What's in a name? For some, a hassle (terror watch list)

[deadparrot]

Checking in at the airport for a business trip to Chicago last week, Michael Patrick O'Brien braced himself for a frustrating experience that has become all too routine.

Handing his driver's license and airline ticket to the agent at the check-in counter, he buried his forehead into his right palm and rolled his eyes in quiet resignation when the agent uttered the phrase that has come to haunt O'Brien: "I need to clear a no-fly."

A frequent flier who took about a dozen business trips in the past year, O'Brien, 37, of Hampstead has the misfortune of having a name that is identical to, or similar to, someone on the government's terrorist watch list.

Like thousands of other travelers with names that bear an unlucky resemblance to alleged security threats, O'Brien keeps getting flagged at the airport despite assurances that the problem has been resolved by the Transportation Security Administration, a division of the Department of Homeland Security.

http://www.baltimoresun.com/news/custom/attack/bal-te.md.flight11jun11,0,7373693.story?coll=bal-attack-headlines

[Kutjara]

1. Geniuses at work.

I'm in awe of the sophistication of the State security apparatus that uses state-of-the-art communications technology, highly trained operatives and half the world's supply of supercomputers and yet falls flat on its face when it encounters two guys with the same name. I mean, who could have foreseen that everyone in the world wouldn't have a completely different name from everyone else? We all know there's only one John Smith in the world, right? And only one Abdul Mohammed, yeah? As for Michael Patrick O'Brien, who knew there'd be two?

I'm feeling so safe and protected right now, I'm going to write to the NSA right now and tell them to take another freedom away. They've earned it!

[DBoon]

3. My tinfoil hat says this is deliberate

They want random Americans to suffer the indignity of No-fly and other restrictions.

They want to break Americans of their ideal that "if you did nothing wrong you have nothing to worry about" mentality.

They want to build an attitude of subservience to government officals in a land where cursing government officials was once a favorite past-time.

They want a society where not breaking the law isn't enough - you have to not "look like" a bad guy in certain undefinable ways.

[Kutjara]

4. You're right.

As with most government measures, this has little to do with safety and security and everything to do with control. It's just another way the vermin in power are saying "we own you, little man."

The fact that there are up to 400,000 names on the watchlist is telling. Does Uncle Stalin really expect us to believe that there are half a million people (that they know of) who'd bring down a plane if they were allowed onboard? Hogwash.

[muriel_volestrangler]

2. Ironically, the journalist is called "Gina Davis"

I bet she gets a bit of name mixups as well.