Another in the "I wish I was making this s**t up" department. Apparently a SIX year old girl is on the terrorist watch list.
http://www.aolnews.com/nation/article/ohio-6-year-oid-alyssa-thomas-turns-up-on-terror-watch-list/19532082 (http://www.aolnews.com/nation/article/ohio-6-year-oid-alyssa-thomas-turns-up-on-terror-watch-list/19532082)
According to the letter from the FBI, they say for now they're going rely on the common sense of the airport security (I'll pause a moment here to burst out laughing at that thought.)
That's all well and good but will happen as she gets older? She going to "flagged" on this crap for the rest of her life?
(sighs)
Obviously someone with the same name is on the list. Airport security should use their common sense and see that this little girl is NOT a possible threat. When she gets older this could be real problem for her if its not a taken care of.
I'm not sure what can be done though. They cant remove the name of a potential threat simply because this girl shares the same name. I do wonder what they would do if they had a really common name like John Smith as a potential threat on the list. Cant they give airports more info other than a name?
Who would've thought an Al Qaeda member with an acute growth hormone disorder cleverly disguised as an All American
six-year old girl would be residing in my country! Off with her head, traitor!
I really don't see the reason why they can't list some more information to ensure that there is no confusion. I mean how many 'John Smith's' do you know that have the exact same birthday? Surely that's easy enough to add: a second check. Simply the name is just a ridiculously inefficient system...
And I'm sure there's a way to give more information to cross check if they don't know the birthdate for the person who should be on the list. I mean, if they're a good enough terrorist/criminal, they're not flying on their own details anyways...
I gave up on trying to figure out the No-Fly list, or whatever the hell it's called. I was on it for a while for some unexplained reason. For about two years after getting out of the Navy, any time I travelled I was told I was on the Homeland Security list, was delayed while they checked it out, and eventually allowed to fly. I was very upset, especially when they had to audacity, after six years of honorable military service and security clearances, that I was "clear to travel today, sir." What?
I was never able to find out a reason. I had all kinds of theories. One was simply that there was someone with the same first and last name that had some kind of record of activity. Another was that maybe after getting out of military service they keep an eye on you for a while, make sure you're not selling secrets to the enemy or some crap. Then when my imagination really got going I thought of that guy Christopher Boyce, whom the film The Falcon and the Snowman was based on, who was working for the government and selling top secret information to the Soviets in the 1970s. Same last name and he is actually a distant relation I am told (how's that for throwing in a movie reference?). That's pretty far-fetched, I know, but I was trying to have fun with it.
Three times I travelled and it happened. So I wrote an email to Homeland Security, explaining the situation and that I had served six years in the U.S. Navy and had clearances and so on, and do I have to put up with this for the rest of my life? I never got a response. However, from that point forward, I never got flagged or delayed again. I have absolutely no idea if my email had any effect or if it just resolved itself or what.
Whoever finds this terrorist girl, gives her a spanking and sends her to bed without supper will be handsomely rewarded by the FBI.
(http://sharetv.org/images/dennis_the_menace-show.jpg)
See, this might become a sort of self-fulfilling prophecy. Tired of being accused of a crime she did not commit, this little girl will grow up to become a truly bitter woman who decides to take it out on the country that did this to her. Naturally, there will be a couple of made-for-TV movies about this, possibly a documentary or two. Oh, and an autobiography. That will go on to be the #1 New York Times bestseller for the summer.
Or they'll get this worked out and none of that will happen.