Changes to no-fly list due out soon

The federal government should unveil new procedures for the “no-fly” terrorist watch list in coming months, Justice Department lawyers said on Friday.

Attorneys old a district court in a memorandum on Friday that the government “is currently reviewing and revising” the administrative procedures for the list to make them more transparent and easier to challenge in court. 

{mosads}“[T]he Government is revising current redress procedures to increase transparency of the process for certain persons denied boarding on commercial aircraft,” it added.

The changes to the federal list, which prevent people from flying on commercial airplanes, should be completed by Jan. 16, 2015, the lawyers added.

The Obama administration has reportedly been working on changes to the rules for months, after a federal court ruled that the government needed to confirm that passengers are indeed on the no-fly list in order to challenge their placement.  

The list, which was developed after the Sept. 11, 2001 terror attacks, has long been controversial. As of December 2013, there were a reported 47,000 people on the list.

The new timeline was revealed in a memorandum asking the court to pause a lawsuit about the constitutionality of the rules for the no-fly list, and was highlighted by the Federation of American Scientists’ project of government secrecy.