Posted on 01/06/2010 12:44:15 PM PST by Graybeard58
Cheshire{Connecticut} man is on FBI watch list, and he doesn't know why
Jack Murphy, a 75-year-old retiree, married 51 years to the same woman, doting grandfather, blood donor and dedicated churchgoer is also, according to the U.S. government, a possible terrorist.
Since 2005, when airport personnel divulged that he was on the FBI's Terrorist Watchlist, Murphy, of Cheshire, has been trying to get his name off the list, an effort that has dragged on for four years without resolution.
"If they had said, 'I'm sorry, Murph. You were just selected at random,' I'd have done whatever they wanted," said Murphy, who worked for 46 years in the defense contracting industry. "But since they say there's some 'reasonable suspicion,' I want to know what the heck that is. It just doesn't make sense."
Nearly 400,000 people — only 2 percent or 8,000 of whom are American citizens — are on the FBI's Terrorist Watchlist, established in 2004 in the wake of the 2001 terrorist attacks. Concerns about law-abiding people being placed on the watch list have been a problem almost since its inception. Last March, an internal Justice Department audit reported nearly 24,000 names were on the watch list without proper justification, while known or suspected terrorists were not included. The lapses, Justice Department Inspector General Glenn A. Fine said in the report, "create a risk to national security."
Repeated calls to the Terrorist Screening Center's spokesman were not returned.
Dozens of names have been added to the government's terrorist watch list since the failed terrorist attack on a Detroit-bound airliner on Christmas.
The name of the alleged terrorist, Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab, was in the National Counterterrorism Center's Terrorist Identities Datamart Environment database of about 550,000 suspected terrorists, but Abdulmutallab was on neither the Watchlist nor a no-fly list. Those on FBI's Terrorist Watchlist get additional checking before they are allowed to enter this country; those on the no-fly list are barred from boarding aircraft in or headed for the United States.
Tuesday, President Obama said the Watchlist is not broken but needs to be strengthened.
Although Murphy has never been prevented from flying, the screening process has delayed his flights nearly 20 to 30 minutes.
The FBI will say only that it puts people on the Watchlist if the Terrorist Screening Center finds they rise to a level of reasonable suspicion. Murphy wonders if his time as a vice president of a company involved with defensive missiles, some work that required security clearance, might have aroused government suspicion.
Most travelers don't know whether they are on the list, which is classified. Murphy only discovered his inclusion in September 2005, when an airline employee explained that the delays he and his wife had been experiencing while traveling were due to the fact that he was on the Watchlist.
Murphy says he will continue to press his case with the TSA, but his confidence is diminishing as his frustration has accelerated. "I'm a good patriot," he said. "To even be considered under suspicion as an American citizen just eats at my fiber."
Someone else may post it, if they can.
CHESHIRE, CT- 5 January 2010-010510BF02-- Jack Murphy of Cheshire finds himself on the U.S. Terrorism Watch List without knowing what aroused government suspicions or how to correct what he believes is a mistake. Murphy, a 75-year-old retiree, is one of nearly 400,000 persons worldwide on the FBI's Terrorism Watchlist, only 2 percent of whom are American citizens. Bob Falcetti Republican-American
I wonder if he legally owns guns and is a registered republican?
Thanks.
Yep, he looks like a terrorist to me (Amish looking, or Quaker)
Thanks.
He’s got that shifty, terrorist look like a republican or gun owner for sure. Probably voted for McCain.
Q#2 did he give money to causes “supporting Irish Independence” (the IRA)?
I wonder if he made somebody angry at some point in his career and this harassment is pay back? I would suggest that he make an appointment with his U. S. Senator or Representative and let their staff look into this. He's going to benefit from having somebody with some official standing make calls for him.
He should go to court and have his name changed to Mohammed Hussein Murphy. Then they would immediately take him off the list, to avoid any appearance of profiling.
You know why they’re doing this, don’t you?
They are randomly including regular Americans on the watch list to counter the eventual ACLU lawsuit that charges the list is “racially profiling” young Muslim, I mean Amish, men between the ages of 20 and 50.
He probably votes republican and has some firearms as well!!!
I am sure that all on F.R. are on the list & that algore will sweat to death before we get off of it.
I’m on that list, too. Beats me why. Then, when I applied for a census-taker job, they sent me a letter requiring me to send fingerprints to the FBI. I’ve never been a father-raper — never!
C'mon now Mr Ducklips.
i thought similar to you-—the DHS places a few “regular joe’s and jane’s” on the list for whatever/if any reason just to keep themselves covered.
They probably have never investigated him or are “watching” him, but his name is on the list.
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