Middle School Kids Threatened with Terrorist Watch List

Wired
Posted: 2008-04-02 00:51:50

The deputy in Oglethorpe County was speaking to an assembly of 10- to 15-year-olds after eight of their fellow students were charged with making terrorist threats for leaving threatening notes in their school hallways.

An FBI spokesman took issue with the local official's warning saying that it was unlikely that a young kid would be branded for life for such a prank.

"If someone gets nominated (for the list) and they see it's a 10-year-old kid, common sense would hopefully prevail," Special Agent Richard Kolko told an Athens reporter, saying that the criteria for getting on the list involved much more than simply leaving a threatening note.

But common sense hasn't prevailed for many other people who have had their or their children's lives disrupted simply because their name closely matched a terrorist suspect who is on the watchlist.