No Fly List

A No Fly List contains the names of individuals that are not be permitted to board an aircraft for travel in or to a country that maintains or uses the list.

United States

The No Fly List has raised civil liberties concerns, due in part to the potential for ethnic, religious, economic, or racial profiling and discrimination. Particular concern has been raised about the use of credit reports in calculating the risk score. In response to the controversy, the Transportation Security Administration (TSA) stated it would not use a person's credit score to determine its risk score, and it would comply with all rights guaranteed by the First and Fourth Amendments.

Stuart Taylor went on to explain the controversy; Government entities external to the U.S., such as the European Union, expressed concerns about allowing the CAPPS II proposal to be implemented within their respective borders. During the early testing of the No Fly List, and CAPPS II, the TSA privately requested airlines disclose massive amounts of private information about their passengers. Though intended only for testing, this action was likely a violation of the Privacy Act of 1974, which forbids the government from compiling secret databases on Americans. Though spokespeople from several major airlines initially denied these allegations, they later reneged and admitted they had disclosed the information, revealing they had not only lied to their own customers, but also to the government and the public. These admissions were followed by further admissions from the Transportation Security Administration and the United States Department of Homeland Security, revealing the government had inappropriately requested and used this information.

In the midst of this controversy, the Government Accountability Office of the U.S. Congress produced a critical report on the CAPPS II system. The report characterized the proposal as incomplete, seriously behind-schedule, and noted the TSA had failed to address "developmental, operational, and privacy issues identified by Congress". On July 14, 2004, TSA officials said CAPPS II was being pulled from consideration without proceeding to full testing. Critics have alleged that the TSA has merely chosen to start with a less controversial entry point they are calling the "Registered Traveler" program. They have also begun testing of another program called Secure Flight, which is supposed to solve some of the problems of CAPPS I while avoiding the privacy issues of CAPPS II.

There is also a selectee process by which individuals who meet certain criteria are set aside for additional screening."

Size

It is known that the size of the FBI/FAA list on September 11, 2001 was 16 names. By December 2001, the list had grown to 594 names, and a year later (December 2002), there were over 1,000 names. CBS reported in October 2006 that they had obtained a copy of the list containing 44,000 names.

According to the TSA, as of November 2005, 30,000 people in 2005 alone had complained their names were matched to a name on the list via the name matching software used by airlines.

False positives and alleged misuses

• In August 2004, Senator Ted Kennedy (D-MA) revealed to a Senate Judiciary Committee discussing the No Fly List that he had appeared on the list and had been repeatedly delayed at airports. He said it had taken him three weeks of appeals directly to Homeland Security Secretary Tom Ridge to have him removed from the list of potential terrorists. Kennedy said he was eventually told that the name "T Kennedy" was once used as an alias of a suspected terrorist and thus the name was added to the list. There are estimated to be around 7,000 American men called T Kennedy. Recognising that as a U.S. Senator he was in a privileged position in being able to contact Ridge, Kennedy said of "ordinary citizens": "How are they going to be able to get to be treated fairly and not have their rights abused?"
• Jesselyn Radack, a former DoJ ethics advisor who argued that John Walker Lindh was entitled to an attorney, was placed on the No Fly List as part of what many believe to be a reprisal for her whistleblowing.
• James Moore, an Emmy-winning television news correspondent, co-author of Bush's Brain: How Karl Rove Made George W. Bush Presidential, political activist, and outspoken critic of the Bush Administration, was placed on the No Fly List. [4]
• US Representative John Lewis (D-GA), widely known for his civil rights advocacy, has been stopped many times [5]
• In September 2004, former pop singer Cat Stevens (who converted to Islam and changed his name to "Yusuf Islam" in 1978) was denied entry into the U.S. after his name was found on the list. [6]
• US Representative Don Young (R-AK), the 3rd most senior Republican in the House, was flagged in 2004 after he was mistaken for a "Donald Lee Young" [7]
• Numerous children, including many under the age of five with some under the age of one, have generated false positives. [[8]]
• Dr. Robert Johnson, a surgeon and a former lieutenant colonel in the U.S. Army, was told in 2006 he was on the list, although he had had no problem in flying the month before. Johnson was running as a Democrat against U.S. Representative John McHugh, a Republican. Johnson wondered whether he was on the list because of his opposition to the Iraq War. He stated, "This could just be a government screw-up, but I don't know, and they won't tell me." [9]
• James W. Walter and William Rodriguez claim to be on the list [10]. The two are campaigners for a new independent investigation into the events of September 11, 2001, saying the original commission was a cover up.

Lawsuits

On April 6, 2004 the American Civil Liberties Union "filed a nationwide class-action challenge to the government's No Fly List", in which they charge "many innocent travelers who pose no security risk whatsoever are discovering that their government considers them terrorists – and find that they have no way to find out why they are on the list, and no way to clear their names." The case was settled in 2006 [11].nng

The TSA's Office of Transportation Security Redress provides information about its redress procedures on its website at http://www.tsa.gov/travelers/redress/index.shtm.