Are You on the Government's 'No Fly' List?

[babylonsister]

Are You on the Government's 'No Fly' List?

By Naomi Wolf, Chelsea Green Publishing. Posted September 13, 2007.

A new book reveals how thousands of Americans who do not fit a terrorist profile are routinely harassed and detained at the airport.


snip//

The List

In 2002, I began to notice that almost every time I sought to board a domestic airline flight, I was called aside by the Transportation Security Administration and given a more thorough search. When this was happening on nine flights out of ten, I asked the officials about the special search. They told me that the search was due to the quadruple "S" that routinely came up on my boarding pass. There are several reasons why one might receive a quadruple "S" on one's boarding pass if one doesn't fit a terrorist profile: buying a ticket at the last minute, for instance, or paying in cash. But those circumstances didn't apply to me. I kept asking, but not getting real answers.

This stepped-up search became so routine as I traveled that companions who were flying with me began to simply say, "I'll meet you at the gate," even before we got through the security line.

On yet another preboarding search, I asked yet again. The TSA agent searching me, a young woman, said pleasantly, "You're on the list."

"The list?" I asked. "What list?" Her supervisor abruptly ended our exchange, took over from her, and then moved me on.

Indeed, the TSA Administration does keep a "list." The American citizens on the list who do not fit a terrorist profile range from journalists and academics who have criticized the White House to activists and even political leaders who have also spoken out.

These TSA searches and releases would be trivial in a working democracy. In the 1960s, peace activists found it merely irksome to be trailed by FBI agents, and in the 1980s those who organized The Committee in Solidarity with the People of El Salvador (CISPES) on college campuses were even amused sometimes to find, on submitting a Freedom of Information Act request, that there was a file open on them. But once the first steps in a fascist shift are in place, being on "the list" is not really funny any more.

When you are physically detained by armed agents because of something that you said or wrote, it has an impact. On the one hand, during these heightened searches of my luggage, I knew I was a very small fish in a very big pond. On the other hand, you get it right away that the state is tracking your journeys, can redirect you physically, and can have armed men and women, who may or may not answer your questions, search and release you.

more...

http://www.alternet.org/rights/62407/

[Missy M]

1. Bush and his adminstration belong in an insane asylum....

what bothers me is how they get people in this country to perform these acts against their fellow citizens, or even non-citizens. I am so angry after reading this my head is ready to explode.

[babylonsister]

2. Those people are earning a paycheck, so I guess they will do whatever

they're told. I can't blame them, but the system is so twisted. And should anyone question their methods, they are labeled unpatriotic or worse. It's a vicious Catch-22.
But please, don't let your head explode over it. :hug:

[malaise]

3. No

a maximum security prison

[Missy M]

4. You're right.....

people in an insane asylum don't know what they are doing. Bush and his cronies know exactly what they are doing and it's pre-meditated criminal acts.

[aquart]

5. I want that list abolished.

But, once a thing is begun in government, ending it is soooooo hard. No one wants to say the emperor is bare-assed naked.

[rasputin1952]

6. I wonder if we can somehow get "the List"....

:evilgrin:

if it contains people who disagree w/the WH, or have sent e-mails that demand his resignation, I kind of figure my name has asterisks galore...:D

[babylonsister]

7. Since this admin is fighting FOIA requests, that seems doubtful.

I just flew extensively, but no one flagged me. I think, if you have a protest record, you might be on it.

I recall Col. Ann Wright wrote an article recently about this admin flagging people with protest records to be detained when they land elsewhere, in her case Canada.

[LiberalFighter]

8. I've got a list of people to put on that list when the Bush administration leaves.

[ElkHunter]

9. Years ago I used the FOIA to get my FBI files...

...and found I was listed as a threat the security of the United States government due to my political activities in the 1970's.

These days, though, I think I'm on the government "ignore list".

[Snarkturian Clone]

10. Whenever I hear about this list I think of the "I" word...

and it scares the shit out of me.

[rosesaylavee]

11. What is the 'I' word?

I thought of 'Impeachment' but that only scares the ***t out of the admin.

Welcome to DU! :hi:

[Snarkturian Clone]

13. The "I" word that is in the name of Star Trek 9 nt.

[rosesaylavee]

14. No wonder

I didn't understand. Very big on Next Generation and watched a bit of Deep Space 9 but didn't follow it through to the bitter end.

Did you know that Ethiopians refer to English speakers as Ferengi? Just heard that yesterday on NPR. Too close for comfort that one.

[lonestarnot]

12. I'm on the search 3 times list. Heh.

[mogster]

15. Incredible, but sadly true, story

Fascism is creeping up on the world, again.

[Jeffersons Ghost]

16. NOT ANYMORE... but I'm working hard to get on it again!!! LOL

[greiner3]

17. What else do you have to do?

I send myself emails and reply to them with words such as, 'Dirty bomb, nuclear, terrorist, Osama, etc... Funny thing is, I just flew across that country last week and no one gave me a second look.