Terrorist Watchlist: FBI Should Improve Outreach Efforts to Nonfederal Users

What GAO Found Nonfederal law enforcement officers query encountered individuals against the terrorist watchlist during routine police interactions, such as traffic stops. After encountering a potentially terrorist watchlisted individual, nonfederal law enforcement officers receive instructions, via the National Crime Information Center (NCIC), to contact the Federal Bureau of Investigation’s (FBI) Threat Screening Center to determine whether the individual is a positive or negative match to the terrorist watchlist. GAO found that almost half of the law enforcement entities GAO interviewed in four states (12 of 26 entities, including police and sheriff’s departments) reported that officers were not consistently reporting encounters with potentially terrorist watchlisted individuals in inst