No-Fly Zone

Before I post a part two to my piece "One Year Ago", I think this is something everyone should see and know.
Everyone needs to know that this is not an isolated incident, this is not a million and one chance. This is the beginning of the end of democracy and the rights and freedoms in which we are told we must fight. GW once said that the terrorists hate us for our freedoms. Well, they must be thinking of us as their new best friends now..

The Transportation Security Administration (TSA), which is now part of the Department of Homeland Security, is authorized by law to maintain watch lists of names of individuals suspected of posing "a risk of air piracy or terrorism or a threat to airline or passenger safety." While initially denying to the media that such a list existed, the TSA finally acknowledged its existence in October 2002.

EPIC submitted a Freedom of Information Act request in October 2002 to learn more about the operation of the watch lists, which reportedly had been used to interfere with the travel of political activists. When the TSA failed to respond to EPIC's request, EPIC filed suit in December 2002. (EPIC v. TSA). The lawsuit sought, among other things, TSA's criteria for putting people on the lists that bar some passengers from flying and subject others to extensive scrutiny, and complaints from passengers who felt they had been mistakenly placed on the lists. See TSA FOIA response (pdf) for more information.

TSA released documents in response to EPIC's request April 2003. The documents, while heavily redacted, provide give an insight into how the TSA operates the watch lists, and raises several questions for further public and Congressional oversight.

As the TSA contemplates ever more intrusive passenger profiling schemes, the agency documents uncovered through EPIC's FOIA work raise important questions about how the TSA currently operates. The concerns surrounding the agency's administration of the watch lists preview several potential problems with the proposed roll out of passenger prescreening systems such as Secure Flight. The TSA should provide answers to the following questions:

How many people are on the "no fly" and "selectee" lists? How many are American citizens or legal permanent residents?
Who is responsible for oversight of the list? Who verifies that the names are selected appropriately and whether the information accurate?
How does the operation of the watch lists comply with the Privacy Act of 1974?
How effective have the watch lists been?
How can individuals who have been misidentified as watch list matches clear their names?
Why is there a need for a new passenger prescreening program if intelligence agencies are already coordinating to ensure that certain high risk individuals on government watch lists do not board planes?
How will Secure Flight respect individuals' due process rights?

You can read it all here.
Granted, this just talks about American citizens on the "no-fly" FBI watch list. I just thought it was a good place to start.