Documents Released That Terrorists Are Given New Identities And Allowed To Board Flights

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AUTHOR Libertarian Girl

May 20, 2013 2:56pm PST

This may come as a surprise to you but the government is inefficient. I know that’s shocking and a new revelation but it’s as common as the day is long. I’m obviously being sarcastic. The United States government is far too large and intrusive to run efficiently. This particular case of government screw-ups is in the witness protection program and involves terrorism suspects. A new report released today shows that the Department of Justice’s witness protection program had serious national security issues. An unknown number of terrorists were allowed to pass through security and take commercial flights because their new names were not updated on the “no fly” list.
Because of statutory restrictions, national security concerns, and the safety of those in witness protection the full report is not publicly released.

The witness protection program began in 1971. Since its’ inception it has had 8,400 witnesses and 9,900 family members and associates. Participants are relocated to an area where they are believed to be safe from harm, given a new identity, afforded financial assistance, and job training.
The report scrutinizing this program found:

“significant deficiencies in the handling of known or suspected terrorists who were admitted into the WITSEC Program. Specifically, we determined that OEO (the Criminal Division’s Office of Enforcement Operations) and the USMS (United States Marshals Service) – the two entities primarily responsible for managing the WITSEC Program for participants who are not incarcerated – did not involve national security stakeholders when admitting and monitoring known or suspected terrorists into the WITSEC Program.”

Some of the participants who were previously terror suspects on the TSA’s no-fly list were given new names. They were then allowed to fly on commercial flights with the knowledge and approval of their program officials.
According to Main Justice, the DOJ defended the use of these witnesses, who they credit with aiding in a number of high-profile terrorism prosecutions and investigations, including the 1993 World Trade Center bombing, the 1988 East Africa Embassy bombings, the “Blind Sheik” prosecutions, and the New York City subway suicide-bomb plot.
The report calls for 16 recommendations to the Deputy Attorney General to fix the national security issues. The department stated that as of March 2013 15 of the 16 actions are in the process of being implemented.
In response to the report the Department of Justice stated that it “has identified, located, and minimized the threat of all former know or suspected terrorists admitted into the WITSEC Program during its 40-year history.”