No-Fly Lists

Racial profiling, typified in the phrase “driving while Black,” remains an important feature in the study of discrimination in criminal justice. Moreover, the tendency for such tactics to extend to other sectors of social control is being witnessed in the form of “no-fly lists,” whereby certain individuals have been barred from boarding commercial aircrafts. Since the hijackings on September 11, 2001, government officials along with airlines have compiled names of persons who may not be permitted access to air travel due to concerns over national security. A closer look at the controversy, however, reveals that those persons have been subject to a distinctive type of profiling that some critics call “flying while Muslim.” This entry points to some well-publicized incidents involving no-fly lists so as to illuminate the significance of profiling based on ethnicity, religion, and in some cases political affiliation.

In 2004, while traveling to the United States from London, the plane carrying Yusuf Islam, popularly known in the music world as Cat Stevens, was rerouted to Bangor, Maine, where the aircraft remained for four and a half hours. During the layover, Islam was removed from the plane because agents who detained and interrogated the famous singer said that he appeared on a no-fly list. The government claimed that it had evidence that Islam had donated money to groups suspected of terrorism and chastised United [Page 593]Airlines for allowing him to board the aircraft. Reaction to the obvious blunder was swift and sharp. Britain's Foreign Minister, Jack Straw, formally criticized the Bush administration for deporting Islam, who has frequently toured the United States. Earlier that year Islam had visited the White House Office of Faith-Based and Community initiatives to speak about philanthropy. In addition to being renowned for his music, Islam is admired for his commitment to charity, such as his fundraising for children victimized in Bosnia.

While the targeting of Islam appears to embody ethnic and religious profiling, the reliability of no-fly lists sheds light on deeper problems that shake the faith of some who question whether the government is actually competent to safeguard its citizens. The degree of mismanagement is at times astonishing (National Commission on Terrorist Attacks Upon the United States, 2004). Senator Edward M. Kennedy, Democratic stalwart and one of the most recognizable faces in Washington, D.C., also had his name appearing on no-fly lists. Between March 1 and April 6, 2004, agents tried to block the senator from boarding airplanes on five occasions because his name resembles an alias used by a suspected terrorist. In one of those incidents, Kennedy was told that he could not purchase a ticket to fly to Boston, and officials refused to give him an explanation. Eventually, airline supervisors intervened and allowed Kennedy to travel, but it took several weeks for Homeland Security to correct the problem.

Due in part to the celebrity status of Islam and Senator Kennedy, greater public awareness is being raised about the no-fly lists and their breach of civil liberties involving persons clearly not involved in terrorism. In 2004, a federal judge in San Francisco accused the government of relying on “frivolous claims” to avoid publicly disclosing who is banned from boarding airplanes on the basis of terrorism risks. The case stems from a lawsuit brought by the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) and others in pursuit of information explaining how hundreds of people have had their names entered on the no-fly list since September 11, 2001. In his ruling, Judge Charles R. Breyer determined that the government lawyers had not met their burden of proving that the material was exempt from the Freedom of Information Act. The ACLU estimates that more than 500 people in San Francisco alone have been kept from boarding aircraft because of what the government cites as terrorist concerns. However, many of those barred from flying believe that they were targeted for their strong liberal politics and criticisms of the Bush administration. In one incident in 2002, two dozen members of a group called Peace Action Wisconsin, including a Catholic nun and high school students who were traveling to a teach-in on the war in Iraq, were detained in Milwaukee, missing their flight.

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