325,000 names on U.S. terror suspect list: report

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – A government database of alleged
international terrorism suspects or associates includes 325,000
names, four times more than when the central list was created
in 2003, The Washington Post reported on Wednesday, citing
counterterrorism officials.

The list maintained by the National Counterterrorism
Center, or NCTC, contains far more names in a single government
database than has previously been disclosed, the newspaper
said.

But the report cited NCTC officials as saying the true
number of individuals listed is estimated to be more than
200,000 because the same person may show up under different
spellings or aliases.

A NCTC official, speaking on condition of anonymity told
the newspaper that the vast majority of those listed are
“non-U.S. persons and do not live in the U.S.”

The report quoted an administration official, who asked not
to be identified, as saying that “only a very, very small
fraction” of those named were U.S. citizens.

The NCTC name repository began under its predecessor agency
in 2003 with 75,000 names, The Washington Post said.

The Post reported that civil liberties advocates and
privacy experts expressed surprise over the size of the NCTC
database and said it heightened concerns that large numbers of
innocent people may be included on government terrorism lists.

The NCTC database is a compilation of reports supplied by
the CIA, the FBI, the National Security Agency and other
agencies, the report said.

The newspaper said officials refused to say how many names
on the list were linked to the NSA’s controversial domestic
eavesdropping program.