U.S. has expanded no-fly list

  I guess Emperor Obama lied when he was running for President and promised to reduce the police state.

Source

U.S. has expanded no-fly list

by Eileen Sullivan - Feb. 2, 2012 11:58 PM

Associated Press

WASHINGTON - The Obama administration has more than doubled, to about 21,000 names, its secret list of suspected terrorists who are banned from flying to or within the United States, including about 500 Americans, the Associated Press has learned.

The government lowered the bar for being added to the list, even as it says it's closer than ever to defeating al-Qaida.

The size of the government's secret no-fly list has jumped from about 10,000 in the past year, according to government figures provided to the AP.

The surge comes as the government says it's close to defeating al-Qaida, after killing many of its senior members. But senior officials said the threat does not stop there.

"As long as we sustain the pressure on it, we judge that core al-Qaida will be of largely symbolic importance to the global jihadist movement," Director of National Intelligence James Clapper told Congress on Thursday. "But regional affiliates and, to a lesser extent, small cells and individuals will drive the global jihad agenda."

Those are the people added to the no-fly list, current and former counterterrorism officials said. Most are from other countries; about 500 are Americans.

"Both U.S. intelligence and law-enforcement communities and foreign services continue to identify people who want to cause us harm, particularly in the U.S. and particularly as it relates to aviation," Transportation Security Administrator John Pistole said in an interview.

Affiliated terror groups in Yemen, Pakistan, Somalia, Algeria and elsewhere, as well as individuals who ascribe to al-Qaida's beliefs -- "All are in the mix," said Michael Leiter, former director of the National Counterterrorism Center. "And no one is claiming that they are shrinking."

The flood of new names began after the failed Christmas 2009 bombing of a Detroit-bound jetliner.

The government lowered the standard for putting people on the list and then scoured its filesfor anyone who qualified.

The government will not disclose who is on itslist or why someone might have been placed on it.

Among the most significant new standards is that now a person doesn't have to be considered only a threat to aviation to be placed on the no-fly list.

People who are considered a broader threat to domestic or international security or who attended a terror training camp also are included, said a U.S. counterterrorism official who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss sensitive security matters.

The Christmas attack led to other changes in how the U.S. assembles its watch list.

Intelligence agencies across the government reviewed old files to find people who should have been on the government's terror watch list all along, plus those who should be added because of the new standards put in place to close security gaps.

After the Christmas attack, "We learned a lot about the watch-listing process and made strong improvements, which continue to this day," said Timothy Healy, director of the Terrorist Screening Center, which produces the no-fly list.

As agencies complete the reviews of their files, the pace of growth is expected to slow, the counterterrorism official said.

Terror-related developments

The remains of a top leader of the regional Jemaah Islamiyah terror network have not been found, the Philippine military said today, a day after announcing that he had been killed in a U.S.-backed airstrike. Troops on the ground were still searching the jungle camp that was hit Thursday for the body of Malaysian Zulkifli bin Hir, also known as Marwan. At least 15 people were killed in the dawn strike on a militant camp on Jolo Island, including two other high-level leaders.

The Army psychiatrist accused of killing 13 people during the Fort Hood shooting rampage will go on trial in June, a military judge ruled after agreeing to a three-month delay. Attorneys for Maj. Nidal Hasan argued during a hearing at the Army post in Texas that they still lacked key evidence needed to prepare for the March trial.

The New York Police Department recommended increasing surveillance of thousands of Shiite Muslims and their mosques, based solely on their religion, as a way to sweep the Northeast for signs of Iranian terrorists, according to interviews and a newly obtained secret police document. The document reveals that NYPD intelligence officers listed a dozen mosques from central Connecticut to the Philadelphia suburbs. None has been linked to terrorism.

-- Wire services

 

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