According to the most recent tally, the number of names in the government’s primary classified counter-terrorism data base has increased 62% in the past 5 years, from 540,000 to 875,000. That would be the "Terrorist Identities Datamart Environment" (TIDE) master database used by other agencies to create sub-catalogs of possible terrorists, including the infamous "no-fly" list.
My first thought upon reading that was: that’s a lot of terrorists in my neighborhood – I should check those facts: http://www.nctc.gov/docs/Tide_Fact_Sheet.pdf. Alas, it’s apparently true; they’re everywhere. That’s 184 new names every day for five years. The US Census Bureau says there are 3,143 counties in the United States, which works out to an average of 278 potential terrorists for every county in America. Even if we cut the number in half for the suspicious guys from other countries, that’s still 139 in your county and mine, guys like Larry across the street; I have never seen him leave for work, and he gets a FedEx delivery almost every other day.
My second thought was why do different agencies need little lists if they all have access to The Big List? Government officials admit that the Boston bomber and the underwear bomber were both on the TIDE list, but among other things, spelling errors while compiling new lists may have caused them to be missed. Note to government analysts: unlike Mrs. Harper’s 6th grade class, poor spelling proficiency can be fatal, and can also hold you back a grade. PS: once you get it into a computer correctly, that’s what spell-check is for... and if you see alternate spellings, that’s what the ”alias” block is for.
The National Counterterrorism Center says the classified database is not a "watch list" but is a repository of information of people seen by Government as known, suspected or potential terrorists from around the world. Call me crazy, and redundant, but that sounds like a definition of – to use their words – “a watch list of... potential terrorists.”
We in the transportation industry see that volume of numbers collectively virtually every day in background checks for the STA, CHRC, and other clearance processes in every mode, and I suspect the NCTC is running that list constantly against any number of continuously reporting resources. Missing those big red flags in the original data source is difficult to understand, even more so in the smaller, more specialized derivative lists that are presumably more highly fine-tuned for precisely that purpose. It’s not about having more data, it’s about knowing how to use it when you get good information from reliable sources.
So I anonymously reported Larry’s suspicious behavior. Turns out he works from home as an e-Bay broker. After he made bail, I saw him peeking out the curtain; I think he knows it was me.
