Dangers Real in FBI Watchlist Errors
Slip-ups may have allowed terror suspects to enter United States, report says.
May 6, 2009— -- Suspected terrorists known to the FBI may have been allowed to enter the United States, because the bureau's agents failed to put their names on the terrorist watch list.
That's the conclusion of a new report by Justice Department Inspector General Glenn Fine. Fine's investigators found that the FBI often failed to put suspected terrorists' names on the watchlist in a timely manner, or ever. Meanwhile, travel records showed that in several cases, individuals whose names matched those of suspects in open terrorist investigations were able to enter the country.
At least a dozen individuals whose names matched those in FBI terror investigations were able to enter the country because agents had not watchlisted them, Fine concluded. Of those names, nine were eventually put on the watchlist; at least three others never made it at all, Fine found.
Fine did not conclude that the individuals who entered the country were in fact the terrorist suspects from the FBI investigations, only that they shared the same names.
FBI agents gave different reasons for not adding the names of terror suspects to the watchlist, reported Fine. Some said they didn't know enough about the individual to put them on the list – "although our review of the case files suggested otherwise," Fine noted.
Others blamed their inexperience in counterterrorism, or their lack of training on watchlisting terror suspects. And "one case agent said that he simply forgot to do the paperwork," Fine wrote.
"We believe that the FBI's failure to consistently nominate subjects of international and domestic terrorism investigations to the terrorist watchlist could pose a risk to national security," concluded Fine.
Despite the FBI's failure to put terror suspects on the watchlist, the list itself has swelled, Fine found – to over 1.1 million "identities." Individuals can be linked to multiple identities – by aliases, for example, or different ways of spelling a name. In its response, the FBI insisted the database contained records on only about 400,000 individuals, "the overwhelming majority of whom are not U.S. persons."
In general, Fine found the FBI was struggling to maintain the list in a timely way – adding names when appropriate, modifying entries as new information was discovered, and removing names when investigations were closed.Responding to the findings, the FBI told Fine it had made changes to its watchlisting procedures.
FBI Comments on Watchlist Policy
Among the actions taken: all counterterrorism personnel "have completed an online training course" on submitting watchlist nominations in a timely manner, as well as modifying their entries and removing them, wrote Arthur M. Cummings, Executive Assistant Director of the FBI's National Security Branch, in his response to Fine. FBI personnel have also been tasked with closer review of the process.
FBI spokesman John Miller posted an official response to the report to the FBI.gov Web site Wednesday touting what he called the bureau's "dramatic improvement" in watchlisting since making changes to their procedures. Wrote Miller: "We remain committed to improving our watchlist policy and practices to ensure the proper balance between national security protection and the need for accurate, efficient and streamlined watchlisting processes."
This story has been revised.