Although likely a small percentage of all people screened, the thousands of persons misidentified to the Terrorist Watch List can experience additional questioning, delays, and other effects. Most misidentifications occur because of similarities to names on the Terrorist Watch List; agencies are attempting to reduce the incidence of misidentifications or otherwise facilitate individuals through the screening process. The Terrorist Screening Center and Frontline-screening Agencies are addressing concerns related to Watch List Screening, and an Interagency Agreement is being developed to further ensure an effective means for seeking redress.

Terrorism, sadly, seems here to stay and to stay with a vengeance. It turns out that the United States was not prepared for it and now must play catch-up. In doing so, even agreement on how to define terrorism is in doubt and what to do about it seems beyond comprehension at the moment. This volume presents a broad cross section of analyses of weaknesses and actions in the ongoing battle including cyberterrorism, international terrorism, and societal implications of terrorism.

The Dec. 25, 2009, attempted bombing of flight 253 raised questions about the federal government's ability to protect the homeland and secure the commercial aviation system. This statement focuses on the government's efforts to use the terrorist watchlist to screen individuals and determine if they pose a threat, and how failures in this process contributed to the Dec. 25 attempted attack. This statement also addresses the Transportation Security Admin.'s (TSA) planned deployment of technologies for enhanced explosive detection and the challenges associated with this deployment. Charts and tables.

This Interagency Threat Assessment and Coordination Group (ITACG) Intelligence Guide for First Responders is designed to assist state, local, tribal law enforcement, firefighting, homeland security, and appropriate private sector personnel in accessing and understanding Federal counterterrorism, homeland security, and weapons of mass destruction intelligence reporting. Most of the information contained in this guide was compiled, derived, and adapted from existing Intelligence Community and open source references. The ITACG consists of state, local, and tribal first responders and federal intelligence analysts from the Department of Homeland Security and the Federal Bureau of Investigation, working at the National Counterterrorism Center (NCTC) to enhance the sharing of federal counterterrorism, homeland security, and weapons of mass destruction information with state, local, and tribal consumers of intelligence.

For over sixty million Americans, possessing a criminal record overshadows everything else about their public identity. A rap sheet, or even a court appearance or background report that reveals a run-in with the law, can have fateful consequences for a person’s interactions with just about everyone else. The Eternal Criminal Record makes transparent a pervasive system of police databases and identity screening that has become a routine feature of American life. The United States is unique in making criminal information easy to obtain by employers, landlords, neighbors, even cyberstalkers. Its nationally integrated rap-sheet system is second to none as an effective law enforcement tool, but it has also facilitated the transfer of ever more sensitive information into the public domain. While there are good reasons for a person’s criminal past to be public knowledge, records of arrests that fail to result in convictions are of questionable benefit. Simply by placing someone under arrest, a police officer has the power to tag a person with a legal history that effectively incriminates him or her for life. In James Jacobs’s view, law-abiding citizens have a right to know when individuals in their community or workplace represent a potential threat. But convicted persons have rights, too. Jacobs closely examines the problems created by erroneous record keeping, critiques the way the records of individuals who go years without a new conviction are expunged, and proposes strategies for eliminating discrimination based on criminal history, such as certifying the records of those who have demonstrated their rehabilitation.