Those who suspect they're on list are still up in the air -- or not
oregonlive.com Margie Boulé 05/11/03
Either I am on the list or I am not. This is not rocket science. So what kind of research is required? Does this mean a minute examination of my entire life? RALPH PRATT PORTLANDER WHO SUSPECTS HE IS ON THE LIST OF SUSPICIOUS NAMES BUT HASN'T BEEN ABLE TO FIND OUT YET Perhaps it's just coincidence, but some people found it funny and ironic last Sunday when soloist David Nelson stepped forward at the Willamette Master Chorus concert and sang, "Nobody knows the troubles I've seen."
Just that morning, in this column, readers learned of the problems men named David Nelson have been encountering at airports across the country and around the world since the terrorist attack on Sept. 11, 2001. Since then, the U.S. Transportation Security Administration has put together two lists of names of people to be scrutinized before being allowed to fly on commercial air flights. One is a "no fly" list, rumored to have about 300 names. The other is a list of "selectees," who are to be questioned, searched and cleared before being allowed to travel. The second list appears to be much longer.
Last week TSA spokesman Nico Melendez confirmed the existence of the lists but would not answer questions about when they were created, what criteria were used to add names or how names are added or removed.
One thing is clear, however: the name David Nelson is on one of those lists. The 18 Oregon men interviewed for last week's column all said they had been questioned and delayed whenever they flew. And they were just the beginning. After the column ran, one David Nelson, a professor at OSU, wrote that he's not been bothered at airports. But many other David Nelsons reported they'd been hassled and delayed every time they flew in the last few months. Some missed connecting flights. A number were told their name is on a list of suspicious people.
For some, the column was an explanation. "Thanks for letting us know why it took something short of a strip search at the airport when my husband, Dave Nelson, and I flew to Hawaii in March," wrote Shirley Nelson of Gresham. Dave and Shirley thought it was just bad luck when Dave was pulled aside every leg of their trip. Shirley says "he'll think hard about future air travel until his name is removed from the list."
Most David Nelsons agree there is a need for heightened security at airports. What bothers them is there's no way to clear themselves for future flights, and no way to get their name removed from the list. "They should have some clue about the person" they're seeking, wrote David A. Nelson, who works at Tektronix. "A basic description, for example. At least then the Davids who do not fit the description could get a quick pass. . . . Better yet, after hassling each of us once, create a leave-these-guys-alone list."
But reader David D. Gray says that would never work. "What permanent ID do you provide . . . that can't be transferred or modified by terrorists? Photo ID? Like the ones routinely faked by terrorists? . . . I suggest leaving the job up to the people in charge and experienced in doing it. . . . I think they're doing the right thing."
But are they?
Last week The New York Times reported civil rights advocates have filed suit in San Francisco, demanding the government provide reasons why "hundreds of people -- some of them vocal critics of the Bush administration -- have ended up" on the airport lists. The article cited and quoted antiwar demonstrators and other political critics who claim their names are on the lists.
Of course, many people who are not activists or terrorists or security threats are discovering their names are listed. Like Portlander Lois Kincaid. "I found out about it on my last flight, May 2," Lois wrote. "I have been so relentlessly hassled in airports, I finally asked an intelligent-looking agent what the deal was. His reply? 'You're on a list of suspicious people.' " Lois flew to Caracas, Venezuela, with a group of 10 Americans recently. "I was the only one checked, and I was checked in every single airport. . . ." At one, Lois says she was "terrified" when "agents came at me snapping on rubber gloves."
Since she hadn't known about the existence of any lists, Lois "made up a scenario -- that because I'm female, small, blond, and nearly 60, I'm the exact opposite of what they're looking for. Therefore, by checking me they defy accusations of stereotyping."
Nice try, but the truth is probably that she shares a name with a suspected terrorist or other person objectionable to government agencies.
More amazing to Lois is that her son appears to be on the list as well. He's a commercial pilot "who flies the C-5 in the Air Force Reserves. . . . If he can be trusted to fly the largest aircraft in America and for the military, no less, should he not be trusted to board a commercial aircraft?"
Portlander Ralph Pratt suspects he is on the list, too, because of constant airport delays and searches. After reading last week's column he e-mailed the TSA to ask. "Your e-mail requires research," was the response.
"Either I am on the list or I am not," Ralph said. "This is not rocket science. So what kind of research is required? Does this mean a minute examination of my entire life?"
At least he may get an answer. Sharon Cunning called the TSA (866-289-9673, a number the agency provided last week) to ask if her name was on the list. "They would not give me any information," she says. "The woman said, 'You have to buy a ticket and find out if they give you a boarding pass or not.' "
The existence of secret government lists, with no way citizens can find out if their names are on them, or how their names got on them, with no way to remove their names . . . Lois Kincaid finds the situation "Orwellian."
Dennis Radke finds it ominous. "Given sufficient time, is it unreasonable to expect we Americans will be required to carry travel papers inside the U.S., just as residents of Nazi Germany and Stalin's Soviet Union" did? "So what are the collective David Nelsons' options: going to . . . court and petitioning for a change of name?"
"Isn't this proof Osama has won?" asks Glen Evans. The administration "has instigated procedures that have removed our freedoms, and we have accepted them without a whimper."
Well, not exactly. Many David Nelsons are exasperated, and a lot of readers are sympathetic and concerned. "This country has gone crazy on security matters," says Nina Rae Cleveland of Salem. "It wouldn't be so dangerous for us if there were a way to clear our names, which I hate to say because we shouldn't have to."
"Sounds like a list . . . from a 1950s story," wrote Kim Schafer of The Dalles. "The TSA is acting like a man named McCarthy. And a list you can get on and not off of sounds like the obit page."
Most David Nelsons and non-David Nelsons seem to agree: The list has created an absurd situation. To make that point even more clearly, several readers suggested all the local David Nelsons should make reservations for a single flight somewhere. "One flight for all David Nelsons," wrote Judith Lenhart. "Wouldn't that be something?" Margie Boule: 503-221-8450; marboule@aol.com