Replies

KC-For_freedom, this is one of the best *discussions* I’ve had here on FR in quite some time. It’s inspired me to do some research on exactly how the “no-fly list” is compiled.

It turns out that the “no-fly list” is actually a misnomer - it’s a really the Terrorist Screening Database of about 55,000 people, which is put together by the FBI based on a list of about 500,000 called TIDE.

TIDE is the database created after 9/11 to centralize information about known and suspected terrorists. It was based on its predecessor, known as TIPOFF, a State Department terrorism database, and is run out of the new National Counterterrorism Center.

Unlike most other government databases, TIDE mixes records on U.S. citizens with records on aliens. And unlike its predecessor, TIDE can store biometric information such as fingerprints and DNA records.

Unclassified portions of the TIDE database are used by the Federal Bureau of Investigation’s Terrorist Screening Center as well as the Transportation Security Administration for its no-fly list and selectee list, as well as many other government agencies. Each agency decides what criteria to use to accept a name from TIDE, which sets a very low bar on what information it will accept.

And it’s called the no-fly list because the airlines use it - they run the list against their computerized ticketing systems. They won’t sell a ticket to anyone on it, or let them board if they come to the gate with a ticket.

The “Christmas Day Bomber” was on TIDE, but not the TDS. He was actually profiled because he hit certain flags, and passed an airport interview at Schiphol - you can read about their security procedures:http://www.securitydirectornews.com/?p=article&id=sd200904ao5v37, He wasn’t nervous and struck his fellow passengers as normal - until he set himself on fire.

Here’s a very informative article from Scientific American about what could have stopped the guy:

http://www.scientificamerican.com/blog/post.cfm?id=what-could-have-stopped-the-christm-2009-12-2

Theses scanners may be expensive, but in the long run may may prove less costly than frisking every passenger or letting a plane be exploded.

It is apparent that the Constitutional perspective from which I am operating is unfamiliar to you. So before I compose my reply, I think it might be useful for you to understand somewhat my perspective on regulation. On that subject, I hold the first patent on a free market environmental management business method. I have also published two books, the first of which deals with it directly and the second which deals in an amazing mitigating strategy founded in Exodus 23:11 (don't bother looking; every single Bible out there is mis-translated from the Hebrew because of the manner in which the Sabbath for the Land was enforced during the Second Temple Period).

So, for the background history for which you asked, I am asking that you start with the first four articles on my site detailing how the seeds of the corporate mercantilist (fascist) governmental structure we have were hidden in the Constitution and its amendments, thence to be "interpreted" by the Supremes so that the pigs at the trough could cash in. All were well received here at FR.