U.S. terrorist list hits 1 mln names
WASHINGTON, July 14 (Xinhua) — The U.S. terrorist watch list now has 1 million names on it, partly due to the loose criteria for adding names to the list, a rights group said Monday.
“America’s new million record watch list is a perfect symbol for what’s wrong with this administration’s approach to security,” Barry Steinhardt, a spokesman for American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU), said in a statement.
“It’s unfair, out-of-control, a waste of resources, treats the rights of the innocent as an afterthought, and is a very real impediment in the lives of million of travelers in this country,” he added.
The Inspector General of the Justice Department reported last year that the Terrorist Screening Center had over 700,000 names as of April 2007 and that the list was growing by an average of 20,000 names per month.