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The mother of the Boston Marathon bombing suspects was added to a federal terrorism database about 18 months before the attack, government officials said Thursday. Two government officials said the CIA had Zubeidat Tsarnaeva’s name listed along with that of her son Tamerlan Tsarnaev after Russia contacted the agency in 2011 with concerns that the two were religious militants about to travel to Russia. The officials spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak publicly about the case. Being in the classified TIDE database does not automatically mean a person is suspected by the U.S. of...

<p>BOSTON (AP) - The mother of the Boston Marathon bombing suspects had been added to a federal terrorism database about 18 months before the attack, government officials said Thursday.</p>

The CIA pushed to have one of the suspected Boston Marathon bombers placed on a U.S. counterterrorism watch list more than a year before the attacks, U.S. officials said Wednesday. Russian authorities contacted the CIA in the fall of 2011 and raised concerns that Tamerlan Tsarnaev, who was killed last week in a confrontation with police, was seen as an increasingly radical Islamist who could be planning to travel overseas.

Photos of a visit Michelle Obama is alleged to have had with Abdul Rahman Alharbi — the Saudi national previously considered to be “person of interest,” “armed and dangerous,” and worthy of inclusion on a watch list — may have appeared on a Facebook page associated with an English language school in Boston or students who share a common bond of going to English schools in the area. The above photo montage, which was posted at FreeRepublic today, originally appears on the Facebook page for “EC Boston Saudi’s.” EC Boston most likely refers to the EC Boston English Language School....

(Reuters) - The name of one of the Boston Marathon bombing suspects, Tamerlan Tsarnaev, was listed on the U.S. government's highly classified central database of people it views as potential terrorists. But the list is so vast that this did not mean authorities automatically kept close tabs on him, sources close to the bombing investigation said on Tuesday. Tsarnaev, 26, was killed in a police shootout early Friday, while his younger brother Dzhokhar, 19, was captured later that day. Prosecutors say the brothers, ethnic Chechens who had been living in the United States for more than a decade, planted two...

Hot words/terms on the Department of Homeland Security  online social media watch-list can get you monitored... According to a DHS document, the snoopy agency is maintaining an arm-long list of what they call 'Items Of Interest', categorized by subject, i.e. 'Domestic Security', 'Southwest Border Violence', etc. These are the specific words/terms contractors have been hired to monitor online, abbreviated to 'I.O.I' by the DHS. And while you might expect them to keep an eye on those posting more than a passing mention of terms like 'Al Qaida', 'weapons cache', 'jihad', 'massacre', according to the DHS order far more mundane/widely-utilized words can also...

WASHINGTON — U.S. Rep. Sandy Adams of Orlando is taking heat from gun control advocates for voting against a measure that would bar those on the FBI’s terrorist watch list from purchasing firearms. On Thursday, she and other Republicans on the House Judiciary committee killed a proposal that would give authority to the U.S. Attorney General to stop someone from buying weapons if the suspect “has engaged in, or is suspected of engaging in, terrorism” according to the measure’s author, U.S. Rep. Mike Quigley, D-Illinois. The amendment — which was to be attached to a larger bill to extend certain...

Both this article and WLS-AM radio reporting that a "moderate" Muslim cleric was invited to the Pentagon on the heels of 9/11. He is now, per WLS-AM on the kill/capture list. Is there such thing as a "moderate Muslim cleric"? Taqiyya is alive and well, and present at the Pentagon.

NOTE The following text is a quote: DHS performs 100 percent watchlist matching for domestic flights Washington, D.C.—Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Secretary Janet Napolitano today announced that 100 percent of passengers traveling within the United States and its territories are now being checked against terrorist watchlists through the Transportation Security Administration's (TSA) Secure Flight program—a major step in fulfilling a key 9/11 Commission recommendation. Before Secure Flight, airlines conducted passenger watchlist checking. “Secure Flight fulfills a key recommendation of the of the 9/11 Commission Report, enabling TSA to screen passengers directly against government watchlists using passenger name, date of...

A Pakistani man was detained at the U.S. Embassy in Chile yesterday after field tests detected explosive residue on his hands and personal items, the State Department said today. A U.S. official tells ABC News the man had been recently added to a U.S. terror watch list, and as a result his U.S. visa was in the process of being revoked. In accordance with U.S. law, the man had been notified of the intention to revoke his U.S. visa and he was at the embassy to discuss the matter.

CBS News has learned that Senator Charles Grassley (R-IA) is launching an inquiry into how Faisal Shahzad became a naturalized U.S. citizen in 2009 despite multiple law enforcement investigations into his background over the last 10 years. Grassley sent Department of Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano a letter today asking for the "Alien" file for Shahzad and his family members and for everyone who has been a reference or a sponsor for the terror suspect. An Alien or "A" file includes visa and travel history, financial and personal information as well as any derogatory information from law enforcement. Grassley wants...

The Transportation Security Administration plans to clear 10,000 workers for access to secret intelligence, Fox News has learned.

WASHINGTON (AFP) – US spy agencies in recent months picked up clues pointing to an Al-Qaeda attack out of Yemen and were moving to disrupt it, but a crucial piece of information fell through the cracks. Intelligence officials describe a trail of warning signs for the botched Christmas Day attack on a US-bound airliner dating back to August, when the National Security Agency reportedly intercepted chatter among Al-Qaeda operatives in Yemen. The NSA, which runs an elaborate global eavesdropping operation, heard conversations from Al-Qaeda figures describing a plot to recruit a Nigerian man for a terrorist attack, the New York...

/snip/It's just a typo, and in fact, the DNI fixed it on its webpage shortly after sending reporters the statement. But it's an awkward slip-up on the same day the White House admitted that a typo prevented the State Department from realizing it had granted a visa to Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab. (Someone spelled his name wrong during a search.)

Bedford County Deputy Jeff Quarles stopped a tractor trailer on 501 between Big Island and Coleman Falls in October. During the routine safety inspection, Quarles ran the driver’s information and discovered the man is on a terrorist watch list. Quarles could not arrest the man because he hadn’t broken any laws. Quarles was able to collect information the FBI can use to track the driver.

There's a massive conflict of interest -- along with ideological problems -- in Barack Obama's questionable pick to head the review of the failing watch-list "system" that carelessly allowed terrorist Abdulmutallab to get on board the flight to Detroit to try and blow it up. The questionable pick is one John Brennan, and here are his two biggest flaws as they relate to his ability to be able to conduct a competent and ethical review of the watch-list "system."

The White House is standing by Obama's pick to conduct his watchlist review, White House counterterrorism advisor John Brennan, though he served as interim director of one intel agency under review, and more recently, served as president and CEO of a company on contract with the NCTC to do watchlisting, POLITICO's Carol E. Lee and I report in a story today: President Barack Obama promised a “thorough review” of the government’s terrorist watch-list system after a Nigerian man reported to US government officials by his father to have radicalized and gone missing last month was allowed to board a Northwest...

After Umar Farouk Abdul Mutallab was arrested and placed in U.S. custody in Detroit, he told authorities that his explosive device was made of powdered explosives and had been taped to his leg. He said he ignited the IED by injecting a syringe filled with chemicals into the powdered mixture. But eyewitness Jasper Schuringa contradicted that report by stating that the man had an explosive device in his lap. Rep. Peter King, the senior Republican on the House of Representatives Homeland Security Committee, said the IED was “fairly sophisticated” and that the device “appears to be different from what we’ve...

Despite mounting evidence of a sophisticated international plot to bring down a U.S. airliner on Christmas Day, the man charged in the thwarted attack — who was on U.S. officials' radar for years — was never considered a sufficient threat to keep from flying. The alleged Christmas Day terrorist had been in one of the U.S. government's largest terror databases since November, when his father brought him to the attention of embassy officials in Nigeria. But Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab came to the attention of intelligence officials months before that, according to a U.S. government official involved in the investigation. The...

Despite mounting evidence of a sophisticated international plot to bring down a U.S. airliner on Christmas Day, the man charged in the thwarted attack — who was on U.S. officials' radar for years — was never considered a sufficient threat to keep from flying. The alleged Christmas Day terrorist had been in one of the U.S. government's largest terror databases since November, when his father brought him to the attention of embassy officials in Nigeria. But Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab came to the attention of intelligence officials months before that, according to a U.S. government official involved in the investigation. The...

US authorities have known for months that the al Qaeda-linked Nigerian who tried to blow up a passenger jet before it landed in Detroit had terrorist ties -- and his own father even alerted them to his extremist behavior, it was revealed yesterday. Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab, 23, who was charged in federal court with attempting to destroy Northwest Flight 253 on Christmas Day, remained hospitalized with burns suffered in the failed attempt. He was read the charges at a hearing, where he appeared smiling in a medical gown and a wheelchair. Several key details came to light yesterday: * Al...

sarc/ Imagine being at DHS or the US State Department and receiving a letter like this: ATTENTION: Dear Sir/Madam in United States Department of Homeland Security, Allow me to introduce myself. I am Dr. Umaru Abdul Mutallab. I am the retired chairman of the First Bank of Nigeria. I have the courage to Crave indulgence for this important warning believing that you will never let me down or those travelers in your great country, especially to the City of Detroit, either now or in the future. I am concerned very much over the welfare of my beloved son Mr.Abdul Farouk...

We now know that Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab (spellings vary; all are phonetically derived from the Arabic) has been on a U.S. government list of persons with known or suspected ties to terrorist organizations for at least the past two years. This apparently has led the oh-so-cerebral Obama administration to engage in a bit of soul-searching: President Barack Obama's aides are pondering how the government is using terror watch lists after the botched airliner attack in Detroit on Christmas Day. Obama's national security and policy advisers are asking questions such as: How is the intelligence community integrating itself? Did the assumptions...

The man law enforcement officials identified as the suspect in Friday's attempted attack on a overseas flight as it approached Detroit, Umar Farouk Abdul Mutallab, is a Nigerian who was reportedly on a U.S. government terror watch list but did not appear on a "no-fly" list. Mutallab, 23, reportedly told investigators he had links to al-Qaida. The Northwest Airlines flight from Amsterdam carried 278 passengers and a crew of 11. An U.S. intelligence official said Mutallab tried unsuccessfully to detonate an explosive mix of powder and liquid. He was quickly subdued by other passengers. NBC News, citing anti-terrorism officials, said...

...As reported, in part, at the NY Times: “WASHINGTON — The Justice Department has concluded that the Obama administration can lawfully pay the community group Acorn for services provided under contracts signed before Congress enacted a law banning the government from providing funds to the group. “The department’s conclusion, laid out in a recently disclosed five-page memorandum from David Barron, the acting assistant attorney general for the Office of Legal Counsel, adds a new wrinkle to a sharp political debate over the antipoverty group’s activities and recent efforts to distance the government from it. “Mr. Barron said he had based...

Both Men Arrested During 'Operation Rolling Thunder' SPARTANBURG, S.C. -- The Spartanburg County Sheriff called a week-long special traffic enforcement effort named Operation Rolling Thunder a success. Spartanburg County was just one of several agencies from across the state that took part in the week-long enhanced traffic effort along I-85 and I-26. Some of the people pulled over during the effort were wanted on serious charges.

A "Law-Abiding Combat Veteran," Who Converted To Islam, May Lose His Job At A Commercial Airline: A commercial airline pilot and convert to Islam who says his name is on the U.S. government's secret terrorist watch list has fought back, filing a federal lawsuit against the Homeland Security Department and various other federal agencies. Erich Scherfen says that unless his name is removed from the list, he faces losing not only his job but the ability to make a living in his chosen profession. "My livelihood depends on being off this list," Scherfen told reporters Tuesday after his lawyers filed...

The secret government “Terrorist Watch List,” reportedly already swelled to more than 1.1 million names, will have an addendum, if gun control advocates in Congress have their way. This new addendum — also to be cloaked in secrecy — would empower the U.S. Attorney General to deny a person the ability to exercise their Second Amendment rights to purchase a firearm. While it is not surprising that some members of Congress are again using fear of terrorism to implement a gun-control agenda, the openly unconstitutional legislative language proponents are employing is troubling. Sen. Frank Lautenberg (D-N.J.) is leading the effort...

Cannot post. Here is the link:http://usatoday.printthis.clickability.com/pt/cpt?action=cpt&title=Terrorist+watch+list+hits+1+million+-+USATODAY.com&expire=&urlID=34661486&fb=Y&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.usatoday.com%2Fnews%2Fwashington%2F2009-03-10-watchlist_N.htm&partnerID=1660

European human rights watchdogs are now watching Belgian democracy closely after the move by Flemish local authorities. The Council of Europe has "opened a monitoring procedure on local democracy" fuelling a row between Dutch speaking and francophone Belgians that has threatened the existence of Belgium. Flemish regional authorities have blocked three French-speaking mayors from taking up public office since they were elected in January 2007 in the Brussels suburbs of Linkebeek, Wezembeek-Oppem and Kraainem. Marino Keulen, the Flemish Interior Minister responsible for the ban, remained defiant and announced he will stick by his decision to outlaw the elected mayors....

WASHINGTON (AFP) - A watch list of suspected and known terrorists, compiled by the US authorities, has ballooned and contains more than one million names, the American Civil Liberties Union said Monday. The ACLU said it derived that figure from a Justice Department report on the FBI's Terrorist Screening Center, which consolidates terrorist watch list information. The Center "had over 700,000 names in its database as of April 2007 and that the list was growing by an average of over 20,000 records per month," according to a report by the Justice Department Inspector General, the rights group said. "By those...

WASHINGTON: The name of the Justice Department's former top criminal prosecutor has turned up on the U.S. government's terror watch list. The former assistant attorney general, Jim Robinson, joined with the American Civil Liberties Union on Monday in calling for elimination of the list, which is designed to identify suspected terrorists. Critics say the list has caused thousands of innocent people to be questioned or searched. The rights organization estimates that one million records will have been added to the list by the end of July. Chad Kolton, a spokesman for the Terrorist Screening Center, which maintains the list, says...

A WATCH list of suspected and known terrorists, compiled by the US authorities, has ballooned and contains more than one million names, the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) said today. The ACLU said it derived the figure from a Justice Department report on the FBI's Terrorist Screening Centre, which consolidates terrorist watch list information. The centre "had over 700,000 names in its database as of April 2007 and that the list was growing by an average of over 20,000 records per month", according to a report by the Justice Department Inspector-General, the rights group said. "By those numbers, the list...

"One man went into a Glen Burnie, Md., Toyota dealership to buy a car, only to be told that a name check revealed he was on a U.S. Treasury Department watchlist of suspected terrorists and drug dealers. He had to be "checked for tattoos," he said, to make sure he wasn't the suspect. An 18-year-old found he could not open an account to accept credit card payments for his fledgling technology consulting business because his name was similar to that of a Libyan official on the watchlist. A former U.S. Navy officer who served in the Persian Gulf and whose...

ACLU calls out US over 'absurd bloating' of terror watch list More that 900,000 people are currently listed as suspected terrorists on the US government's "do not fly" list, and that number will grow to beyond 1 million by summer, says the American Civil Liberties Union.More.... U.S. Terror Watch List Surpasses 900,000 Names, ACLU Estimates The government's centralized terrorist watch list passed the 900,000 name mark this month, according to the ACLU, which estimated the new total by relying on Congressional testimony from the fall that the sprawling list was growing by 20,000 names a month.More....Terrorist Watchlist Database BalloonsWASHINGTON, DC...

Two men on the "national terrorist watch list" have been turned over to the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) following a routine traffic stop, according to Patagonia Police Chief Ed Dobbertin. Dobbertin said that on Feb. 12, between 9-9:30 a.m., he was patrolling State Route 82 near milepost 28 when he pulled over a car for a traffic violation. "There were just indicators that something wasn't right with the vehicle," said Dobbertin. "We searched. My dog indicated that there was the presence of narcotic odor in the vehicle," he added. Dobbertin said he then called Border Patrol to assist. "They...

The US terrorist watch list includes more than 755,000 names and continues to grow, the US Government Accountability Office said Wednesday. The list exploded from fewer than 20 entries before the September 11, 2001 attacks to more than 150,000 just a few months later, after the Terrorist Screening Center (TSC) was created in December 2003 to keep tabs on terrorist suspects, according to the GAO, the non-partisan investigative arm of Congress. Including known pseudonyms of suspects, the list's 755,000 names as of May 2007 represents, in fact, around 300,000 people, according to TSC estimates. Tasked with gathering data on individuals...

Manila: The Philippines has put rights activists, including a former US attorney-general and members of church groups on an immigration blacklist, a rights group said on Friday. At least 504 people from 50 countries were included in the blacklist labelled "Al Qaida/Taliban Link" imposed between July and August, Human Rights Watch said. Ramsey Clark, a former US attorney general, is among those banned from entry. The list also includes left-wing activists from Europe, Australia and the United States. A senior immigration official confirmed that the blacklist existed, adding only that most of the names on it were "leftists". Human Rights...

An estimated 75 percent of applicants for immigrant benefits - green cards, work visas, and a host of other documents - at a major federal processing center were not screened through the U.S. terrorism watch list over the past four years, the Daily Bulletin has learned. The error - on nearly 3 million applications dating to 2002 - was confirmed by U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) officers at the National Benefits Center in Lee's Summit, Mo., near Kansas City. The center is one of several facilities across the country that process foreign applications for immigrant benefits. Numerous Department of...

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.

POTENTIAL terrorists and war criminals entering Australia will face heightened scrutiny, under an improved "watch list" to be set up this year. The Department of Immigration and Federal Government security agencies are establishing a control centre to administer the Movement Alert List, which places a red flag next to the names of criminals, people with terrorist connections, and other undesirables. Everyone applying for a visa to come to Australia will have their name checked against the database, which contains more than 400,000 people of interest. They include terrorists, serious criminals, those involved in organised immigration rackets, people who have previously...

The Republican revolt over Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger's appointment of Susan Kennedy as his chief of staff is looking serious. The influential California Republican Assembly group says the choice of a lifelong Democrat and former aide to Gov. Gray Davis was so appalling that the state GOP should rescind its endorsement of Schwarzenegger's 2006 re-election bid. But the more one learns about Kennedy – for example, she voted for all of the governor's initiatives in the Nov. 8 special election – the less she seems to be the leftist apparatchik her critics depict. Republicans should look to the governor's pending policy...

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...

Los Angeles Unified and eight other Los Angeles County school districts were placed Thursday on the state's financial watch list after overspending their budgets in 2003-04. LAUSD -- the nation's second-largest district -- made its first appearance on the list predicting "impending financial problems" after it overspent its $5 billion budget by $253 million. The Annual Financial Report of California K-12 Schools, released by State Controller Steve Westly, points to a dire future for public school finances and warns that nearly 80 districts may not be able to pay their bills in two years. The Los Angeles School District said...

Wed 13 Apr 2005 9:47am (UK) Naval Security Reviewed over Ship Intruder By Ben Mitchell, PA A review of security at a major UK naval base has been carried out after an alleged intruder was found on board a visiting US aircraft carrier, the Royal Navy said today. The alleged trespasser was discovered on board the USS Harry S Truman, anchored off Stokes Bay, Gosport, Hants, on Saturday night during a week-long visit to Portsmouth Naval Base. A navy spokesman said the man had allegedly passed through both Royal Navy security and US Navy security to get on board passenger...

By The Associated Press(3/09/05 - HOUSTON) — A woman whose arrest at a South Texas airport with a mutilated passport raised terrorism concerns was deported Tuesday to South Africa, never having faced terrorism charges. Farida Goolam Mahomed Ahmed, 49, was convicted of criminal charges of illegal entry into the United States, making false statements to federal authorities and misuse of an altered South African passport. She was sentenced Dec. 7 to the time she was held on the charges and was ordered deported Dec. 22. Ahmed waived her right to appeal the judge's decision. She was turned over to...

LONDON — The singer formerly known as Cat Stevens will headline a fund-raising concert in Indonesia for victims of the Asian tsunami. Yusuf Islam will have top billing at Monday's concert in Jakarta that will raise money for victims from Indonesia's Aceh province, according to his Web site. Islam has composed a new song, Indian Ocean, and recently recorded it with musicians including A.R. Rahman, Magne Furuholmen and Neil Primrose. The song will be released in February to raise money for children orphaned by the Dec. 26 disaster. "Like everyone else, I was so shaken by the enormity of...

Feds divert plane to Keys, remove man on watch list BY SCOTT FUSARO Citizen Staff A jetliner en route from Colombia to Atlanta landed at Naval Air Station Key West Sunday afternoon where federal officials pulled from the plane a passenger believed to be on a government "no-fly" list. Federal officials were not releasing the identity of the passenger whom FBI and U.S. Customs agents continued questioning after the plane resumed its journey to Atlanta just after 4 p.m., according to officials. "The name was a positive match on the TSA's no-fly list," said Transportation Security Administration spokeswoman Lauren Stover....

WASHINGTON - A plane bound for Washington from London was diverted to Maine on Tuesday after passenger Yusuf Islam — formerly known as pop singer Cat Stevens (news) — showed up on a U.S. watch list, federal officials said. United Airlines Flight 919 had already taken off from London en route to Dulles International Airport when the match was made between the passenger and the watch list, said Nico Melendez, a spokesman for the Transportation Security Administration. The plane was met by federal agents at Maine's Bangor International Airport around 3 p.m., Melendez said. Federal officials, speaking on condition of...