COLUMNIST: I've Been Added To The US 'Terrorist Watch List'

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From Yahoo!News (source link): Stephen Hayes, a senior writer for the conservative-leaning Weekly Standard magazine, has been placed on the Department of Homeland Security’s terrorist watch list, he announced Tuesday afternoon.

“Just informed I’m on the @DHSgov terrorist watch list. Explains why I have been subject to extra screening each of my recent trips,” Hayes wrote on Twitter.

Hayes, who is also a Fox News contributor, speculated on the matter in subsequent tweets. He suggested his recent one-way trip to Turkey could have triggered extra attention. He also said he attempted to fix the issue on the DHS website but hit a technical glitch.

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DHS did not immediately respond to a request for comment from Business Insider.

The US has often been accused of being overly loose in how it assigns individuals to the list, designed to boost the “ability of front line screening agencies to positively identify known or suspected terrorists trying to obtain visas, enter the country, board aircraft, or engage in other activity,” according to the federal government.

View some of Hayes’ tweets on the matter below.

Naturally, when I went to file a “redress” form on the @DHSgov website, as instructed, the form could not be processed. #limbo

— Stephen Hayes (@stephenfhayes) September 23, 2014
I suspect I made the list b/c of concerns about #Syria. I took a one-way flight to Turkey in late July (return flight was Athens). @DHSgov

— Stephen Hayes (@stephenfhayes) September 23, 2014
@SpeakWithAuthor I was flagged for extra screening on my last two trips. A “selectee.” Called in the TSA supervisor to handle.

— Stephen Hayes (@stephenfhayes) September 23, 2014
@SpeakWithAuthor Denied last few times I tried to check-in online. Called the airline — they told me.

— Stephen Hayes (@stephenfhayes) September 23, 2014