Washington D.C. — The Senate Select
Committee on Intelligence approved U.S. Senator Ron Wyden's (D-Ore.)
proposal to create a national Terrorist Identification Classification
System. Wyden, a member of the committee, introduced a bill this week
to create a centralized database of known or suspected terrorists
and terrorist groups, with information drawn from the entire U.S.
intelligence community and accessible to Federal, State and local
law enforcement agencies. The Intelligence Committee formally endorsed
Wyden's proposal for the Terrorist Identification Classification System,
or "TIC List," and included it in the Senate Intelligence authorization
bill, which unanimously cleared the committee yesterday.
"As America works to stop terrorism in its tracks, our intelligence
agencies must share as much information as they can about those
who would threaten Americans and American interests," said Wyden.
"Terror suspects are a lot more likely to be caught if every cop
on the beat knows who we're looking for."
Press reports indicate Mohammed Atta, ringleader of the September
11 attacks, and another hijacker were stopped in separate incidents
by Florida and Maryland State Police who were unaware the two were
terrorist suspects. The U.S. Department of State knew when Atta
was granted a visa to enter the United States. In the following
months, various U.S. agencies were apparently aware that Atta and
others were receiving money from known associates of Osama bin Laden
and taking flying lessons. However, with little or no information
sharing between those agencies and departments, patterns that might
have signaled the terrorists attacks were not spotted.
Wyden's legislation requires the Director of Central Intelligence
(DCI) to establish and maintain a counterterrorism intelligence
data system to both store and retrieve the identities and biographic
information of known or suspected terrorists, and known or suspected
terrorist organizations, and ensure the timely and thorough availability
of this information for those responsible for protecting our citizenry
and nation against the threat of terrorism. The DCI, who oversees
the CIA and intelligence gathering at the FBI, Department of Defense,
National Security Agency and other agencies, would be charged with
ensuring that the list is drawn from every available source in the
Intelligence community, and would review the database yearly to
make certain it is as complete as possible.
A key provision of the Wyden bill is a requirement that the TIC
List be interoperable, to the maximum extent possible, with the
information systems and technologies already in use by law enforcement
agencies. This will increase the ease of both information sharing
and information retrieval, and allow intelligence findings to be
used as widely as possible across the spectrum of Federal, State
and local law enforcement. Agencies that could contribute to or
utilize information from the TIC List include the Federal Aviation
Administration, the Immigration and Naturalization Service, the
FBI, CIA, Customs Department, the Drug Enforcement Agency, as well
as State and local police.
One year after the passage of the law, the Director of the Office
of Homeland Security would be required to report to Congress on
the effectiveness of the TIC List in promoting domestic security.
The Director's report will certify that the database contains sufficient
information, is readily accessible to law enforcement agencies,
and is making the maximum contribution possible to homeland security
efforts. If the Director cannot make that certification, the Office
of Homeland Security must make recommendations for improvement.
Officially cleared from the committee, the Senate Intelligence
authorization legislation, including the Wyden proposal, will move
to the Senate Committee on Armed Services for consideration within
the next 30 legislative days. The full Senate is expected to vote
on the bill as early as June.
