Meet Mikey Hicks, 8: U.S. has him on watch list

[KneelandBobDylan]

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/34855425/ns ... ?GT1=43001

The Transportation Security Administration, under scrutiny after last month’s bombing attempt, has on its Web site a "mythbuster" that tries to reassure the public.

Myth: The No-Fly list includes an 8-year-old boy.

Buster: No 8-year-old is on a T.S.A. watch list.

"Meet Mikey Hicks," said Najlah Feanny Hicks, introducing her 8-year-old son, a New Jersey Cub Scout and frequent traveler who has seldom boarded a plane without a hassle because he shares the name of a suspicious person. "It’s not a myth."

Michael Winston Hicks’s mother initially sensed trouble when he was a baby and she could not get a seat for him on their flight to Florida at an airport kiosk; airline officials explained that his name "was on the list," she recalled.

The first time he was patted down, at Newark Liberty International Airport, Mikey was 2. He cried.

After years of long delays and waits for supervisors at every airport ticket counter, this year’s vacation to the Bahamas badly shook up the family. Mikey was frisked on the way there, then more aggressively on the way home.

"Up your arms, down your arms, up your crotch — someone is patting your 8-year-old down like he’s a criminal," Mrs. Hicks recounted. "A terrorist can blow his underwear up and they don’t catch him. But my 8-year-old can’t walk through security without being frisked."

'Selectee' list
It is true that Mikey is not on the federal government’s "no-fly" list, which includes about 2,500 people, less than 10 percent of them from the United States. But his name appears to be among some 13,500 on the larger "selectee" list, which sets off a high level of security screening.

At some point, someone named Michael Hicks made the Department of Homeland Security suspicious, and little Mikey is still paying the price. (His father, also named Michael Hicks, was stopped for the first time on the Bahamas trip.)

Both lists are maintained by the Terrorist Screening Center, which includes the Federal Bureau of Investigation. They are given to the Transportation Security Administration, which in turn sends them to the airlines.

A spokesman for the T.S.A., James Fotenos, said that as a rule, "there are no children on the no-fly or selectee lists," but would not comment on Mikey’s situation specifically.

For every person on the lists, hundreds of others may get caught up simply because they share the same name; a quick scan through a national phone directory unearthed 1,600 Michael Hickses. Over the past three years, 81,793 frustrated travelers have formally asked that they be struck from the watch list through the Department of Homeland Security; more than 25,000 of their cases are still pending. Others have taken more drastic measures.

'Aggressive' questioning
Mario Labbé, a frequent-flying Canadian record-company executive, started having problems at airports shortly after Sept. 11, 2001, with lengthy delays at checkpoints and mysterious questions about Japan. By 2005, he stopped flying to the United States from Canada, instead meeting American clients in France. Then a forced rerouting to Miami in 2008 led to six hours of questions.

"What’s the name of your mother? Your father? When were you last in Japan?" Mr. Labbé recalled being asked. "Always the same questions in different order. And sometimes, it’s quite aggressive, not funny at all."

Fed up, in the summer of 2008, he changed his name to François Mario Labbé. The problem vanished.


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Several Web sites, including the T.S.A.’s own blog, are rife with tales of misidentification and strategies for solving them. Some travelers purposely misspell their own names when buying tickets, apparently enough to fool the system. Even the late Senator Edward M. Kennedy once found himself on a list.

"We can’t just throw a bunch of names on these lists and call it security," said Representative William J. Pascrell Jr., a New Jersey Democrat. "If we can’t get an 8-year-old off the list, the whole list becomes suspect."

Mr. Fotenos, the T.S.A. spokesman, promised improvements in a few months, as the agency’s Secure Flight Program takes full effect. Under the new system, airlines will collect every passenger’s birth date and gender, along with their names. The T.S.A. will cross-check all that with the watch lists. Previously, the airlines cross-checked the lists themselves, using only the names.

Insane. They have been hassling his family since he was 2.

[VinnieKulick]

But I thought only BROWN people with MUSLIM names were on the list!

[bane]

All the more reason for scanners. Poor kid.

[VinnieKulick]

It does suck for the kid, but really, how much flying is your average 8 year old doing?

[bane]

It does suck for the kid, but really, how much flying is your average 8 year old doing?

That shouldn't matter, at all.

[VinnieKulick]

I'd rather an 8 year old have his name on a list and be searched every single time, then eliminating the name from the list and having the terrorist blow the plane up.

[Ugmo]

Michael Hicks doesn't sound like a terrorist name. Terrorists have names like Abominable Nastygit.

[vlad]

I'd rather an 8 year old have his name on a list and be searched every single time, then eliminating the name from the list and having the terrorist blow the plane up.

The "real" Hicks most very likely isn't on the list because of terrorism threats. A friend has gone through this bullshit for years because he shares a name with someone who pulled some non-terrorist crime (can't remember what it was, might have even been something white collar). Even my friend's now wife gets the treatment since she married him. He's been trying for YEARS to get some kind of letter or something from the TSA so he and his family don't get the treatment. And no joy. The guy delivers big yachts and boats all over the world (for the Walton family, for example....) and has to fly to Europe a lot to pick up boats.



Christ, what a bed wetter. Vinnie, do you have any porn for those of you who are peeing your pants? Depends...adult diapers. I'm sure you'd feel the same way if it was your kid getting frisked....how about a cavity search! Can never be too careful! Those 8 y/o terrorists! And....just because YOU think an 8 y/o doesn't travel that much doesn't mean it's true.

Where the fuck is your common sense?

Also, I'd be very embarrassed to have been the one frisking him when he was TWO YEARS OLD. How fucking stupid is that?

[JakeYonkel]

The only kind of bombs my 2 year old packs are in his diaper.

[lerxstcat]

But I thought only BROWN people with MUSLIM names were on the list!

His mom's first name is Najlah, which is probably a Muslim name.

[bane]

I'd rather an 8 year old have his name on a list and be searched every single time, then eliminating the name from the list and having the terrorist blow the plane up.

Dude, he's 8. This has been going on since he was 2. At some point a little common sense has to come into play. His name is on a list because somebody else, with the same name, did something at some point to get on that list. It probably had absolutely nothing to do with blowing up airplanes. This is just like the situation I was talking about with my ex roommate in the other thread. It's retarded.

[VinnieKulick]

I'd rather an 8 year old have his name on a list and be searched every single time, then eliminating the name from the list and having the terrorist blow the plane up.

Dude, he's 8. This has been going on since he was 2. At some point a little common sense has to come into play. His name is on a list because somebody else, with the same name, did something at some point to get on that list. It probably had absolutely nothing to do with blowing up airplanes. This is just like the situation I was talking about with my ex roommate in the other thread. It's retarded.

My kids live near Baltimore, every time they come to visit I have to get a gate pass to walk them to their gate. EVERY time we are "randomly" picked to BOTH be given extra scrutiny.

Bottom line is, I'd rather EVERYBODY get a full on screening, than one per ten or however much the going rate is. And, if your kid has been getting screened for 6 years, and you know this, just plan an extra 20 minutes for getting to your flight, and your problem is solved.

[AnselmosSyringe]

"They who can give up essential liberty to obtain a little temporary safety, deserve neither liberty nor safety." - Ben Franklin

[VinnieKulick]

"They who can give up essential liberty to obtain a little temporary safety, deserve neither liberty nor safety." - Ben Franklin

Nice quote. Now, what exactly does it have to do with screening people on a watch list? NOTHING.

I doubt Ben Franklin was thinking "not having to wait in line" as liberty.

[AnselmosSyringe]

"They who can give up essential liberty to obtain a little temporary safety, deserve neither liberty nor safety." - Ben Franklin

Nice quote. Now, what exactly does it have to do with screening people on a watch list? NOTHING.

I doubt Ben Franklin was thinking "not having to wait in line" as liberty.

It has to start SOMEWHERE.

Anyone, with a moticum of common sense, should be able to take one look at a 2 or 8 year old, and KNOW that he / she doesn't need to be scrutinized.

[VinnieKulick]

"They who can give up essential liberty to obtain a little temporary safety, deserve neither liberty nor safety." - Ben Franklin

Nice quote. Now, what exactly does it have to do with screening people on a watch list? NOTHING.

I doubt Ben Franklin was thinking "not having to wait in line" as liberty.

It has to start SOMEWHERE.

Anyone, with a moticum of common sense, should be able to take one look at a 2 or 8 year old, and KNOW that he / she doesn't need to be scrutinized.

He's on the list, he gets scrutiny. Plain and simple. Want to fix the list? Fine, do it. If not, stick with the protocol.