Reporter Visits Terror Watch List Center, Prevented from Seeing Map of Targets in America
http://blog.wired.com/27bstroke6/2007/08/reporter-visits.htmlNational Public Radio reporter correspondent Dina Temple-Raston got the first ever media tour of the Terrorist Screening Center, where 50 analysts follow-up on hits on the nation's sprawling terrorist watch lists, but right as she entered, the TSC shut down the "Big Board" a la Dr. Strangelove.
To get into the small, top-secret room where about 50 analysts from the FBI, Immigration and other agencies work, my escort has to punch a code into a small keypad and pull open a heavy steel door. He announces my presence by shouting a single word: "Uncleared."
With that signal, the flat screens in the cubicles around the room go dark. ......
Last year, the center had more than 20,000 positive matches against the list (
http://www.wired.com/politics/security/news/2007/07/watchlists), but little is known about the center's effectiveness.
The terrorist watch list now contains more than 500,000 entries, according to a recent ABC News report (
http://blogs.abcnews.com/theblotter/2007/06/fbi_terror_watc.html) on a document that has since been pulled from the web.
Getting off the terrorist watch list is not a simple procedure, given the government won't confirm if a person is on a list or not, and the TSC doesn't take responsibility for names placed on the list by a law enforcement or intelligence agency.
But a traveler who suspects the watch list is wrongly snagging them at airports or the border can try ......
Currently the TSC employs 108 employees, including 17 FBI agents, with a budget of $103 million.
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