Constitution Project:

For Immediate Release
Contact: Katy Dyer 202-580-6920
kdyer@constitutionproject.org

THE CONSTITUTION PROJECT URGES TERRORIST WATCH LIST LIMITS TO PROTECT INDIVIDUAL RIGHTS
Think Tank Presents Bipartisan Recommendations to State and Local Law Enforcement Conference

WASHINGTON, D.C. March 6, 2006 – The Constitution Project today released a report, “Promoting Accuracy and Fairness in the Use of Government Watch Lists,” which includes a strong bipartisan call for protecting individual rights when the government uses terrorist watch lists. The Project presented the report and accompanying consensus recommendations to law enforcement professionals attending the 2007 National Fusion Center Conference in Florida.

“At both local and national levels, law enforcement officials may use terrorist watch lists to protect us,” said Sharon Bradford Franklin, Senior Counsel for the Constitution Project, who spoke on a panel entitled ‘Privacy and Civil Liberties Policy Development.’ “It is of utmost importance that law enforcement professionals have the tools they need to do their jobs, but it is also critical that they protect individual rights. I am pleased to have been invited to share our recommendations on how to implement effective security programs that also safeguard individual liberties.”

The first part of the report, a statement by members of the Constitution Project’s Liberty and Security Committee, was separately released last December. It urges policymakers to strictly limit the situations in which watch lists may be used, and contains recommended procedures both to improve the accuracy of watch lists and to allow people on watch lists a fair opportunity to challenge that status. The background report provides more detailed legal and policy analysis of the use of watch lists as well as further support for the Committee’s recommendations. Some of the recommendations include the following:

• Watch lists must not be used as “blacklists” to prevent people from being considered for various jobs or government benefits. Watch lists should not be used to screen for employment purposes or applications for contracts or licenses related to employment.




• Watch lists should be used only in situations in which decisions must be made quickly and grave consequences would follow from a failure to screen out a listed person, such as “no fly” lists used at airports.




• For the limited situations in which watch lists are appropriate, the government should adopt procedures to improve the accuracy of the lists at the “front-end,” before they are ever used. This includes setting clear written standards for when an individual’s name may be added to a watch list.




• Where watch lists are appropriate, people must be provided a fair opportunity at the “back- end” to challenge their inclusion on such a list. Challenge procedures should be available for mistaken identity cases – where people claim they simply share a name with a person who was meant to be on the list – as well as for cases in which people seek to challenge the evidence that led to their inclusion on the list.

The conference is sponsored jointly by the U.S. Department of Homeland Security and various National Fusion Center offices of the U.S. Department of Justice to educate state and local law enforcement professionals from across the country on a variety of topics, including information sharing, the use of technology, and privacy issues.

The background report is the work of Professor Peter Shane of the Ohio State University Moritz College of Law and Constitution Project staff. The bipartisan Liberty and Security Committee is made up of prominent Americans who share a commitment to preserving civil liberties while enhancing security in a post-9/11 world.

The full report and list of the Liberty and Security Committee members who signed it can be found at http://www.constitutionproject.org/article.cfm?messageID=314.

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(Read Original Article - Via Constitution Project.)

Editor: The report itself (as a PDF) can be downloaded at http://www.constitutionproject.org/pdf/03-06-07_Watchlist_Background_%20Release.pdf.