Last week’s testimony before the U.S. House Committee on Homeland Security was confusing and potentially misleading, providing little comfort to thousands of Americans who have been erroneously added to the Terror Watch List. Americans still want to know “How do I get my name off the Terror Watch List?”

Leonard Boyle, Director of the Terrorist Screening Center (TSC), testified on November 8, 2007 that there is 1) A redress process, Traveler Redress Inquiry Program (TRIP), for any individual who believes they have been improperly delayed or otherwise inconvenienced because of the watchlist; and 2) A process for removing names from the watchlist when it has been determined they do not have a nexus to terrorism. 

What he didn’t say, however, is that the two processes may be unrelated leaving thousands of Americans on the list as confused as before the hearings. The process for removing names from the list is classified, according to an FBI official with whom Americans for Terror Watch List Reform spoke. Therefore, there may be two distinct procedures 1) a redress procedure called TRIP and 2) a classified procedure to clear names from the list when it is determined that people do not have a “nexus to terrorism.”

The redress process Boyle referred to, TRIP, is explained on the FBI website. It does not say on the website that TRIP is a process to remove a name from the list. Americans for Terror Watch List Reform left at a telephone message at TSC on November 9, 2007 that asked if TRIP was the process to prove that one does not have a nexus to terrorism. The message has not been returned.