New reports show the Obama administration removed the names of 1,000 terrorists from the terror watch list over concerns about their civil rights.
The findings come as part of a lawsuit filed by Judicial Watch, which obtained documents from the Department of Homeland Security as part of a Freedom of Information Act request. From Judicial Watch’s report:
Judicial Watch announced today that it obtained 183 pages of documents from the Department of Homeland Security revealing that the Obama administration scrubbed the law enforcement agency’s “Terrorist Screening Database” in order to protect what it considered the civil rights of suspected Islamic terrorist groups. The documents appear to confirm charges that Obama administration changes created a massive “hands off” list. Removed data from the terrorist watch list could have helped prevent the San Bernardino terrorist attack.
Judicial Watch added that DHS issued a memorandum in 2013 stating potential terrorists could only be placed on a watch list if they had “an association” with known terrorists, even if they were affiliated with a radical group such as the Muslim Brotherhood, Hamas or Hezbollah.
The new Homeland Security documents confirm the modification of nearly 1,000 terrorist suspect reports. The September 25, 2013, Department of Homeland Security Inspector General memorandum regarding Haney’s terror watch list entries, discloses that the Department of Homeland Security Privacy Office and Department of Homeland Security Office of Civil Rights and Civil Liberties “determined that individuals could only be “‘watchlisted’ based on an association with a known or suspected terrorist already ‘watchlisted’… not based on their affiliation with [REDACTED] (or any other [REDACTED] organization.”
Since the memorandum was issued, at least 1,000 previously watch-listed individuals have been removed from the list, Judicial Watch found.
“These new documents bolster allegations that the Obama administration may have removed information from a terrorist watch list that could have prevented the San Bernardino terrorist attack,” said Judicial Watch President Tom Fitton in a press release, adding, “Once again, it was a Judicial Watch lawsuit – and not Congress or the media – that uncovered the key information about this national security scandal.”