New policy announced for appeals from travelers on watch lists
The most common complaints are from people on list that means they are regularly referred for secondary screening at airports.
Responding to congressional and public pressure, the Homeland Security Department on Wednesday announced a new program to help clear air travelers who have been wrongly placed on federal watch lists of suspected terrorists or criminals.
The new "DHS TRIP" program is intended for people who are prevented or delayed from entering the United States or flying on commercial aircraft because their names appear on the department's "no fly" or "selectee" watch lists. The program also is part of the department's effort to limit the number of names on the lists to only those who pose threats.
Travelers who believe they have been wrongly added to the lists can file complaints on a secure Web site. Users will have to give identification information and list what problems they are experiencing. Homeland Security officials will take that information and compare it to their watch lists, and then vet each person through a central redress office to determine whether to clear each individual.
The most common complaints come from people on the selectee list, which means they are regularly referred to secondary screening at airports before they can board an airplane. The department will not say how many people are on that list, but it has drawn heated criticism for containing generic and repetitive names and causing inconvenience for innocent people.
Senate Commerce Committee ranking Republican Ted Stevens of Alaska said his wife, Catherine, continues to be pulled aside for secondary screening because her name is similar to the folk musician formerly known as Cat Stevens, a convert to Islam who is on the no-fly list.
Sen. Stevens could not be reached for comment, but other lawmakers expressed reserved support for the new program.
"Real security involves more than just protecting physical infrastructure; it also means protecting our freedoms," said House Homeland Security Committee Chairman Bennie Thompson, D-Miss. "I've long called for the creation of a one-stop shop for travelers to resolve watch-list misidentification problems."
Thompson noted that in January, the House passed a bill to implement unfulfilled recommendations of the commission that investigated the 2001 terrorist attacks and included a provision that would require the department to create a timely and fair redress process.
"I hope DHS TRIP is the first of many steps that the department takes to protect our constitutional rights and liberties," Thompson added.
House Homeland Security Committee ranking Republican Peter King of New York said, "This appears to be a positive step in strengthening and centralizing the process."
Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff said DHS TRIP "is a win-win program. Eliminating false-positives makes the travel experience more pleasant for legitimate visitors, and it frees up our front-line personnel to apply even greater scrutiny of those individuals who truly present safety and security risks."
Chertoff added that the department has completed a name-by-name review of the no-fly list to ensure that only individuals currently posing threats are on it. Information submitted through the Web site could be shared with the Homeland Security and State departments, if needed.
The department said the information will have privacy protections.