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Classified documents leaked from the National Counterterrorism Center and published Wednesday reveal almost half of the nearly 700,000 terrorist suspects included on the government’s terrorist watchlist have no connection to known terrorists. According to the documents obtained by The Intercept, out of the 680,000 people included on the list, 280,000 have ”no recognized terrorist group affiliation,” making it the largest category of any other on the list of ”known or suspected terrorists.” The next-largest specific terrorist organization on the list is al-Qaida in Iraq, with only 73,189 people. (RELATED: Newly Released Document Reveals How The US Government Defines A Terrorist)...

According to statistics provided by high-ranking FBI sources, more than 98 percent of those individuals on the federal government's sole Terrorist Watchlist1 are associated with international terrorism (foreign nationals or Americans attacking Americans based on international extremist ideologies). The remainder are associated with domestic terrorism the FBI defines as "Americans attacking Americans based on U.S.-based extremist ideologies."2However, despite a growing national discussion of homegrown violent extremism, it is important to put that discussion in context: Today, less than 2 percent of all watchlisted persons are U.S. citizens. On any given day, there are about 550,000 individuals on the Watchlist: approximately...

247 On U.S. Terror Watch List Bought Guns In 2010 By JASON RYAN April 28, 2011 More than 200 individuals who were on the federal terrorism watch list passed background checks and were allowed to buy guns in 2010, according to a new government review. A review by the Government Accountability Office determined that 247 people on the watch list bought guns last year, and also showed that between 2004 and 2009, more than nine out of ten individuals on the list who tried to buy guns succeeded. "It defies common sense," said Sen. Lautenberg, D.-New Jersey, who requested the...

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.

matthew.chayes@newsday.com Quick Summary Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand and her former ardent foe, Rep. Carolyn McCarthy (D-Mineola), announced they were teaming up to sponsor legislation to combat gun trafficking. Talk about a thaw. In the latest example of politics making for the unlikeliest bedfellows, hugs, mutual praise and chitchat punctuated a news conference between Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand, a former darling of the National Rifle Association, and her former ardent foe, Rep. Carolyn McCarthy (D-Mineola), the stridently pro-gun-control congresswoman whose husband was killed in the mass shooting aboard the Long Island Rail Road. Earlier this year, McCarthy had threatened to derail Gillibrand's upcoming...

Surprisingly the National Rifle Association (NRA) may be the cause of this problem. A new Government Accountability Office report provides us with the startling news that an FBI investigation proved 865 of 963 or 90% of those listed on the Homeland Security “Terrorist Watch List” had no trouble legally purchasing guns and even explosives! Felons, illegal aliens and drug addicts can’t buy guns or explosives presumably because they are a danger to our safety, yet those on the “Terrorist Watch List”, and thereby deemed extremely dangerous, are having little trouble legally buy weapons to kill us with. Currently there is...

Toledo, Ohio native Zak Reed is tired of being stopped and detained at the Canadian border every time he tries to drive home. "I don't feel very welcome in my home at all," Reed tells CBS News. "In fact, I feel like I am not wanted in my country any more." Last month, for the ninth time in the past year, Reed was held in custody during a routine border crossing across Detroit's Ambassador Bridge, en route to Toledo, about an hour from there. The procedure has become a familiar drill for Reed. "They swipe the passport, they double take...

BLAIRSTOWN, N.J. -- A man whose name is on a terrorism watch list and suspected of taking photos of a bridge between Pennsylvania and New Jersey was questioned and released after authorities determined he did nothing wrong. The man had pulled over to the side of the road on Monday, the day before the sixth anniversary of the Sept. 11, 2001, terror attacks. State police responded to a call reporting that a man who appeared to be Middle Eastern was photographing the Interstate 80 bridge over the Delaware River. New Jersey State Police Capt. Al Della Fave said the man,...

If you owe Child Support and other charges under child support title YOU are NOW on the FBI/Homeland Security Terrorist Watch List.... "...The Terrorist screening center is an FBI operation which maintains a constantly updated watch list of people suspected of being terrorists, or terrorist associates...."

NEW YORK (CBS) A routine traffic stop leads to the arrest of a terror watch list suspect in our area. What's more, CBS 2 has learned 39-year-old Sami Ibrahim Isa Ardel Hadi had a valid I.D. to work as a painter on the George Washington Bridge. Hadi was arrested yesterday afternoon by Bergen County Police, say sources, on Route 46 by Ridgefield Park. He was stopped for tailgating. When the officer called-in the North Carolina plates of Hadi's car, the Bergen County Police report indicates the officer was told Hadi was on several federal agency terror watch lists, and there...

WASHINGTON -- Rep. John Lewis is known for his nonviolent protests during the civil rights movement, but when he visits airports, he's treated like a suspected terrorist. Lewis himself isn't on a Department of Homeland Security terrorist watch list, but airline attendants have told him his name is. That has caused him months of hassle and embarrassment, preventing him from using an electronic ticket to board a plane and subjecting him to extra identification checks and baggage searches. The Georgia Democrat revealed the mix up Friday in an interview with The Associated Press, a day after Sen. Edward M. Kennedy,...