What’s worse? They spelled name differently, and missed him, or they didn’t track him when he got back?
Is that a trick question? LOL
Actually, I did those checks for the bureau for several years following 9/11. First of all, US Customs, INS, and Border Patrol would be much better equipped to handle them. But you know how it is with Federal agencies and funding,— a designation like this is more grounds to request a bigger budget-—.
The databases that are queried are not really designed for your average terrorist. Too much emphasis on NAME. I tried to explain to the people I did these checks for— if you don’t have info other than “name” “dob”, the results will be worthless; because #1 their name was probably originated in another, entirely different ALPHABET, and therefore there are 47 different ways to spell it in our alphabet. #2 most ME types have more names than will fit in the “name” field of our database. I’ve seen subjects who had 23 proper names, all of which were legal. Go look up arabic naming conventions; it’ll blow your mind. #3 most of the people doing these name checks are motivated to get negative responses. IOW, a “hit” is going to ruin their whole day and possibly cause them to miss lunch.