Have you flown out of a US airport lately? If so you’ve probably been subjected to the annoying and intrusive TSA checkpoint procedures. If only you were on the Department of Homeland Security’s “hands off list” for terrorists perhaps your flying experience would have been more pleasant.
The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) is refusing to answer Congress’ questions about the existence of a secret terrorist “hands off” list that is said to have permitted individuals with terrorist ties easy entrance into the United States.
The existence of the hands-off list was first publicized earlier this month by Sen. Chuck Grassley (R., Iowa), who released a cache of internal DHS emails detailing the list’s existence and a discussion about permitting an alleged member of the Muslim Brotherhood to enter the United States.
The revelation that individuals tied to terrorists were given special treatment drew outrage among lawmakers and led U.S. Customs and Border Patrol (CBP), one of the agencies involved with the list, to hold a closed-door briefing with Grassley’s staff last week, according to a senior Senate source with knowledge of the meeting.
The Washington Free Beacon has further reported that the documents are part of a larger campaign by DHS and its former head Janet Napolitano to purge the internal security records of potentially hundreds of terror suspects, allowing them to more easily travel in and out of the United States.
Read the whole thing. I would like to say I’m shocked by this news, but really, it’s not all that surprising. Still, I can barely stand it anymore. Every time I ask myself “What next?” something like this comes up.