Terrorist Watchlist Data Accuracy and Transparency Act
Sponsored By: Representative Thompson (MS)
Introduced
Summary
This bill would establish a formal quality assurance system to boost the accuracy and transparency of nominations to the terrorist watchlist and related terrorism databases. It creates mandatory pre-submission reviews, annual and random audits, a corrections and retractions process, a consultation path with the FBI and the National Counterterrorism Center, and annual reporting to Congress.
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- Individuals and families: People flagged on the watchlist, including U.S. persons, could see more errors corrected because agencies must request corrections or retractions and report the number of identities referred for fixes, split by U.S. and non-U.S. persons.
- Department operations: The Secretary of Homeland Security would have to run a quality assurance review before any initial nomination, include those QA findings in each submission, and start annual audits plus a monthly random audit program within 90 days.
- Interagency and oversight flow: If DHS finds a problem it must notify the FBI Terrorist Screening Center and the National Counterterrorism Center within 24 hours and, if a correction is not made within 30 days, consult with the relevant agency directors; the bill also adds a new statutory section and table-of-contents entry for these requirements.
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Bill Overview
Analyzed Economic Effects
3 provisions identified: 3 benefits, 0 costs, 0 mixed.
Fast fixes and reports on watchlist errors
If an audit finds a problem, DHS would have to notify the FBI and NCTC within 24 hours and ask for a correction or retraction when needed. If no fix happens within 30 days, DHS would consult the FBI or NCTC director. DHS would send Congress a yearly report with counts of identities sent for fixes, split by U.S. and non‑U.S. persons, and how many nominations were recalled or reissued.
Pre-checks before Homeland Security watchlist nominations
Before Homeland Security sends a first watchlist nomination to the FBI or NCTC, it would have to do a quality check. The check would confirm the information is free from error. The results of that check would be sent with each initial nomination, including for the No Fly and Selectee lists.
Regular audits of DHS watchlist nominations
Homeland Security would review nominations of U.S. persons within 90 days of enactment and then each year. It would also start a random audit program within 90 days and review nominations every month. Each review would check for errors and whether cases still meet watchlist rules. These checks would cover the terrorist screening database and NCTC databases like TIDE, including the No Fly and Selectee lists.
Sponsors & CoSponsors
Sponsor
Thompson (MS)
MS • D
Cosponsors
There are no cosponsors for this bill.
Roll Call Votes
No roll call votes available for this bill.
View on Congress.gov