Inspection Report 

The Consolidated Terrorism Watchlist 

Nomination Process at the Department 

of Energy 

DOE/IG-0778 October 2007 

U.S. Department of Energy 

Office of Inspector General 

Office of Inspections and Special Inquiries 


THE CONSOLIDATED TERRORISM WATCHLIST 

NOMINATION PROCESS AT THE DEPARTMENT OF ENERGY 

 

TABLE OF 

CONTENTS 

OVERVIEW 

Introduction and Objective 1 

Observations and Conclusions 2 

DETAILS OF FINDINGS 

DOE Watchlisting 3 

RECOMMENDATIONS 5 

MANAGEMENT COMMENTS 5 

INSPECTOR COMMENTS 5 

APPENDIX

A. Scope and Methodology 6 

B. Management Comments 7 
Overview 

Page 1 The Consolidated Terrorism Watchlist 

 Nomination Process at the 

 Department of Energy 

INTRODUCTION Placing terrorists on watchlists is a key factor in the global war on 

AND OBJECTIVE terrorism. In 2003, the Terrorist Screening Center was established 

under Homeland Security Presidential Directive-6 to consolidate 

the United States Government’s terrorism watchlisting activities. 

The Terrorist Screening Center maintains the Consolidated 

Terrorism Watchlist, a sensitive unclassified database of terrorism 

information obtained from the National Counterterrorism Center 

(NCTC) and the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI). The 

NCTC provides information regarding international terrorists and 

the FBI provides purely domestic terrorist information. The FBI’s 

role was formalized in a September 16, 2003, Memorandum of 

Understanding between the Attorney General, the Secretary of 

Homeland Security, the Secretary of State and the Director of 

Central Intelligence implementing Homeland Security Presidential 

Directive-6 which stated that agencies will continually provide all 

“Purely Domestic Terrorist Information” to the FBI. 

The goal in creating the Terrorist Screening Center was to increase 

sharing of information at all levels of government in order to have 

the most comprehensive and up-to-date information about potential 

terrorist threats. The information maintained by the Terrorist 

Screening Center is available to appropriate Federal, state, local, 

tribal, and territorial government officials for screening purposes. 

The NCTC is an interagency joint-venture under the Office of the 

Director of National Intelligence and serves as the primary U.S. 

Government organization for analyzing and integrating all 

intelligence possessed or acquired by the Government pertaining to 

international terrorism and counterterrorism. The NCTC maintains 

a classified database of known and suspected terrorists that is 

accessible by appropriate officials and entities.

To ensure that the NCTC has the most accurate and up-to-date 

terrorist information, Homeland Security Presidential Directive-6 

requires that “executive departments and agencies shall, to the 

extent permitted by law, provide to the Terrorist Threat Integration 

Center [now NCTC] on an ongoing basis all appropriate Terrorist 

Information in their possession, custody, or control.” Terrorist 

Information is defined as information about individuals known or 

suspected to be or have been engaged in conduct constituting, in 

preparation for, in aid of, or related to terrorism. 
Page 2 Observations and Conclusions 

The Intelligence Community Inspectors General Forum agreed to 

conduct a multi-agency review of the processes for nominating 

individuals to the Consolidated Terrorism Watchlist. Thus, the 

objective of our inspection was to review the DOE process for 

Watchlist nominations. 

OBSERVATIONS AND We found that DOE did not have a formal process for nominating 

CONCLUSIONS individuals to the Consolidated Terrorism Watchlist and had never 

directly nominated anyone to the Watchlist. In fact, Department 

officials asserted that there is a limited likelihood that DOE would 

ever be in a position to do so. We concluded, however, that given 

the current terrorism/security concerns and DOE’s highly sensitive 

mission, DOE should formalize such a process which would 

include providing employee awareness training on watchlist issues. 
Details of Findings 

Page 3 Details of Findings 

DOE WATCHLISTING Within DOE, the Office of Intelligence and Counterintelligence is 

the responsible entity for nominating individuals to the 

Consolidated Terrorism Watchlist in the event appropriate 

information is acquired. The Intelligence Directorate conducts 

technical analyses of foreign intelligence for DOE, including the 

National Nuclear Security Administration, and the United States 

Intelligence Community. The Counterintelligence Directorate is 

responsible for protecting DOE information against espionage or 

other intelligence activities by foreign entities. DOE employees 

across the complex are required to report to the local or servicing 

Counterintelligence Directorate office information concerning 

actual or suspected espionage, sabotage, or terrorist acts against the 

United States. We were advised by officials from both 

Directorates that they were unaware of DOE ever having acquired 

information that would have triggered a nomination to the 

Consolidated Watchlist. 

Intelligence Directorate Responsible DOE officials stated that because DOE does not 

engage in primary covert collection, any terrorist names that it 

might normally acquire in its technical analyses role would come 

from some other member of the Intelligence Community. As 

indicated previously, these other agencies are required to nominate 

such individuals to the Consolidated Terrorism Watchlist pursuant 

to Homeland Security Presidential Directive-6. 

However, we determined that pursuant to Executive Order 12333, 

the Intelligence Directorate can engage in limited overt collection 

activities. Thus, it appears possible that the Directorate could 

acquire information concerning terrorists as part of these 

responsibilities.

Counterintelligence We determined that although the primary mission of the 

Directorate Counterintelligence Directorate is to protect against espionage, the 

Directorate could potentially acquire terrorist information related 

to DOE and National Nuclear Security Administration activities. 

However, the Counterintelligence Directorate has essentially no 

investigative authority and is required to provide information that 

it develops concerning espionage or terrorist activity within the 

United States to the FBI. The FBI, with clear jurisdiction in these 

circumstances, is responsible for the nomination of individuals to 

the Consolidated Terrorism Watchlist. The FBI is to provide 

information directly to the Terrorist Screening Center regarding 

purely domestic terrorism and is to provide any information 

regarding international terrorists to the NCTC. 
Page 4 Details of Findings 

Conclusion Given the roles and authorities of the Intelligence Directorate and 

Counterintelligence Directorate and statements made by Office of 

Intelligence and Counterintelligence officials, it appears unlikely 

but possible that the Directorates have or may ever acquire 

information on an individual who should be nominated to the 

Consolidated Watchlist. In the event that either Directorate 

acquires such information, they are required to provide that 

information to the NCTC or FBI. 

We interviewed officials at the NCTC and Terrorist Screening 

Center regarding DOE watchlisting issues. An NCTC official 

advised us that given the Intelligence Directorate’s limited 

collection capabilities and, as a result its limited opportunities to 

make a nomination, there was little need for it to develop an 

extensive nominating process. However, the NCTC official 

advised that, in her judgment, the Intelligence Directorate should 

formalize a process for contacting NCTC to seek guidance in the 

event that it acquires information pertinent to U.S. watchlisting 

efforts. 

The official further advised that because the FBI is to submit 

relevant information to the NCTC, there should be no need for the 

Counterintelligence Directorate to make direct nominations. An 

FBI official at the Terrorist Screening Center confirmed that given 

the formal relationship between the Counterintelligence 

Directorate and the FBI, the FBI should make any Watchlist 

nominations that it deems appropriate. Based on our request, the 

Terrorist Screening Center attempted to determine whether 

information provided by DOE has ever been used in any Watchlist 

nominations. The results were inconclusive. 

We recognize DOE’s relationship with the FBI and that 

appropriate information is to be referred to the FBI and the 

Terrorist Screening Center. Nevertheless, we concluded that DOE 

and national security interests would be best served if the 

Counterintelligence Directorate formalized a process to ensure that 

appropriate information is nominated for the Watchlist. 

Some Office of Intelligence and Counterintelligence officials 

acknowledged having limited familiarity with watchlisting issues. 

We concluded that the appropriate Department analysts and 

officials would benefit from awareness training to ensure that they 

are sensitive to information that should be incorporated into the 

Watchlist and the related procedures for doing so.
Page 5 Recommendations 

 Management and 

 Inspector Comments 

RECOMMENDATIONS We recommend that the Director, Office of Intelligence and 

Counterintelligence: 

1. Develop a formal Department of Energy process for 

nominating personnel to the Consolidated Terrorism Watchlist; 

and, 

2. Provide awareness training to all employees who could acquire 

information relating to individuals who should be nominated to 

the Consolidated Terrorism Watchlist. 

MANAGEMENT Management said that it initiated action to develop a Memorandum 

COMMENTS of Understanding with the NCTC and the Terrorist Screening 

Center and a process for nominating individuals to the 

Consolidated Terrorism Watchlist. Management also said that it 

will review current practices and implement appropriate Watchlist 

awareness training for all current and newly-hired personnel with a 

counterterrorism mission. We have included management’s 

comments in their entirety at Appendix B. 

INSPECTOR We found management’s comments to be responsive to our 

COMMENTS report. However, because the comments did not include planned 

corrective actions with target completion dates, a Management 

Decision is required. 

 
Appendix A

Page 6 Scope and Methodology 

SCOPE AND This review included interviews with officials at DOE, the NCTC 

METHODOLOGY and the Terrorist Screening Center. We reviewed applicable 

policies pertaining to the United States Government’s watchlisting 

activities. Also, pursuant to the “Government Performance and 

Results Act of 1993,” we examined performance measurement 

processes as they related to watchlisting. This inspection was 

conducted in accordance with “Quality Standards for Inspections” 

issued by the President’s Council on Integrity and Efficiency. 
Appendix B 

Page 7 Management Comments 
IG Report No. DOE/IG-0778 

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