April 24th, 2013 02:47 PM ET

Bombing suspect was in security files, but not on watch lists

By Pam Benson
The name of one Boston Marathon bombing suspect was included on U.S. law enforcement and counterterrorism databases, but he was not on any watch list that would have prevented him from flying or required additional screening when he left or entered the country, according to intelligence and law enforcement officials.
After the FBI was asked by the Russians in early 2011 to investigate Tamerlan Tsarnaev's possible connection to jihadist causes, his name was added to the agency's Terrorist Screening Database (TSDB). That is a list of more than 500,000 names of known or suspected foreign and domestic terrorists.
Tsarnaev's name was also included on the Terrorist Identities Datamart Environment list, otherwise known as TIDE, which is maintained by the National Counterterrorism Center.
That list is similar to the TSDB database, but contains more detailed, raw intelligence. The two lists are linked. New intelligence and data on suspects is developed and added to TIDE multiple times a day.
When that happens, the TSDB database also is updated.

Both files are tools for law enforcement and intelligence agencies to share information on terrorism suspects.
About 98 percent of the names on the two lists are foreign citizens, according to officials.
From the lists, the FBI Terrorism Screening Center recommends which names should be put on watch lists used by the Transportation Security Administration, Customs and Border Protection, the State Department and the FBI.
These include "no-fly" and other lists which would require additional screening.
Tsarnaev's name was not added to any of those lists, according to officials.
His name was on a Customs and Border Protection list known as TECS, which is used to detect unusual or suspicious travel, a federal law enforcement official told CNN.
But it wouldn't have been deemed suspicious because he was a Russian traveling to visit his family.
The FBI said its investigation of Tsarnaev turned up no derogatory information about him and the Russians did not respond to what a U.S. intelligence official said were three requests by the FBI for more detailed information about the Russian concerns.
The federal law enforcement official said the "U.S. never deemed him a threat."
The FBI closed the case, but Tsarnaev's name remained on the overall databases.
While its investigation was ongoing, the FBI did attach to the TSDB a notation that it would be “pinged” if Tsarnaev traveled outside the country, the intelligence official said.
The notation was effective for a year.
When Tsarnaev traveled to Russia in January of 2012, the FBI Joint Terrorism Task Force in Boston, which conducted the investigation of Tsarnaev, was notified of his departure.
But by the time he returned the following July, the one-year notation had expired and the FBI was not “pinged,” according to the intelligence official.
　
　
http://security.blogs.cnn.com/2013/04/24/bombing-suspect-was-in-security-files-but-not-on-watch-lists/?eref=googletoolbar