According to CNN, the FBI has lost control of its watch list of people wanted for questioning after the 9/11 attacks. The list is now in the hands of several private agencies, including news organizations, businesses, and law enforcement agencies. It has also shown up on several web sites (the reason why this story is being posted here), although a cursory search hasn't turned it up.
What is upsetting about this release is that the watch list doesn't include just suspects; it also includes any person wanted for questioning by authorities, including people who the FBI knows have nothing to do with the terrorist attacks (or with terrorism in general).
And it seems as though the watch list was released deliberately (although that isn't entirely clear). At the very least, Ashcroft defends the release of the list with these words: "We need to find ways to share as much information with individuals as is possible to make every American, whether they are in an industry or business or in law enforcement or in their families, capable of enhancing their security by being aware and alert."
Of course, this justification doesn't seem to recognize that the list may do a poor job of identifying people who are actually security risks. That is, there may very well be a poor correlation between how dangerous the people on the watch list really are, and how dangerous people will think the people on the watch list are. I wonder how soon it'll be before we get a case from somebody harmed by his/her name being on the list, even when there's no good reason for his/her name being there.
The CNN story is here.