A Justice Department Office of Inspector General audit released today reveals that the FBI's terrorist watchlist — used at border crossings, airports and other points of entry into the United States — frequently fails to include subjects of actual terrorism investigation. At the same time, the FBI has failed to remove the names of people who are no longer suspects, even keeping at least one person on the list for almost five years after his case was closed.
Here's what Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Patrick Leahy (D-Vt.) had to say about that:
Today's report follows a 2008 audit which found that the FBI's terrorist watchlist is often either inaccurate or incomplete. That the FBI continues to fail to place subjects of terrorism investigations on the watchlist is unacceptable. Disturbingly, today's report reveals that in 72 percent of the cases, the FBI has also failed to remove subjects from the list in a timely manner. In fact, one individual remained on the list for nearly five years after the case had been closed. Given the very real and negative consequences to which people on the watchlist are subjected, this is unacceptable. As of December 31, 2008, the watchlist "contained more than 1.1 million known or suspected terrorist identities." With such a significant number of individuals in question, it is important that the FBI gets this right. I will continue to raise this issue with Director Mueller.
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