Hard to Be a 'Good Guy,' When 'Bad Guy' Specs are Secret

The ACLU has filed a federal lawsuit in San Francisco that challenges the TSA's secret 'no-fly' criteria. The brief, filed Wednesday, states, "Without even basic information about the no-fly list or other watch lists, the public cannot evaluate the government's decision to use such lists."

In other words, since the government won't tell you how to stay off the 'no-fly' list, it's going to be hard to get people to believe in it.

As part of a host of knee-jerk legislation passed after September 11, the Transportation Security Administration was set up, and given a plethora of powers, many of which have yet to be challenged. Its impossible charge: to make public transportation in the USA safe from terror attacks.

The TSA, through its military and federal-police leadership, has sought to define criteria that might help it detain possible terror suspects. One of its tactics was to have distilled those criteria into a computer program; and the agents are enlisting airlines (among others) to help gather data, and eventually to identify, those suspects -- solely on the basis of circumstantial, and bureaucrat-picked criteria.

Domestic spy agencies in the US, notably the FBI, have also been tapped for information and names. If you're on the list, you may be subject to additional scrutiny, denied boarding, or, presumably, arrested, and thrown into that "black hole" where you can't have contact with the outside world, where you can't have a lawyer, and where there is no such thing as habeas corpus.

Though the government insists it's just destroying our liberties for our own good, people conscious of civil rights and the Constitutional limits on government are waking up to the enormous spy power the TSA and FBI (among others) are using, to assemble virtual dossiers on... everybody. When the potential of this database is compared to the 900 FBI files that reportedly squelched numerous investigations, and even cost at least one US Representative his Speaker position in the past decade, the potential for abuse starts to be realized.

Civil rights groups are understandably miffed at such conduct. Joining the ACLU are two women activists, Rebecca Gordon and Janet Adams, who said they were detained 'because their names were on the list.' The pair publish a rabidly anti-administration publication called War Times. The TSA says their names were probably similar to names of some 'real' terrorists, and that they hadn't been singled out for opposition to the rulers of the country.

Last year, a score of people from the group, "Peace Action of Wisconsin" were detained in Milwaukee when their names came up. [Perhaps all had names similar to 'real' terrorists' --ed.] The whole group, including the students, a nun, and a priest, missed their flight.

The Tide is Turning; People Aren't Just 'Taking It' Any More

In the past, allegations of 'spontaneous' IRS audits of administration opponents were common; one lady was jailed for 'attempted assault' against the President for yelling at him, "You suck!" and others (near the curent President's home town) had their church beseiged, for harboring politically-incorrect (though not illegal) beliefs. This, though, is different: it's affecting more people, under an increasingly unpopular administration and justice department; the new Department of Homeland Security hasn't found its stride; and the TSA has shoved itself into the faces of just too many people, to be tolerated.

The ACLU says it has 339 documented cases of harrassment, at just San Francisco's airport: people who were thought to be on some government blacklist. By extrapolation, the ACLU figures there must be others, at other airports... ACLU lawyer Jayashri Srikantiah told The New York Times, "There's every reason to believe this is happening at airports around the country."

The FBI, in response to an ACLU FOIA request, said it didn't have any records that might be pertinent to any such harrassment; yet the San Francisco airport said the FBI was in on many of the detention investigations. The TSA, as usual, did not return calls of inquiry -- but not to us, this time -- to the NYT.

The San Francisco Chronicle says the point of the suit is straightforward: "The suit, filed in U.S. District Court in San Francisco, seeks to require the Bush administration to reveal how many names are on the lists, how names are added and removed and how often they have been used to identify the wrong person." [Ms Adams, for instance, was identified as, "J. Adams" --ed.]

You can complain, officially.

If you want to try complaining, you can write the Office of Ombudsman, Transportation Security Administration, 701 S. 12th St., 2nd Floor, Arlington, VA 22202.

Whether you use your own name is up to you...

FMI: www.aclu.org; www.tsa.gov; www.fbi.gov