US reveals plans for global anti-terror databases

The Bush administration, hoping to overcome government’s failures to share sensitive counterterror information, unveiled plans on Tuesd...

The Bush administration, hoping to overcome government’s failures to share sensitive counterterror information, unveiled plans on Tuesday for a master database of ‘‘known and suspected terrorists’’ that would be used globally.

The FBI-run Terrorist Screening Centre will cull information from nearly a dozen watch lists to provide ‘‘one-stop shopping’’ for US consular officials, airport workers, border agents and police.

One of the key goals of the project is to avoid the type of communication breakdown that occurred prior to the 9/11 attacks, when the CIA placed two of the future hijackers on its watch list but failed to notify FBI and immigration authorities. By the time other agencies were informed in August 2001, Khalid Almihdhar and Nawaf Alhazmi were already in US to later hijack the flight that crashed into the Pentagon. The master watch list will be tapped by thousands of law enforcement officers and others — from small-town cops making traffic stops to airport workers to personnel managers checking applicants for jobs.

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Larry Mefford, head of counterterrorism and counterintelligence at FBI, said on Tuesday that the new database ‘‘represents an evolution in our ability to identify potential terrorists and stop them before they can do us harm.’’

The move was greeted with cautious optimism by many lawmakers and Homeland Security experts, who had criticised the administration for not creating the database sooner.

A General Accounting Office report released in April found that nine federal agencies maintain 12 watch lists that include information about suspected terrorists, but that technical and bureaucratic problems hindered the sharing of information between agencies even after the 9/11 attacks.

The new screening centre and its database are the latest government entities created by the Bush administration to monitor and thwart terrorists. They include the Terrorist Threat Integration Centre — a joint venture of CIA and FBI — and Foreign Terrorist Tracking Task Force, run by FBI.

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The new database, scheduled to be operational by December 1, will include names compiled by FBI, CIA, Homeland Security Department and State Department. Officials said they did not yet know how many names would be included on the new list, or even the databases from which the names would be drawn. The list will be controlled by FBI because of the bureau’s long experience in running a nationwide criminal database used by local police. (LAT-WP)

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