Trump's secret watchlist

[Chris0nllyn]

The Trump administration has created a new and expansive national security watchlist that, for the first time since 9/11, includes Americans who have no connection to terrorism. The new watchlist, authorized through a classified Attorney General order and launched in 2017, is expected to grow to well over one million names. It also allows the government to track and monitor Americans without a warrant, even when there is no evidence they're breaking the law.

The new Transnational Organized Crime (TOC) watchlist is modeled after the Terrorist Screening Database, which was created in the wake of the September 11, 2001 attacks as a single repository of terrorist suspects. Over the years, that watchlist has grown to include 1.2 million people, among whom are roughly 6,000 Americans that the FBI associates with domestic terrorism.

Like the terrorist watchlist, the new TOC watchlist authorizes agencies to collect information even when there is no evidence of a crime or intent to commit a crime. This authority circumvents criminal justice requirements for due process, equal protection under the law, and freedom of association under the Constitution.

Three days into the new administration, the FBI issued a technical modification to the National Crime Information Center Operating Manual, notifying users that the "Known or Appropriately Suspected Terrorist File" was being renamed the "Known or Suspected Terrorist File."

Weeks later, President Trump unveiled Executive Order 13773, which mandated all federal agencies to make dismantling TOCs a "high priority." Then on October 4, the president signed National Security Presidential Memorandum 7, which supplanted "transnational crime" language altogether with a new and broader focus: national security threat actors (NSTAs).

In May 2019, President Trump further signed an additional Executive Order that broadened the definition of a transnational criminal from "a foreign person" to "a group of persons that includes one or more foreign persons."

The terrorist watchlist, for example, upon which the TOC watchlist is based, has a reasonable-suspicion standard to add people, but it also has what's called a "secret exception." In September 2019, U.S. District Judge Anthony Trenga affirmed that "an individual's placement into the [terrorist watchlist] does not require any evidence that the person engaged in criminal activity, committed a crime, or will commit a crime in the future."

A senior career intelligence official told Newsweek that the Trump administration recently released classified guidance that details the protocols governing the TOC watchlist. The official says those new policies, coupled with the "one or more foreign persons" criteria, could result in tens of thousands of Americans being watchlisted—many added simply because they visit or frequent certain foreign websites and social media hubs.

https://www.newsweek.com/trumps-sec...ack-americans-without-needing-warrant-1504772

 

[Kyle]

 

[itsbob]

So no Presidential candidates, or President elects?

Obama set the bar kind of high before we should care.

 

[vraiblonde]

Oh, you mean like Obama did when he was President?

 

[DaSDGuy]

https://www.newsweek.com/trumps-sec...ack-americans-without-needing-warrant-1504772

Executive orders and memorandums are not secret and neither is the watchlist. Try an honest headline next time. You're not cnn, are you?

 

[Monello]

Taking a page out of the obama playbook.

I guess now that President Trump is doing it, we are suppose to be concerned.

 

[Louise]

I want to know if the American people will see through the hypocrisy and vote to keep the USA free. I hope so.

 

[Chris0nllyn]

Oh, you mean like Obama did when he was President?

Yes.

And Bush.

Taking a page out of the obama playbook.

I guess now that President Trump is doing it, we are suppose to be concerned.

"We" were concerned when Obama did it, too.




So, what's the answer here? Just throw our hands up and say "Well, the last guy did it." Then, in the next post, complain about how state COVID lock downs are something out of a police state?

 

[Gilligan]

Dang. And here I am only a few weeks away from my induction ceremony, joining the Sinaloan Cartel. Hope I'm not on that list.

 

[SkylarkTempest]

Yes.

And Bush.



"We" were concerned when Obama did it, too.




So, what's the answer here? Just throw our hands up and say "Well, the last guy did it." Then, in the next post, complain about how state COVID lock downs are something out of a police state?

Chris, you're trying to have a fair-minded, substantive argument about principles and policy. They're just trying to defend their team and whine about fairness.

 

[Hijinx]

Yes.

And Bush.



"We" were concerned when Obama did it, too.




So, what's the answer here? Just throw our hands up and say "Well, the last guy did it." Then, in the next post, complain about how state COVID lock downs are something out of a police state?

I must have missed those posts,when you complained about Obama
and who is "we"

 

[Chris0nllyn]

I must have missed those posts,when you complained about Obama
and who is "we"

Right. Just like you conveniently missed this post.
https://forums.somd.com/threads/iran’s-al-quds-force-chief-killed-u-s-foreign-policy-establishment-hardest-hit.351508/page-2#post-6087361

I wouldn't expect you to remember, but we posted in the same thread about it when Obama was President. You can stop the "You didn't do it when Obama was President thing".
https://forums.somd.com/threads/problems-with-no-fly-list-gun-bans.305576/

 

[Hijinx]

Right. Just like you conveniently missed this post.
https://forums.somd.com/threads/iran’s-al-quds-force-chief-killed-u-s-foreign-policy-establishment-hardest-hit.351508/page-2#post-6087361

I wouldn't expect you to remember, but we posted in the same thread about it when Obama was President. You can stop the "You didn't do it when Obama was President thing".
https://forums.somd.com/threads/problems-with-no-fly-list-gun-bans.305576/

Weak, Very weak. An you went to so much trouble too.