Witnesses testified in continuing oversight hearings on Department of Homeland Security programs created since the September 11 attacks, in this case the Federal Terrorist Watch List. Topics included weaknesses in the watch list system, the size of the list, names mistakenly in the list, agencies that use the list, and a Government Accountability Office report on use of the Federal Terrorist Watch List.

The Federal Terrorist Watch List includes “individuals known or appropriately suspected to be or have been engaged in conduct constituting, in preparation for, in aid of, or related to terrorism.” The list contains more than 850,000 names with 200,000 names added every year since 2004.