The Lists Already Exist
Talk of interment camps and Muslim registries by Trump surrogates and possible cabinet nominees have inflamed the Internet. While many Americans have been deeply touched by the moderate outpouring of support that Muslim citizens have received, the re-tweets, safety pins, and, facebook shares have really been tremendous, the ultimate signal of ally-ship has been the call for non-Muslims to sign on to these hypothetical registries themselves. When the government calls upon Muslims in America to line up and get counted, the entire center-left-hand side of social media is going to camp out like Star Wars to sign their names. I mean, I’ve seen some pretty ridiculous lines for a cronut in Manhattan so I don’t doubt these people’s sincerity or their incredible ability to wait in grueling and dehumanizing queue. So intent, and appendageal fortitude, are guaranteed. I’d even go so far as to say that conviction is even at an optimal level as outrage and social media have plastered these pledges far and wide. Even the current CEO of the Anti-Defamation League has said that he’ll sign up as a Muslim when and if the lists come into being.
Obviously all of this has garnered a lot of media attention and Internet feels. Unfortunately the terrible and completely public truth of the matter is the lists already exist. I repeat. The lists already exist. This is not hyperbole or a click bait-and-switch. There are lists of Muslims maintained by our government under existing laws and executive orders. Since their contents are secret we’ve only gotten partial glimpses of their contents from leaks, law suits, or, Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) requests. Reportedly the majority of the names on the internet famous no-fly list are Muslim, but only a small portion are Americans. While this is disappointing news for those anxious to stand behind others to sign on to a list they will be immediately crossed off of, maybe the rest of us can learn something about all of these lists we totally forgot about for 8 years for some reason.
It’s Not Just the ‘No Fly’ List
The No fly list is the best known but it’s actually only a small part of the Federal government’s main watch list, the FBI’s Terrorist Screening Database (TSDB). This list contains almost 2 million names and supposedly less than 5,000 are Americans. It was created after the 9/11 attacks as a way to unify the various lists of dangerous people maintained by a number of different US agencies. The No Fly list is only a small portion of this database and it is believed to hover around 40,000 to 80,000 names with only 1,000 American citizens listed. This list is shared by the FBI with other agencies and it’s often checked at border crossings regardless of the means of travel, so calling it the No Fly list is a bit of a misnomer but this is just national security we’re talking about so no need to be precise. Again the vast majority of the names on the No Fly list are believed to be Muslim, but since less than 1% of those names are Americans maybe that’s not a convincing argument for demanding to be written down as a second class Muslim citizen. Fear not, there’s more to fear.
Beyond the secret but known TSDB list and its slightly less secret No Fly list portion, there is the vast program of domestic spying and data gathering in the United States brought to light by Edward Snowden. I’m not here to argue about Edward Snowden: hero or traitor because that’s just an excuse for shit-posting, and you can go to reddit or twitter for that. What’s undeniable is that the leak of information provided by Snowden unearthed a massive program of real time domestic spying that collected data on millions of Americans. The only oversight being the secretive Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA) court which approves 99.97% of all government requests, which in effect is no oversight at all.
According to a study of meta data carried out by Stanford researchers this information can reveal incredibly sensitive details about the people it concerns, such as medical conditions, criminal behavior or religious beliefs. I think you see where I’m going with this. The lists already exist. In fact, Trump’s current pick for CIA director, Mike Pompeo, has long advocated for even broader and more intrusive collection of our meta data. This system collects meta data in the United States on a massive scale and not only archives it, but reportedly allows for real time queries of that data.
Then there’s the first Muslim registry implemented under President George W. Bush. Oh right, did I forget to mention we already had a Muslim registry from 2002 to 2011? Similar to Trump’s proposed ‘Muslim ban’ it got around the religious discrimination problem by targeting people from Muslim majority countries and it got around the civil rights outrage problem by targeting immigrants and Visa holders. In effect it directly targeted Muslims, but it was written in such a weaselly way as to get around constitutional protections like Freedom of Religion which I’m told is really really important to conservatives. It was called the National Security Entry-Exit Registration System (NSEERS) and it was considered a universal failure. It captured zero terrorists, intimidated Muslims in America, and, depressed Middle Eastern student enrollment in US schools. It was thrown in the trash right after the Homeland Security Advisory System, also known as the totally useless rainbow colored threat chart.
The Next Disaster
While it’s well and good to stand in solidarity with vulnerable people who are under threat of having their civil liberties disrupted or stripped, calling for mass mailing list sign ups is not a real solution or even a meaningful stand. At best it’s a declaration of conviction and at worst it’s a hollow signal of your own virtue meant to be consumed by like minded friends, not Americans likely to be targeted by these hypothetical policies. A true stand would be a call to dismantle the above systems that are already in place. Sign your name to outlawing or restricting the collection of American meta data by the NSA and other agencies. Sign your name to a reform of the Terrorist Watch lists and for a more transparent system to govern the No Fly list. Or better yet, sign your name to a wholesale repeal of the USA PATRIOT Act.
These systems of surveillance and security were sold as temporary measures to keep us safe after the attacks on September 11th but instead they simply keep growing and another large scale terror attack will see them expand even further. While I hope such an attack never happens again, Mr. Trump’s string of failed businesses do not fill me with confidence in our new Commander in Chief. So, if a Muslim registry actually terrifies you then you should know that it’s up to you to demand from your federal representative that the government tear down these intrusive systems of domestic surveillance that are already in place. No one is going to ask you to stand in a line or sign a clipboard. The lists already exist.
(This essay was originally posted on my blog in 2016)
