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Some federal air marshals have been denied entry to flights they are assigned to protect when their names matched those on the terrorist no-fly list, and the agency says it's now taking steps to make sure their agents are allowed to board in the future. The problem with federal air marshals (FAM) names matching those of suspected terrorists on the no-fly list has persisted for years, say air marshals familiar with the situation. One air marshal said it has been “a major problem, where guys are denied boarding by the airline.” “In some cases, planes have departed without any coverage...

WASHINGTON - The FBI failed to put as many as 20 suspected terrorists on watch lists tailored to alert border agents and immigration officials because of a technology glitch, a Justice Department audit concluded Thursday. It was not immediately clear whether any of the suspects entered the United States as a result of the security lapse. Responding, the director of the FBI's Terrorist Screening Center acknowledged the gap, but said it soon will be fixed. The audit by Justice Department Inspector General Glenn A. Fine gave the FBI mixed reviews for its efforts over the last two years to clean...

For seven-year-old Javaid Iqbal, the holiday to Florida was a dream trip to reward him for doing well at school. But he was left in tears after he was stopped repeatedly at airports on suspicion of being a terrorist. The security alerts were triggered because Javaid shares his name with a Pakistani man deported from the US, prompting staff at three airports to question his family about his identity. The family even missed their flight home from the U.S. after officials cancelled their tickets in the confusion. And Javaid's passport now contains a sticker saying he has undergone highlevel security...

LOS ANGELES -- The Customs and Border Protection computer glitch that stranded more than 20,000 inbound international travelers at Los Angeles International Airport over the weekend recurred overnight, affecting about 1,700 inbound international passengers between 11:50 p.m. Sunday and 1:15 a.m. Monday, KNBC reported. More than 20,000 inbound international travelers were stranded over the weekend as a result of a computer crash that began Saturday afternoon. The computer system helps officials identify people who have been placed on a no-fly list and who are denied entry into the United States as security risks. KNBC's Jinah Kim said many of the...

Marshals Say They Must File One Surveillance Detection Report, Or SDR, Per Month DENVER -- You could be on a secret government database or watch list for simply taking a picture on an airplane. Some federal air marshals say they're reporting your actions to meet a quota, even though some top officials deny it. The air marshals, whose identities are being concealed, told 7NEWS that they're required to submit at least one report a month. If they don't, there's no raise, no bonus, no awards and no special assignments. "Innocent passengers are being entered into an international intelligence database as...

A Marine reservist returning home after eight months in Iraq was told he couldn't board a plane to Minneapolis because his name appeared on a watch list as a possible terrorist. Staff Sgt. Daniel Brown, who was in uniform and returning from the war Tuesday with 26 other Marine military police reservists, was delayed briefly in Los Angeles until the issue was cleared up.

Higgins Outraged When Sinn Fein Leader Stopped By Terrorist Watch List Mar 18, 2006 - A St. Patricks day crowd in South Buffalo didn’t get to hear the star attraction…he was detained in Washington after turning up on a terrorist watch list. Gerry Adams, leader of Sinn Fein was detained at Reagan National Airport. Sinn Fein is the political arm of the Irish Republican Army. Congressman Brian Higgins broke the news to hundreds of people celebrating the holiday at the Irish Center in South Buffalo. “We got a call tonight that Gerry Adams is being detained in Washington for in...

SAN FRANCISCO -- A lead FBI agent on Tuesday linked two local Muslim clerics to the Taliban and Osama bin Laden, contending the two were planning to set up a school near Lodi that would breed anti-American terrorism. The agent testified that Lodi clerics Shabbir Ahmed and Mohammed Adil Khan were prepared to relay information on terrorist plots from sources close to bin Laden. The allegations were dismissed by Ahmed's lawyer, who said the FBI and federal prosecutors have "made the whole thing up." The striking allegations came during an immigration hearing for Ahmed at which Immigration Judge Anthony Murry...

SAN FRANCISCO -- Two federal agencies agreed Tuesday to pay the American Civil Liberties Union $200,000 to settle a lawsuit brought to uncover information about the government's no-fly list, which bars suspected terrorists from airliners. The government will compensate the ACLU for attorneys' fees, settling a lawsuit initiated by two San Francisco peace activists who were detained while checking in for a flight three years ago. In October 2004, documents that the FBI and Transportation Security Administration provided in the lawsuit revealed the government has "two primary principles" but no "hard and fast" rules for deciding who gets put on...

A Lebanese-Canadian who was denied entry to Mexico after his name appeared on an American no-fly list is a former member of the militant group Hezbollah and was twice denied refugee status in Canada, according to media reports. Sami Kahil returned to Canada under police escort after being denied entry to Mexico on Jan. 7 during a vacation with his wife and two children. The United States would not let him travel through U.S. airspace because his name was on a no-fly list. Kahil, a 38-year-old resident of Mississauga near Toronto, expressed shock and anger at the time, and since...

Sarah Zapolsky was checking in for a flight to Italy when she discovered her 9-month-old son's name was on the United States' "no-fly" list of suspected terrorists. "We pointed down to the stroller, and he sat there and gurgled," Zapolsky said, recalling the incident at Dulles International Airport outside Washington in July. "The desk agent started laughing. ... She couldn't print us out a boarding pass because he's on the no-fly list." Zapolsky, who did not want her son's name made public, said she was initially amused by the mix-up. "But when I found out you can't actually get off...

US terror watchlist 80,000 names long Thu Dec 8,10:59 AM ET STOCKHOLM (AFP) - A watchlist of possible terror suspects distributed by the US government to airlines for pre-flight checks is now 80,000 names long, a Swedish newspaper reported, citing European air industry sources. The classified list, which carried just 16 names before the September 11, 2001 attacks in New York and Washington had grown to 1,000 by the end of 2001, to 40,000 a year later and now stands at 80,000, Svenska Dagbladet reported. Airlines must check each passenger flying to a US destination against the list, and contact...

WASHINGTON - Infants have been stopped from boarding planes at airports throughout the U.S. because their names are the same as or similar to those of possible terrorists on the government's "no-fly list." It sounds like a joke, but it's not funny to parents who miss flights while scrambling to have babies' passports and other documents faxed. Ingrid Sanden's 1-year-old daughter was stopped in Phoenix before boarding a flight home to Washington at Thanksgiving. "I completely understand the war on terrorism, and I completely understand people wanting to be safe when they fly," Sanden said. "But focusing the target a...

HALIFAX, Nova Scotia (AP) -- Canada is developing its own version of a no-fly list in an effort to prevent terrorist attacks and make air travel safer, the federal transport minister said Friday. The U.S. created a no-fly list in response to the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks on New York and Washington. The Canadian list could help satisfy American demands that Canadian airlines provide passenger lists for all flights that go through American airspace. Washington also has been pressuring Ottawa to take a greater role in protecting North American security, particularly along the 4,000-mile border with the United States....

WASHINGTON - They have served in our wars, they enforce and adjudicate our laws, they hold top secret security clearances and their entrepreneurial spirit helps energize the economy. Leading lives of ordinary distinction they have little in common, save this: when they fly they are pulled into a demeaning orbit of “suspect until proven innocent” because their names are on a government terrorist watch list. Every day thousands of airline passengers are wrongly identified as being on the Transportation Security Administration list of known or potential threats to commercial aviation. Actually, there are two lists. One is the hardcore "No...

PARIS (AP) - An Air France flight from Paris to Boston was being diverted to Maine on Thursday because U.S. authorities wanted to check a passenger, officials said. Flight 332 was diverted because a passenger had the same name as someone on the U.S. government's no-fly list, said Ann Davis, spokeswoman for the Transportation Security Administration in Boston. The plane was carrying 169 passengers, according to Air France. Air France and the U.S. Federal Aviation Administration were in contact with the flight, ``and there are no reports of unusual activity on board,'' Davis said. Flight 332 had been scheduled to...

Terror Suspect Gets Invitation To Have Dinner With President HARTFORD, Conn. -- A year after federal agents raided his home in a terrorism investigation, Muslim businessman Syed Maswood is lucky to get on an airplane without being detained and searched. But that didn't stop him from getting an invitation to dine with President Bush. Maswood, a nuclear engineer who has not been charged with any crime and has been trying for months to get his name off no-fly lists, received an invitation to serve as an honorary chairman at a Republican fundraiser with Bush in Washington next month. A Republican...

Air travelers with names similar to those on the "no-fly" list face continuing hassles at airports. The Transportation Security Administration plans to improve their screening system with a new program called Secure Flight.

NEWSWEEK: Two Saudi Passengers Aboard April 8 KLM Flight Had Attended the Same Arizona Flight School as a 9/11 Hijacker; Mexico City-Bound Flight Returned to Amsterdam - Some U.S. Counterterrorism Officials Fear Latin America May Become Staging Ground for Al Qaeda On April 8, KLM Flight 685 took off from Amsterdam, scheduled to pass through U.S. airspace after making a long swing over Canada on its way to Mexico City. By the time the Boeing 747 had finished its three-hour crossing of the Atlantic, U.S. Department of Homeland Security screeners were on high alert. The names of two Saudi passengers...

Fifteen minutes after KLM Flight 685 took off from Amsterdam for Mexico City on April 8, Mexican authorities forwarded the names of all the passengers to the U.S. Department of Homeland Security. The reason: the flight was scheduled to pass through U.S. airspace. by the time the Boeing 747 had finished its three-hour crossing of the Atlantic, Homeland Security screeners were on high alert. The names of two Saudi passengers aboard the KLM flight had begun producing "hits" on the screening center's lists of 70,000 suspect foreigners. The two Saudis, the database reported, were brothers and pilots who had attended...