16 September 2003

U.S. Terrorist Screening Center to be Operational by December 1

Multi-agency facility will consolidate terrorist watchlists

The U.S. government is consolidating numerous terrorist screening mechanisms into a single, comprehensive, anti-terror watchlist that will be operational by December 1, 2003.

In a press release dated September 16, Attorney General John Ashcroft, Secretary of Homeland Security Tom Ridge, Secretary of State Colin Powell, FBI Director Robert Mueller and Director of Central Intelligence George Tenet announced the establishment of the Terrorist Screening Center (TSC) to consolidate terrorist watchlists and provide 24-hour-a-day, seven-day-a-week operational support for thousands of federal screeners across the country and around the world.

The new center will ensure that government investigators, screeners and agents are working from the same comprehensive information -- and that they have access simultaneously to information and expertise that will allow them to act quickly when a suspected terrorist is screened or stopped.

"The Terrorist Screening Center will provide 'one-stop shopping' so that every federal anti-terrorist screener is working off the same page -- whether it's an airport screener, an embassy official issuing visas overseas, or an FBI agent on the street," Ashcroft said.

The Department of State and the CIA are collaborating to ensure that the identities of thousands of known and suspected terrorists are integrated into the State Department's TIPOFF system and accessible to consular officers and Department of Homeland Security border inspectors worldwide. The TIPOFF program will form the basis for the TSC database.

In praise of the initiative, Secretary Powell said "We look forward to a successful partnership with our fellow agencies in the war on terrorism."

The creation of the TSC does not provide any new law enforcement or collection powers to any government official; it simply consolidates information that law enforcement, the Intelligence Community, the State Department, and others already possess.

The TSC was established by a presidential directive to the heads of all departments and agencies.

The texts of the press release and fact sheet follow:

(begin press release)

U.S. DEPARTMENT OF HOMELAND SECURITY
Office of the Press Secretary
September 16, 2003

NEW TERRORIST SCREENING CENTER ESTABLISHED

FEDERAL GOVERNMENT CONSOLIDATES TERRORIST SCREENING INTO SINGLE COMPREHENSIVE ANTI-TERRORIST WATCHLIST

WASHINGTON -- Attorney General John Ashcroft, Secretary of Homeland Security Tom Ridge, Secretary of State Colin Powell, FBI Director Robert Mueller and Director of Central Intelligence George Tenet today announced the establishment of the Terrorist Screening Center (TSC) to consolidate terrorist watchlists and provide 24/7 operational support for thousands of federal screeners across the country and around the world. The Center will ensure that government investigators, screeners and agents are working off the same unified, comprehensive set of anti-terrorist information -- and that they have access to information and expertise that will allow them to act quickly when a suspected terrorist is screened or stopped.

Today's action marks another significant step forward in President George W. Bush's strategy to protect America's communities and families by detecting, disrupting and disabling terrorist threats.

"The creation of the TSC is one of several new critical initiatives taken by this administration to increase the sharing of information at all levels of government. The department's new Information Analysis and Infrastructure Protection (IA/IP) unit allows DHS to analyze information and take specific action to protect critical infrastructure. Another important development, the Terrorist Threat Integration Center (TTIC), was created to ensure that all members of the federal government's intelligence community have access to the same information," said Secretary of Homeland Security Tom Ridge. "The job of the new Terrorist Screening Center is to make sure we get this information out to our agents on the borders and all those who can put it to use on the front lines -- and to get it there fast."

The TSC builds on numerous steps taken by this administration since the attacks of September 11, 2001, to improve our ability to identify and stop terrorists before they act against us. For example, the TTIC and the IA/IP Directorate were designed to enhance intelligence fusion -- to bring together all terrorist information in one place, enabling America's best intelligence analysts and investigators from multiple departments to work as a team to put together the pieces of the puzzle.

"President Bush's Number One priority is protecting the lives and liberties of the American people by defeating terrorism," said Attorney General Ashcroft. "Right now, there are several major watchlists and related systems. But with each separate watchlist comes the potential for another seam. The Terrorist Screening Center will provide 'one-stop shopping' so that every federal anti-terrorist screener is working off the same page -- whether it's an airport screener, an embassy official issuing visas overseas, or an FBI agent on the street. The creation of the new Center means that all government agents will be able to run name checks against the same comprehensive list with the most accurate, up-to-date information about potential terrorists. That's how we can stop terrorists before they launch an attack."

"The Department of State is proud to be part of the Terrorist Screening Center," Secretary of State Powell said. "This cooperative effort will help the United States fight terrorism by identifying visa applicants and others who are known to be threats to our security, before they can do us harm. Combining the knowledge of the FBI, Department of Justice, Intelligence Community, Department of Homeland Security and the Department of State's TIPOFF program is a long-desired goal that is now reality. We are gratified that the State Department's TIPOFF program, which contains over 100,000 names of potential terrorists, will form the basis for both the TTIC and TSC databases. Real-time access by our consular officers to the information provided by the other agencies will make visa issuance more secure and better protect America's borders. We look forward to a successful partnership with our fellow agencies in the war on terrorism."

"The TSC will increase the chances of detaining or arresting terrorists before they strike," said Director of Central Intelligence George Tenet.

"What's different about the TSC is the ability to make that information available in real time, constantly updated, 24 hours a day and across the board," said FBI Director Robert Mueller. "By providing this around-the-clock service to anti-terrorist screeners throughout the federal government, the new Center will ensure not only that those who need it will have access to the best, most current information, but they will also have access to on-call experts who can support them in taking immediate and appropriate action to stop terrorists and prevent attacks at any hour of the day or night."

In addition to establishing the IA/IP Directorate of the Department of Homeland Security, the TTIC, and the new TSC, the administration since 2001 has undertaken a series of concerted steps to ensure the effective use of watchlist information to disrupt and apprehend terrorists. The Department of State and the CIA are collaborating to ensure that the identities of thousands of known and suspected terrorists are integrated into the State Department's TIPOFF system and accessible to consular officers and Department of Homeland Security border inspectors worldwide. The FBI has made information on subjects of their terrorism investigations accessible through the National Crime Information Center system to 650,000 state and local law enforcement officers nationwide and has established a 24/7 watchlist unit to respond to calls from the field. The Department of Homeland Security's Transportation Security Administration has established a "no fly" list, which has led to the successful apprehension of several dangerous terrorist suspects.

The TSC is the government's latest step in an ongoing effort to integrate counterterrorism efforts by all components of the federal government. The consolidation of terrorist information and screening through the TSC is vital to protecting the American people from terrorist threats. The 9/11 Congressional Joint Inquiry recommended the creation of such a center to coordinate and integrate all terrorist-related watchlist systems.

The new TSC is a multi-agency center, anchored by the Departments of Justice, Homeland Security, and State, and the intelligence community, and administered by the FBI. The mission to develop the technical capability for watchlist integration has been underway at the FBI's Foreign Terrorist Tracking Task Force (FTTTF), where TSC operations will be phased in during the coming weeks and operational by December 1, 2003. The TSC was established today by a presidential directive to the heads of all departments and agencies (Homeland Security Presidential Directive 6, or "HSPD 6"). The Attorney General, the Secretaries of Homeland Security and State, and the Director of Central Intelligence are implementing the directive through a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU), an unclassified version of which was made available today.

(end press release)

(begin fact sheet)

U.S. DEPARTMENT OF HOMELAND SECURITY
Office of the Press Secretary
September 16, 2003

FACT SHEET: THE TERRORIST SCREENING CENTER

Today, Attorney General John Ashcroft, Secretary of Homeland Security Tom Ridge, Secretary of State Colin Powell, FBI Director Robert Mueller, and Director of Central Intelligence George Tenet announced the creation of the Terrorist Screening Center (TSC) to consolidate terrorist watchlists and provide 24/7 operational support for thousands of Federal screeners across the country and around the world. The TSC will ensure that America's government screeners are working from the same unified set of anti-terrorist information HBC comprehensive anti-terrorist list when a suspected terrorist is screened or stopped anywhere in the federal system.

-- Better Informed: The TSC will allow federal, state, and local officials to make better-informed decisions to protect the United States from terrorist attacks. For example, better access to information will make it easier for a consular officer posted in another country to determine whether to grant a visa, or an immigration official at a U.S. airport to decide whether a person is eligible to enter the United States.

-- Building Capabilities: Creation of the TSC marks another significant step forward in the president's strategy to protect America's communities and families by detecting, disrupting, and disabling terrorist threats. The TSC builds on improvements to U.S. watchlist capabilities that began in 2001, immediately following the September 11 attacks, including, most recently, the president's creation of the Terrorist Threat Integration Center (TTIC).

-- Consolidating Information: The TSC will receive the vast majority of its information about known or suspected terrorists from the TTIC after TTIC has assembled and analyzed that information from a wide range of sources. In addition, the FBI will provide the TSC with information about purely domestic terrorism, i.e., having no connection to international terrorist activities. The TSC will consolidate this information into an unclassified terrorist screening database and make the database accessible to queries for federal, state, and local agencies for a variety of screening purposes.

-- The TSC, through the participation of the Department of Homeland Security, Department of Justice, Department of State, and Intelligence Community representatives, will determine which information in the database will be available for which types of screening.

-- For example, The Attorney General's and the Secretary of Homeland Security's representatives to the TSC will decide which persons to include in those records that may be queried directly by law enforcement officials through the NCIC database. Similarly, the State Department representative, consulting with the Department of Justice, Department of Homeland Security, and Intelligence Community representatives, will determine which information may be screened by foreign governments.

-- Safeguarding Information: The TSC will not independently collect any information on U.S. citizens. In fact, the TSC does not collect information at all -- it only receives information provided by the TTIC and the FBI. The TTIC will provide to the TSC all appropriate and necessary information connected to international terrorism about any individuals -- U.S. citizens or not -- that TTIC partner agencies hold pursuant to their own authorities and the FBI will provide to the TSC appropriate and necessary information concerning domestic terrorism, regardless of whether it involves U.S. citizens. If the TSC receives information on U.S. citizens connected with terrorism, its use of that information is subject to the same legal limitations to which it would be subject if the information were not included in the database. Purely domestic terrorism information will not go through TTIC, but will be placed directly into the TSC database by the FBI. The Attorney General has been directed to implement procedures and safeguards with respect to information about U.S. persons, in coordination with the Secretary of State, the Secretary of Homeland Security, and the Director of Central Intelligence.

-- The creation of the TSC does not provide any new law enforcement or collection powers to any government official; it simply consolidates information that law enforcement, the intelligence community, the State Department, and others already possess and makes it accessible for query to those who need it -- federal security screeners, state and local law enforcement officers, and others. The TSC will have no independent authority to conduct intelligence collection or other operations.

-- All information the TSC maintains will have been collected in accordance with existing law, and TSC officials will continue to be bound by any applicable laws and constitutional requirements that restrict the use of that information and that protect privacy interests and other liberties.

-- Information technology and information handling procedures will be designed to comply with constitutional and other legal requirements, and participants will continue to be answerable both to internal agency oversight and congressional oversight.

-- Supporting the Mission: The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) will administer the TSC. The Department of Homeland Security, the Department of State, and others will coordinate with and assign operational and staff support to the TSC.

-- The FBI is the appropriate administrator of the TSC's start-up operations because of the Bureau's technical experience in watchlist integration. Although the FBI will administer the TSC, the TSC will be an interagency effort. As noted, the Departments of Homeland Security and State and others will coordinate with and assign operational and staff support to the TSC. The principal deputy director of the TSC will be a Department of Homeland Security official. In addition to the Department of Justice, the Department of State, and the Department of Homeland Security, the intelligence community and other federal agencies will assign representatives to the TSC. Each of these agencies will be responsible for specific aspects of the TSC's work.

The TSC is being phased in via a coordinated interagency effort administered by the FBI and will be operational by December 1, 2003.

(end fact sheet)