[CTRL] Homeland faulted for not unifying watch lists

[Jim Rarey]

-Caveat Lector- Not my job mon. Maybe this is why the Homeland Security cybersecurity chief resigned in disgust so abruptly last Thursday.-JR     http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/cgi-bin/PrintStory.pl?document_id=2002052242&zsection_id=268448413&slug=terrordig02&date=20041002 Saturday, October 02, 2004, 12:00 A.M. Pacific Permission to reprint or copy this article/photo must be obtained from The Seattle Times. Call 206-464-3113 or e-mail [EMAIL PROTECTED] with your request. Terrorism Notebook Homeland faulted for not unifying watch lists WASHINGTON — The government's effort to consolidate federal agencies' 12 terrorist watch lists into one has all but failed, partly because the Department of Homeland Security has abandoned its responsibility to take the lead on the project, according to a report released yesterday by the department's internal watchdog. The report by the Homeland Security Department's inspector general, Clark Kent Ervin, said the government's botching of the watch list assignment follows a disturbing pattern in the war on terrorism. "In the years since the September 11 terrorist attacks, just as in the past, the government has continued to implement solutions in an uncoordinated manner," the report said. "The manner through which the watch list consolidation has unfolded has not helped the nation break from its pattern." President Bush, Congress and many terrorism experts have for years considered the integration of the watch lists a crucial priority in the effort to identify terrorists as they try to enter the country, board airplanes and open bank accounts, and when they are pulled over for traffic stops. The inspector general was blunt in accusing his own department of refusing to take responsibility for the job of combining the 12 watch lists, an assignment he said belonged to the department under the law that established it two years ago. Homeland Security officials reject the assertion, which has also been made for years by members of Congress, that the department has been too passive in staking out its congressionally mandated role to take the lead in a number of intelligence analysis tasks such as merging watch lists. "Homeland Security spokesman Brian Roehrkasse pointed out that last year Bush gave the FBI and Justice Department, not the Department of Homeland Security, the job of establishing and running the Terrorist Screening Center, to blend the various watch lists. www.ctrl.org DECLARATION & DISCLAIMER ========== CTRL is a discussion & informational exchange list. Proselytizing propagandic screeds are unwelcomed. Substance—not soap-boxing—please! These are sordid matters and 'conspiracy theory'—with its many half-truths, mis- directions and outright frauds—is used politically by different groups with major and minor effects spread throughout the spectrum of time and thought. That being said, CTRLgives no endorsement to the validity of posts, and always suggests to readers; be wary of what you read. CTRL gives no credence to Holocaust denial and nazi's need not apply. Let us please be civil and as always, Caveat Lector. ======================================================================== Archives Available at: http://www.mail-archive.com/[EMAIL PROTECTED]/ <A HREF="">ctrl</A> ======================================================================== To subscribe to Conspiracy Theory Research List[CTRL] send email: SUBSCRIBE CTRL [to:] [EMAIL PROTECTED] To UNsubscribe to Conspiracy Theory Research List[CTRL] send email: SIGNOFF CTRL [to:] [EMAIL PROTECTED] Om