A watchlist of possible terror suspects distributed by the US government to airlines for pre-flight checks is now 80,000 names long, a Swedish newspaper reported, citing European air industry sources.
The classified list, which carried just 16 names before the September 11, 2001 attacks in New York and Washington had grown to 1,000 by the end of 2001, to 40,000 a year later and now stands at 80,000, Svenska Dagbladet reported.
Airlines must check each passenger flying to a US destination against the list, and contact the US Department of Homeland Security for further investigation if there is a matching name.
story via Harpers Weekly
~Is there any chance this list will be shorter next year? What would need to happen, in security measures? in world events? in the economy? to reduce the number of names? (I don't have a clue.)
How about this as a plot device for a suspense novel, tv drama: one day terrorists flood airports in various cities with dozens of people (unsuspecting illegal immigrants!) carrying fake passports with names from the list. As Homeland Security computers strain to handle the requests for further info., and the airports' security officers dutifully follow procedure on these ringers, checking their baggage by hand, strip searches, interviews, holding for further questioning, etc., the real terrorists slip through to hijack planes, plant dirty bombs, grab hostages, destroy gift shoppes whatever, after only cursory checks due to the system's overload? Tentative title: "Default"?
Posted by Cieciel at December 13, 2005 10:45 PM