The original content of Democracy Now! Headlines appears under the Creative
Commons BY-NC-ND 3.0 License (United States). For more, including their other
shows and media, visit www.democracynow.org.
July 24, 2014

Report: U.S. Adopts Broad Criteria for Terrorist Watchlist 
-----------------------------------------------------------


 
The Obama administration has expanded the national terrorist watchlist
system by approving broad guidelines over who can be targeted. Reporting
for The Intercept, Jeremy Scahill and Ryan Devereaux obtained the
government's secret watchlist from an intelligence source. The guidebook
says that to be a deemed a terrorist target, "irrefutable evidence or
concrete facts are not necessary." Both "known" and "suspected" suspects
are tracked, and terrorism is so broadly defined that it includes people
accused of damaging property belonging to the government or financial
institutions. Other factors that can justify inclusion include postings
on social media or having a relative already deemed a terrorist. The
guidebook's criteria also apply to the no-fly list and selectee list. In
a statement, Hina Shamsi of the American Civil Liberties Union said:
"Instead of a watchlist limited to actual, known terrorists … the
government is secretly blacklisting people as suspected terrorists and
giving them the impossible task of proving themselves innocent of a
threat they haven't carried out."

 

.