Terror watch list swells to more than 755,000

SCREENING FOR TERRORISM

The number of terror watch-list records more than quadrupled over roughly a three-year period. (NOTE: One record reflects one name but not necessarily one person.):

June 2004 - 158,374
May 2005 - 287,982
June 2006 - 515,906
May 2007 - 754,960

By Mimi Hall, USA TODAY

WASHINGTON — The government's terrorist watch list has swelled to more than 755,000 names, according to a new government report that has raised worries about the list's effectiveness.

The size of the list, typically used to check people entering the country through land border crossings, airports and sea ports, has been growing by 200,000 names a year since 2004. Some lawmakers, security experts and civil rights advocates warn that it will become useless if it includes too many people.

"It undermines the authority of the list," says Lisa Graves of the Center for National Security Studies. "There's just no rational, reasonable estimate that there's anywhere close to that many suspected terrorists."

The exact number of people on the list, compiled after 9/11 to help government agents keep terrorists out of the country, is unclear, according to the report by the Government Accountability Office (GAO). Some people may be on the list more than once because they are listed under multiple spellings.