A Watch List Is Born

Ryan Singel

Prior to the airline hijackings on Sept. 11, 2001, the Federal Aviation Administration’s “no-fly list” contained 11 names.

Soon after the attacks, the Transportation Security Administration was created, and given direct authority over airline security screening and the watch list. The list soon began to expand almost daily, according to government documents. The last credible report on the list put its length at 119,000 names, though the TSA says it has since narrowed it to a smaller number that must remain a secret.

While it was expanding the no-fly list, the TSA was also busy carving out a second list of people who were allowed to fly, but would be screened extra closely on their way to the gates. The government initially denied this “selectee list” existed, but a watchdog group eventually got the goods in a Freedom of Information Act request.

Of course, the TSA isn’t the only agency making lists these days. Here’s a quick Wired News field guide to post-9/11 watch lists.

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Name: The Unified Watch List

Details: Maintained by the Terrorist Screen Center, this is a master watch list with more than 200,000 names of suspected foreign or domestic terrorists.

Who’s Listed?: Likely to have both Earth First members and Al Qaeda funders.

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Name: Terrorist Identities Datamart Environment

Details: TIDE is a massive repository of intelligence data from CIA, NSA, etc., and feeds the Terrorist Screening Center nightly.

Who’s Listed?: Likely to have the name of anyone who ever called anyone who ever called Al Qaeda.

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Name: Violent Gang and Terrorist Organizations File

Details: This list includes citizens and residents suspected of being associated with a gang or terrorists.

Who’s Listed?: Likely to include Crips and SUV arsonist William Cottrell.

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Name: Interagency Border Inspection System

Details: Contains more than a billion records on individuals, businesses, and cars and trucks and planes and is part of the Automated Targeting System, which rates the suspicion level of every person traveling into and out of the country.

Who’s Listed?: Likely to include border jumpers and drug plane numbers.

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Name: Consular Lookout and Support System

Details: The CLASS visa database uses the terrorist watch list to figure out who should and shouldn’t get a visa.

Who’s Listed?: Likely to have Cuban baseball players, Armenian playwrights and frustrated suicide bombers.

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Name: Warrant Information Network

Details: The United States Marshals Service keeps a list on everyone with existing federal warrants.

Who’s Listed?: Likely to include bail jumpers and bank robbers on the lam.

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Name: Interpol Terrorism Watch List

Details: Introduced in 2002, this list had about 100 names on it by 2004. It’s shared with law enforcement and intelligence agencies worldwide.

Who’s Listed?: Likely to include the A-list of the terrorism world

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Name: No-Fly and Selectee Lists

Details: Being on the TSA’s no-fly list grounds you, while the Selectee list gets your bags pawed through.

Who’s Listed?: Likely to include someone named Bob Johnson, and Edward “Not the Senator” Kennedy.

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