It takes a long time and lots ofanalysis to make the no-fly list
Source: Agencies |
March 11, 2010, Thursday
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Print Edition
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IT starts with a tip, a scrap of intelligence, a fingerprint lifted from a suspected terrorist's home.
It ends when a person is forbidden to board an airplane - a decision that is in the hands of about six experts from the United States Transportation Security Administration.
But the list is only as good as US intelligence and the experts who analyze it. If an intelligence lead is not shared, or if an analyst is unable to connect one piece of information to another, a terrorist could slip onto an airplane. Officials allege that is just what took place ahead of the attempted Christmas Day attack on a US-bound jet.
In the months since the arrest of Nigerian Umar Farouk Abdulmuttalab, the no-fly list has nearly doubled - from about 3,400 people to about 6,000 people, according to a senior intelligence official.
Current and former intelligence, counterterrorism and US government officials provided The Associated Press a behind-the-scenes look at how the no-fly list is created on condition of anonymity.
The list ballooned after the September 11, 2001 attack and has fluctuated in size over the past decade. In 2004, it included about 20,000 people. The standards for getting on the list have been refined over the years, and technology has improved to make the matching process more reliable.
There are four steps to banning a person from flying:
It begins with law enforcement and intelligence officials collecting the smallest scraps of intelligence - a tip from a CIA informant or a wiretapped conversation.
The information is then sent to the National Counterterrorism Center, where, analysts put names - even partial names - into a huge classified database of known and suspected terrorists. The database, called Terrorist Identities Datamart Environment, or TIDE, also includes some suspects' relatives and others in contact with the suspects.
About 350 names a day are sent to the next tier of analysis, the Terrorist Screening Center, to be considered for the government-wide terror watch list. This is a list of about 418,000 people, maintained by the FBI.
To place a name on that list, analysts must have a reasonable suspicion that the person is connected to terrorism. People on this watch list may be questioned at a US border checkpoint or when applying for a visa. But just being on this list isn't enough to keep a person off an airplane. Authorities must have a suspect's full name and date of birth as well as adequate information showing the suspect is a threat to aviation or national security.
Once armed with information for those three categories, the Transportation Security Administration screening center has two options. They can add a suspect to the "selectee list," a roster of about 18,000 people who can still fly but must go through extra screening at the airport. Or, if analysts determine a person is too dangerous to board a plane, they can put the suspect on the no-fly list.
It ends when a person is forbidden to board an airplane - a decision that is in the hands of about six experts from the United States Transportation Security Administration.
But the list is only as good as US intelligence and the experts who analyze it. If an intelligence lead is not shared, or if an analyst is unable to connect one piece of information to another, a terrorist could slip onto an airplane. Officials allege that is just what took place ahead of the attempted Christmas Day attack on a US-bound jet.
In the months since the arrest of Nigerian Umar Farouk Abdulmuttalab, the no-fly list has nearly doubled - from about 3,400 people to about 6,000 people, according to a senior intelligence official.
Current and former intelligence, counterterrorism and US government officials provided The Associated Press a behind-the-scenes look at how the no-fly list is created on condition of anonymity.
The list ballooned after the September 11, 2001 attack and has fluctuated in size over the past decade. In 2004, it included about 20,000 people. The standards for getting on the list have been refined over the years, and technology has improved to make the matching process more reliable.
There are four steps to banning a person from flying:
It begins with law enforcement and intelligence officials collecting the smallest scraps of intelligence - a tip from a CIA informant or a wiretapped conversation.
The information is then sent to the National Counterterrorism Center, where, analysts put names - even partial names - into a huge classified database of known and suspected terrorists. The database, called Terrorist Identities Datamart Environment, or TIDE, also includes some suspects' relatives and others in contact with the suspects.
About 350 names a day are sent to the next tier of analysis, the Terrorist Screening Center, to be considered for the government-wide terror watch list. This is a list of about 418,000 people, maintained by the FBI.
To place a name on that list, analysts must have a reasonable suspicion that the person is connected to terrorism. People on this watch list may be questioned at a US border checkpoint or when applying for a visa. But just being on this list isn't enough to keep a person off an airplane. Authorities must have a suspect's full name and date of birth as well as adequate information showing the suspect is a threat to aviation or national security.
Once armed with information for those three categories, the Transportation Security Administration screening center has two options. They can add a suspect to the "selectee list," a roster of about 18,000 people who can still fly but must go through extra screening at the airport. Or, if analysts determine a person is too dangerous to board a plane, they can put the suspect on the no-fly list.
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