WASHINGTON, July 17 (UPI) -- The U.S. government's anti-terrorism watch list has 1 million names on it, rendering it ineffective, the American Civil Liberties Union said.
Federal officials managing the list countered the ACLU's figure is overblown and 400,000 names are on it, CNN reported.
"The list is unfair to travelers, unfair to law-abiding Americans and unfair to the security screeners who have to work in this ridiculous system," said Caroline Fredrickson, the ACLU's Washington legislative director.
The Terrorist Screening Center, a division of the FBI, said in a written statement, "We strive to have the watch list contain all appropriately suspected terrorists who represent a threat to the (United States), but only appropriately suspected terrorists. Independent government audits have recognized our ongoing efforts to constantly check watch list data to improve quality, reduce the number of misidentifications or mitigate their effects, and enhance traveler redress efforts."
Tell that to people who believe they were added to the list by mistake, said Jim Robinson a former assistant attorney general who is on the list even though he been trying to be excised since 2005.
FBI spokesman Chad Kolton said inconveniences like Robinson's were unfortunate but were the "side effect of our efforts to fight terrorism."
The ACLU said it drew its 1 million figure from a congressional report putting the number of names on the list at more than 750,000, with about 20,000 names being added monthly.
