US Congressmen on FBI's terror and no fly list

[6andcounting]

http://rare.us/story/this-conservative-congressman-ended-up-on-a-terrorist-watchlist/

Rep. Tom McClintock (R-Calif.) is a conservative Republican congressman. He also spent some time on the FBI’s terrorist watchlist:

Turns out that when he was in the state Senate a decade ago, McClintock said, he discovered he couldn’t check into his flight.

“When I asked why, I was told I was on this government list,” McClintock said, calling the whole experience “Kafkaesque.”

“My first reaction was to ask, ‘Why am I on that list?’ ‘We can’t tell you that.’ ‘What are the criteria you use?’ I asked. ‘That’s classified.’ I said, ‘How can I get off this list?’ The answer was, ‘You can’t.’”

After some investigation, McClintock found out that his listing was a case of confused identity: The government confused him, a state representative of California, with a member of the IRA. And he wasn’t the only government official to be listed:

He said it ended up being a case of mistaken identity with an Irish Republican Army activist the “British government was mad at.”

McClintock said he soon learned that a fellow state senator also had been placed on the list, as well as the late U.S. Sen. Edward Kennedy. McClintock said he at least had the state Senate sergeant-at-arms to work through to clear up the confusion – “something an ordinary American would not.”

(Ted Kennedy was actually confused with another Edward Kennedy in a case much like the one where a 4-year-old boy was nearly banned from flying to see his grandma because he happened to share a terrorist watchlist member’s name.)

Even with the resources and connections which came with his office, it took McClintock months to get his name off the list, a process which can last years for us regular people, because there is no set procedure to appeal your placement on the watchlist.

“The farce of it all,” McClintock commented, “was that I was advised in the meantime just to fly under my middle name, which I did without incident.” ........... Wait, what? This probably should be a workable solution.

He’s not the only innocent American who has to use that workaround. Thousands of others are on government terrorist watchlists without real cause—just like like Rep. McClintock was—and certainly without due process. This story is just the latest example of why being on a government list isn’t a good reason to lose your rights.

[*michaelsean*]

If he actually said Kafkaesque I would put him back on the no fly list for being a pretentious ass like everyone else who has ever said Kafkaesque.

[SunsetBengal]

In order to be placed on one of these lists, where you lose rights as an American, there should be more than just a name involved. There needs to be something more specific to a particular individual, not just a first and last name. For foreign nationals, I can understand keeping the info classified. As far as American citizens, who have committed no crimes, there should be a release of information at least.

[*bfine32*]

No sure if it is related but: I have never made the connection between being on the no fly list and not being able to purchase a fire arm.

[6andcounting]

(12-14-2015, 09:42 PM)bfine32 Wrote: No sure if it is related but: I have never made the connection between being on the no fly list and not being able to purchase a fire arm.

I think it was Obama's way of tricking the left into supporting the no-fly list. They were against it until it became a tool for taking away gun rights without due process.

[fredtoast]

No one wants to have a real discussion about these lists.


Who believes that we should ignore possible terrorists flying on commercial flights and not have any lists?

Who believes we should address the potential problems of terrorists flying on commercial flights and keep these lists, but just have better guidelines for appeal when a person claims that there is a mistake?

[6andcounting]

(12-15-2015, 02:29 PM)fredtoast Wrote: No one wants to have a real discussion about these lists.


Who believes that we should ignore possible terrorists flying on commercial flights and not have any lists?

Who believes we should address the potential problems of terrorists flying on commercial flights and keep these lists, but just have better guidelines for appeal when a person claims that there is a mistake?

It definitely needs to be easier to appeal. It's not wrong for these lists to exist. It's wrong that US citizens have their rights taken away through a secretive process that has no real standard of evidence to consistently back-up every name put on the list. Dumb mistakes, like in the op, are just icing on the cake of problems with the whole thing.