December 28, 2007 - We've all heard the stories. Babies that have been barred from flying because they have a name similar to a known terrorist. Members of Congress who have had trouble boarding a flight because someone with a similar name appears on a government no-fly list (this has happened repeatedly with Sen. Ted Kennedy). One of the major gripes that the traveling public has had for the past six years is that there is no way to correct erroneous information that appears on terrorist watch lists. And if the National Counterintelligence Center (NCTC) gets its way, there never will be a way to clean up these lists. At least that's the way it appears based on a posting in the Federal Register asking for a Privacy Act exemption this morning.

You would think that the government would find some value in accurate data. This is especially true when dealing with matters of national security and intelligence gathering.

But efficiency has never been the government's strong suit. This is one of the primary reasons that a recent survey of travelers found that the TSA - the agency responsible for passenger screening - is tied with the IRS as the second most despised government agency. Only FEMA - another model of government ineptitude - beat them both out for the number one spot.

In this mornings posting, the NCTC asked for a variety of Privacy Act exemptions. Among other things, the Privacy Act of 1974 forbids the government from establishing any system of records without posting notice in the Federal Register and allowing the public to comment. The law also specifically allows anyone whose data is stored in such a system to request a copy of the stored data and to correct any errors. The NCTC is specifically asking to be exempted from these provisions.

According to this mornings Federal Register, the NCTC "serves as the primary organization in the United States Government for integrating and analyzing all intelligence pertaining to terrorism possessed or acquired by the United States Government (except purely domestic terrorism); conducts strategic operational planning and assigns lead operational responsibilities for counterterrorism activities; serves as the central and shared knowledge bank on known and suspected terrorists and international terror groups; provides all-source intelligence support to government-wide counterterrorism activities; ensures that agencies, as appropriate, have access to and receive intelligence needed to accomplish their assigned activities; and ensures that agencies have access to and receive all-source intelligence support needed to execute their counterterrorism plans or perform independent, alternative analysis."

In other words, any terrorist watch-list established by any government agency, will be stored and distributed by the NCTC. We presume that this includes airline no-fly lists.

The data included in the NCTC system includes "Individuals known or suspected to be or have been engaged in conduct constituting, in preparation for, in aid of, or related to terrorism or who have been linked in any manner to terrorism; individuals who offer information pertaining to terrorism and counterterrorism. This system will also contain information about individuals who have access to the system for counterterrorism purposes." This means that virtually anybody can have their data included in the system. If the exemption is granted, it also means that if you are misidentified as a terrorist, you have no right to see the data the government has collected on you, or to correct any errors.

It is not clear to ACCESS that the NCTC will be using the data is stores for computerized passenger prescreening, however we urge Congress to look at what the NCTC is doing very closely. If it is the intent of the NCTC to implement passenger or border prescreening systems that are computerized in nature, then it would also appear that the NCTC is attempting to circumvent the law and the wishes of Congress by implementing a system known as Secure Flight using another name. Congress has forbidden the implementation of Secure Flight until the government can show that it has passed a ten point privacy and accuracy test. One of the test points that Congress mandated was that passengers be given the opportunity to review any data stored on them, and correct any errors.

by Jim Malmberg

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