the USA.

No, No, No
As Bill says the list may need updating, however, I would not support abandoning the list. Besides, with computers the time to search the list for a match whether it is a few thousand or a few million makes little difference.

The bigger problem is not whether this list is used at our airports, but the comparative ease with which they can avoid this security measure. What good does it do to work so hard to keep them from flying into our country when everyone in Washington has decided we must leave our borders open for anyone to walk across.

It’s time our leaders in Washington woke up to the fact that there a a lot of terrorists out there. Just because the list is large does not make it useless. It would be just like the libral-minded geniuses we call congressmen to reduce the size of the terrorist list, then awaken some morning to find an American city destroyed by a nuke…smuggled in by one those names they wanted dropped off the list…when if left in-place, we might have apprehended or destroyed in advance of such an attack. Leave “well enough” alone, no matter how big the list gets.

NO. A more efficient means of sorting should be applied to this list. We should apply some trending and profiling to this massive list and look for bigger trends. If the results indicate the necessity to perform racial or national profiling … so be it. While this might seem like it is contrary to our rights, I see it as a violation of my right to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness when, as an honest, tax-paying US citizen, I am subjucted to unnecessary search and seisure rules at the airport. Why should all of us be denied the right to a free society because some persons, usually from a foreign culture, wish to cause us harm. Perhaps denying those of threatening foreign cultures access to our country is a reasonable consideration.

Really silly question when put in this context. Abandon something without having a well defined alternative?? Come on now!

Keep the list while adding bio-recognition fields (DNA, fingerprint, facial recognition, tattoos, iris scans or whatever technology will economically permit). Make available at all border crossing, transportation, and money transaction centers. Make available to all law enforcement agencies (even for traffic stops). Forged or stolen ID is easy to obtain and difficult to detect. Computer access and storage is cheap. A good bio-recognition system will identify many perpetrators and prevent crimes of all types while identifying terrorists.

The list the IRS has for taxpayers is longer. Maybe we should abandon that too…

No we should not give it up. Add others to it. The question is not written by a pollster. It is confusing. The real question should be. Should we give up the list? Or, Should we add other methods to the list ?

I feel great on how many terrorist activites we have stopped that were published. I think there are more that have not been published so we don’t blow the cover. I don’t think any normal US citizens are in court because of the list or phone tapping due to other crimes being commited. -Bill

Yes, give it up, the current system is terribly flawed and completely corruptec. I have had two colleagues, one a US citizen, the other a Canadian, denied boarding a plane and entry into the US because of their declared anti-war views. Both of these people are advanced degreed, working professionals with no arrest or criminal record whatsover. They have been singled out for government harassment via the Watchlist for their political views. This is completely unacceptable in what is supposed to be a ‘free’ society.

Yes; abandon the current system which is fatally flawed. Unfortunately, it is designed for the “last war” and was put in place too hastily to even serve the original purpose for which it was intended. Activity-based profiles are too easily skirted; any determined group of individuals can determine by a trial and error process the flags and even their relative weight in placing a person on the Watch List. The Watch List profile is substituting a symbol for the reality and a very distant symbol from the people it is supposed to represent. As the quote goes: Those who would give up Essential Liberty to purchase a little Temporary Safety, deserve neither Liberty nor Safety. As currently structured the list removes an essential liberty, that of “innocent until proven guilty’. There are better methods, some mentioned by other people, such as biometric which at least bring the symbol closer to the person it is designed to represent. The Watch List is ineffective; just as the IRS taxpayer list is ineffective - just ask the GAO and their analysis of the who pays and does not pay taxes and the likelihood of being caught.

The Terrorist Watch List is pure silliness. I am sure any one of the intelligent people looking at this question could figure out a way to circumvent the list. Yes even Bill Adkins, Carl Meyering, James Jones, etc. could figure out a way if they applied themselves to the project. Watch lists, illegally detaining and torturing our fellow human beings, eavesdropping on our telephone and email conversations are not about stopping terrorism. The real reason for these lists is shown by JW. They are being used and will more and more be used to control people who have views that differ from that of Bush/Chaney.

Jim Bothwell’s plan is probably exactly what Bush/Chaney hope for and with that we will create another Hitler or Stalin. In Louisiana in many of those traffic stops our cops basically confiscated and stole from people that were never even tried for a crime until it hit the national news. I guess this is what he wants for the whole country.

Osama Bin Laden has told us the way to eliminate terrorism and we have ignored him. A couple of years ago he said that if we solved the Palestinian/Israeli question, terrorism would go away.

We need to stop alienating the people of the world and dispense with this silliness.

Does it strike anyone else as odd that you would keep such a list without a plan to reduce it’s numbers? With ever increasing numbers of bugs swarming around the porch light of democracy a few of the little devils are bound to find a way in. Time for some Raid!

Who else thinks that if we solve the Palestinian/Israeli problem that terrorism will go away? I think that as long as there are non-Muslims that the extremists will find some reason to want to kill you and your kids. And when the last Christian and Jew are dead, they’ll kill each other.

Buzz words reign supreme as substitutes for thinking. It is NOT a “Terrorist Watch List”, but a Full Employment Subject for Bureaucrats. A dysfunctional list of so many people is, effectively, damaging commerce in the U.S. when it is needed badly. With explosive detection systems also failing repeatedly during testing, such a “Terrorist List” has already failed and is “living” in that mode. PJM

The data on the list needs to be better assembled and easier to use. Biometrics or another sophisticated means must be found to make faster, and more positive, identification.
It must be remembered that phony passports are quite easy to obtain in many parts of the world. Therefore, merely a name in a passport will not work. The bad guys are much smarter than that. Instead the lists, as it stands, results in many innocent Americans missing their flights and being subjected to more interrogation than most criminals.
And the list, once improved, must be used at all crossing points, including entry by car, bus and train from Canada and Mexico.

How soon will you update your blog? I’m interested in reading some more information on this issue.