Ladewig
6th May 2009, 07:31 PM
Wall Street Journal (http://online.wsj.com/article/SB124165546488694141.html)
WASHINGTON -- The Federal Bureau of Investigation is sometimes dangerously slow to add suspects to the nation's terrorist watch list, and even slower to remove those cleared of suspicion, an internal audit found.
The report issued Wednesday by the Justice Department's inspector general, Glenn Fine, found lapses in the way the FBI managed its Terrorist Screening Center.
Among the lapses: Some subjects of terror probes entered and left the U.S. during the time they should have been on watch lists; and the FBI doesn't know the total number of names it has put on the list, because it only started keeping count in 2005.
The Terrorist Screening Center, created in 2003, is responsible for consolidating lists of potential terrorists compiled by federal and local authorities.
The report adds to criticism leveled in recent years about the inaccuracies in the government's watch-list system, which sometimes causes travel tie-ups for innocent people, including infants, trying to fly into the U.S. Last year, after intervention by members of Congress, the U.S. dropped Nelson Mandela and his family from the terrorism watch list.
The FBI said Wednesday it has implemented changes to address all 16 recommendations from the audit. It said the issues "are all now resolved."
However, the audit report says, "we believe that weaknesses continue to exist [and] significant improvements are still necessary."
I wish this were a higher priority. I hope the negative publicity encourages more efficiency in this area.
WASHINGTON -- The Federal Bureau of Investigation is sometimes dangerously slow to add suspects to the nation's terrorist watch list, and even slower to remove those cleared of suspicion, an internal audit found.
The report issued Wednesday by the Justice Department's inspector general, Glenn Fine, found lapses in the way the FBI managed its Terrorist Screening Center.
Among the lapses: Some subjects of terror probes entered and left the U.S. during the time they should have been on watch lists; and the FBI doesn't know the total number of names it has put on the list, because it only started keeping count in 2005.
The Terrorist Screening Center, created in 2003, is responsible for consolidating lists of potential terrorists compiled by federal and local authorities.
The report adds to criticism leveled in recent years about the inaccuracies in the government's watch-list system, which sometimes causes travel tie-ups for innocent people, including infants, trying to fly into the U.S. Last year, after intervention by members of Congress, the U.S. dropped Nelson Mandela and his family from the terrorism watch list.
The FBI said Wednesday it has implemented changes to address all 16 recommendations from the audit. It said the issues "are all now resolved."
However, the audit report says, "we believe that weaknesses continue to exist [and] significant improvements are still necessary."
I wish this were a higher priority. I hope the negative publicity encourages more efficiency in this area.