Here is a little something not much covered in the U.S. media--the growth of the terrorist watch list since 2001. In pre-9/11 days, there were fewer than two dozen names on the list. Today's length? 80,000 names. Read more about it here.
Should we be concerned at the number of names on the list? Each of these people will be subject to more intensive searches or may be refused access to airline travel. It is not clear what evidence exists, if any, to support these governmental restrictions on movement. What is clear is that the names are being added at an extraordinarily rapid pace, and could easily be subject to human error and intelligence error.
It would be a story worth reading to see how names are added to this list and how those individuals are treated at airports and elsewhere. Maybe a real journalist will look into it someday.