U.S. citizen/political activist put on the "No-Fly List."
By Douglas Hagmann private investigator:
One man’s tropical paradise is another man’s prison. Imagine being “stuck” on Oahu. I’m sure you could think of worse situations, but really stop and think about the following true and evolving situation. You’re a “normal” 34 year-old guy, live on the U.S. mainland in Gulfport, Mississippi, and recently married a woman who is a lieutenant in the U.S. Navy stationed in Okinawa. You’re a citizen of the United States and possess a valid U.S. issued passport. You’re not a criminal and have no history of felony or misdemeanor convictions. In fact, you recently passed a background check to own and carry a firearm in Mississippi. You are, however, an outspoken patriot for the United States Constitution.
You miss your bride of eight months, and decide to fly to Okinawa to visit her. Because you are the “dependent” of an active duty member of the U.S. military, you make arrangements to fly from San Francisco to Okinawa on a military aircraft. You must still have a ticket, pass the screening procedures similar or even more stringent than those flying on normal commercial airlines. After the screening at the airport, you board the plane and settle in for your flight, counting down the hours until you are reunited with your wife.
The plane lands in Hawaii as scheduled for refueling and maintenance. It is here, after re-boarding the aircraft, that two heavily-armed military guards confront you and tell you that you must leave the plane. They take you to a small room at the military base and advise you that you are on the U.S. “No-Fly” list. You’re not under arrest, but you’re not free to go until they decide what to do with you. You watch as your plane, as well as your hopes of seeing your bride vanish into the air while under the careful watch of two heavily armed military police officials.
What’s going on?
As you sit in a small room, thoughts race through your mind. Why am I here? It must be some mistake. I’ve committed no crime. Like any “normal” American, You expect the matter to be resolved as there must be some mix-up. Then, an official with the Customs and Border Enforcement arrives and tells you that there is no mix-up. The official rattles off your name, date of birth, social security number and complete identifying information. It’s you alright, and you are officially on the “No-Fly” list.
“How did you get on that plane?” asks the Customs and Border Enforcement official. You reply that you had a normal ticket, passed through the screening process and boarded the plane normally and without incident. You are told that you should not have been permitted to fly. Again, you are on the “No-Fly” list. You reply that there has to be a mistake, and are met with the stern reply of the official: there is no mistake.
You then ask why you are on the “No-Fly” list and are told that you are not permitted to know. At this point, they tell you that you are free to go, but you cannot fly anywhere by orders of the United States government. And there you are, in “paradise” but unable to leave.
Meet Wade Hicks, Jr
The above events took place on October 14, 2012. The victim in this case is one Wade Hicks, Jr., 34, a U.S. citizen and resident of Gulfport, Mississippi. I personally checked him out and verified his story. With his permission, I conducted a “basic” background check of Mr. Hicks, Jr. He has no criminal record. He is not a “wanted” man. By all normal and visible accounts, Mr. Hicks, Jr. appears to be a law abiding member of society. I did find, however, that he is an outspoken “patriot” and openly critical of the NDAA. He is a former talk-show host of a small, local radio station known for its “patriotic bias.” He is a member of “Patriots for America” and the Mississippi Preparedness Project. He is openly vocal about the erosion of our rights – and it certainly looks like he has been proven correct. Is that now a crime worthy of being denied the ability to travel freely within the United States?
Mr. Hicks detailed his plight on Monday’s edition of The Hagmann & Hagmann Report to a shocked and disbelieving audience. How can this happen in America? This is inter-STATE travel! There must be some mistake! Has he done anything to let his elected representatives know? The questions were many, and yes, Mr. Hicks, Jr. indeed pleaded for assistance from his elected officials and anyone who would listen during the last 36 hours. “I’ve got nothing to hide,” stated Mr. Hicks. Nothing. “I feel like a prisoner in my own country, but no one will tell me what I’ve done to be placed on the ‘No-Fly’ list. I’m not allowed to know.”
Although I’m tempted to insert a reference to “Gilligan’s Island,” I will refrain. If all of the facts presently known withstand more intense scrutiny and further investigation, we have a very big problem in this country. You might be next, and Hawaii might not be where you are inexplicably left on your own.
I am following the fate of Mr. Hicks and continue to search for a logical explanation. At this point, however, the only logical explanation I’ve found is a very disturbing one. Perhaps this is how it all starts. Stay tuned.http://www.homelandsecurityus.com/archives/6962
Audio of show segment click here
Must Watch: Video account of Mr. Hicks
Prepper put on No-Fly List, stranded in Hawaii.
What does it take to get your name on the no-fly list in America? Apparently you only need to be classified as a “prepper.”
When 34-year-old U.S. citizen and Mississippi resident Wade Hicks boarded a military flight to visit his wife, a Navy lieutenant stationed in Okinawa, Japan, he did not think it would be a one-way trip. Stopping off in Hawaii to refuel, upon reboarding the plane, Hicks was quickly escorted back off again by armed guards. He was then taken to a secure interrogation room where Hicks was informed he would not be flying anywhere because he turned up on the no-fly list.
Hicks has since been stranded on the island state without a way home.
As seen below in a bombshell double interview on Infowars Nightly News, private investigator and founder of the Northeast Intelligence Network Douglas Hagmann revealed that Hicks not only passed through TSA screening at his original departure point in San Francisco, but he has also passed a criminal background check and an FBI screening for an enhanced concealed carry permit in his home state.
In addition, Hicks holds a TWIC card, or Transportation Worker Identification Credential, granted by none other than the TSA. Hicks has also held classified clearances as a defense contractor for the U.S. military. His passport is valid and has not been revoked.
What was it Hicks did, then, to be added to the U.S. government’s no-fly list maintained by the FBI’s Terrorist Screening Center?
“I asked [Hicks] ‘Could you have been mistaken for a person with the same surname?’” Hagmann said. “The people who were acting on behalf of the TSA and DHS had told him his social security number, his date of birth, his name, and they said, ‘No, there is no mistake, this is you, you’re on this no-fly list.’”
After being asked to get off the plane, “It started out like something fairly routine,” Hicks said in his interview with Infowars. “About 15-20 minutes later, two heavily armed Air Force security forces guys showed up.”
It was then Hicks was told he would not be flying anywhere. There is no indication as to why Hicks was able to first fly from San Francisco to Hawaii without being notified he was supposedly on the list.
Seemingly the only “crime” Hicks has committed that would end in revocation of his ability to fly is his affiliation with the Mississippi Preparedness Project, a prepper organization. Although prepping is not illegal, the FBI has been cracking down on preppers for awhile now, with everything from spying on people who visit prepper websites to straight up stripping preppers of their Second Amendment rights.
Hicks revealed to Infowars that a supposed disabled veteran claiming to be a Navy Seal had joined his prepper group earlier in the year, but Hicks felt the man’s story seemed suspicious. Through a Freedom of Information Act request, Hicks learned the man had never been in the military even though he possessed an authentic military ID. Sometime later while out driving, Hicks saw the man’s car and ended up tailing him to a Mississippi Department of Homeland Security branch office where the man parked his car.
When asked if he thought his affiliation with a prepper group caused him to get detained, Hicks responded, “If it does, that’s a pretty sad situation.”
In the meantime, Hicks has contacted his Senator, and he has received a call back that the Senator’s office is currently working to help him get home.
http://www.infowars.com/prepper-put-on-no-fly-list-stranded-in-hawaii/
NDAA critic stranded in Hawaii after turning up on no-fly list.
Wade Hicks was en route to a US Navy base in Japan to see his wife when armed military guards informed him that they had other plans. Hicks, an American citizen with no criminal record, had just been put added to a federal no-fly list.
After being escorted off his plane during a routine re-fueling stop on the Pacific Island of Oahu, Hicks, 34, was left stranded in Hawaii this week. In an interview, he suggests that his opposition to a newly-created law that allows for the indefinite detention of US citizens at military prisons without charge or trial could be to blame for his mistreatment.
"I was very, very vocal about the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) and I did contact my representative” about it, Hicks tells talk show host Doug Hagmann. "I do believe that this is tied in some way to my free speech and my political view."
In fact, the only “dirt” the host has managed to dig up on Hicks, he writes, is his occasionally vocal identification as an American patriot.
Hicks, says Hagmann, “appears to be a law abiding member of society.” He adds, however, that preliminary research has led him to link the man as being “an outspoken ‘patriot’” who is “openly critical of the NDAA,” a bill US President Barack Obama signed into law on December 31 despite openly acknowledging that he had “serious reservations” about provisions that allow the military to indefinitely detain anyone on mere suspicion of ties with terrorists. Hicks also tells the radio host that he is critical of the government’s handling of the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks and says, “I think the evidence I've seen warrants a new investigation, and I'm very vocal about it as well."
“He is a former talk-show host of a small, local radio station known for its ‘patriotic bias.’ He is a member of ‘Patriots for America’ and the Mississippi Preparedness Project. He is openly vocal about the erosion of our rights – and it certainly looks like he has been proven correct. Is that now a crime worthy of being denied the ability to travel freely within the United States?” Hagmann writes.
http://rt.com/usa/news/no-fly-hicks-us-military-650/
Guantanamo prisoner's opinion of LeBron James treated as top secret.
Guantanamo Bay U.S. naval base, Cuba - U.S. security restrictions governing the statements of former CIA captives held at Guantanamo are so stringent that one prisoner's assessment of basketball star LeBron James was treated as a top national secret for two months, a military defense lawyer said on Tuesday.
The incident was disclosed by Navy Lieutenant Commander Kevin Bogucki, a defense lawyer for Yemeni defendant Ramzi Binalshibh, one of five prisoners charged with orchestrating the September 11 plot to crash hijacked commercial planes into U.S. buildings.
Bogucki said another of his Guantanamo prisoner clients, former CIA captive Muhammed Rahim, wrote a note criticizing the National Basketball Association star's decision to leave the Cleveland Cavaliers for the Miami Heat in 2010.
"LeBron James is a very bad man. He should apologize to the city of Cleveland," Bogucki quoted the note as saying.
Rahim has not been charged with a crime but because he was previously held and interrogated by the CIA, his communications are subject to restrictions similar to those of the alleged September 11 plotters - every word they write or utter is presumed to be "Top Secret" unless a government Security Classification Review Team declares them safe for public release.
"It took that classification authority approximately two months to determine that my client's opinion of LeBron James did not pose a grievous threat to national security," said Bogucki, who did not indicate when the note was written.
Defense lawyers say the security restrictions are overbroad and impair their ability to prepare a defense in a case that could end with their clients' execution.
http://ca.news.yahoo.com/guantanamo-prisoners-opinion-basketball-star-treated-top-secret-190624284.html
Queens, NY man trapped in Germany because of the DHS no-fly list.
A Queens man has been trapped in Europe for the last 17 days, says an advocacy group, because his name is allegedly on the no-fly list.
Samir Suljovic, 26, first tried to fly back home to New York from Vienna, Austria, on October 1. Airline agents told the New Yorker that he could not board a return flight at the request of his own government.
On Wednesday, the New York Chapter of the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR-NY) issued a statement that demands that the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) and the U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) allow Suljovic to return home from his current location, Germany.
The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) maintains the no-fly list. The TSA vets names against the list for commercial flights.
Muneer Awad, executive director of the CAIR-NY, said he has no way to know whether this is a case of mistaken identity because he claims authorities have been unresponsive.
“This is not a unique case for American Muslims who have been traveling abroad,” Awad told the Daily News. “He has no criminal record, he has never been charged with anything criminal. A Muslim happened to be traveling abroad and it raised a red flag for no other reason than that he is Muslim.”
Suljovic tried to contact the DHS and CBP liaison at JFK International Airport but has not received a response, says the rights group. He was advised to ask for help from the Germany's U.S. embassy. But instead of support he was allegedly interrogated and his cell phone was searched without his consent.
"This is an abuse of power by our federal agencies," said Awad. "Our government cannot ban American citizens from returning home without due process of law."
CAIR-NY sent a letter with its demands to Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, DHS Secretary Janet Napolitano, New York members of the U.S. Congress and the U.S. Embassy in Munich, Germany.
"The denial of Mr. Suljovic's right to return home without due process of law constitutes a grave violation of his civil rights and liberties," the letter reads. "Instead of protecting this young U.S. citizen while he traveled abroad, the government has effectively stranded him in an unfamiliar country without shelter or protection."
http://www.nydailynews.com/news/national/queens-man-no-fly-list-stuck-17-days-german-airport-article-1.1185973
Man banned mid-trip by No-Fly List gets stranded in Hawaii.
The farce that is the government’s no-fly list got another bizarre twist when the spouse of a Navy lieutenant, flying on a military jet to visit his wife in Japan last week, was booted from his flight during a layover in Hawaii.
Wade Hicks, from Mississippi, was on a layover at Joint Base Pearl Harbor-Hickam, on a military flight from California to Okinawa, when a U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement official in Hawaii told him he was on a no-fly list and barred him from continuing his journey.
Hicks was stranded in Hawaii for six days before the ban suddenly lifted last Thursday after he contacted politicians in Mississippi and Hawaii for assistance.
During the time that he was stuck in Hawaii, he stayed in a hotel room at the Pearl Harbor naval base — a facility that houses submarines, cruisers and destroyers — despite being considered a national security risk, based on his placement on the no-fly list.
The government’s no-fly list contains the names of about 20,000 people suspected of terrorist activity, including 500 to 600 Americans. The office of the Defense Secretary told AP that passengers who fly standby on military flights are screened against the no-fly list only on international flights. Domestic passengers are screened only through an internal military system, not the Advanced Passenger Information System run by Customs and Border Protection.
Because Hicks had no problem flying from California to Hawaii before he was barred, it’s possible that either his name was added to the no-fly list after he was already en route to Hawaii, or authorities in California failed to check the list before he boarded because the first leg of his journey was only a domestic flight.
In the past, quite a number of Americans, including Senator Ted Kennedy, many David Nelsons and an influential nun, were nabbed by the list for having names similar to suspected terrorists.
The government does not make public any statistics about the effectiveness of the no-fly list and its companion list — the secondary screening list — which singles out passengers for more intense screenings. Those caught on either list can try to get off it by filing a request with the government, but have no recourse to the courts to challenge the administrative punishment.
That’s because the Ninth Circuit ruled that while Americans have a First Amendment right to travel, they do not have a constitutional right to fly.
http://www.wired.com/threatlevel/2012/10/left-behind-by-no-fly-list/
UPDATE: Wade E. Hicks Jr., says he's cleared of 'no-fly' order, takes plane to leave Hawaii.
Something changed after Hicks went public with his story and contacted his congressmen. His story made international headlines.
Hicks said he still wants to know what happened and why, and he wants to recoup his expenses from the government. He has filed requests under the Freedom of Information Act for answers from the Transportation Security Administration and the Department of Homeland Security.
"They have not apologized nor given me any reason," Hicks said.
Hicks told the Sun Herald on Friday morning he was cleared to fly and was on stand-by for a flight to the air base in San Francisco, near where his wife's family lives. His wife was expected to fly in to see him over the weekend.
After his plane touched down about 5:37 p.m., he alerted the Sun Herald, and said he felt "great."
Representatives for U.S. Sen. Roger Wicker and U.S. Rep Steven Palazzo said the congressmen had been in contact with Hicks and federal authorities. Both said the congressmen had done everything they could to respond to Hicks' concerns, but they could not comment on a constituent's private matters.
A TSA spokeswoman referred the Sun Herald to the FBI's Terrorist Screening Center, where a spokesman said he could neither confirm nor deny Hicks was on the no-fly list. The spokesman said about 500 Americans are on the list, which is reserved for persons suspected of having ties to terrorism or of using air travel to an area to commit a terrorist act.
Several years ago, Hicks started a radio show called "The Free Speech Zone." He is an assistant engineer for WQRZ Radio in Bay St. Louis and occasionally appears on a similar talk show, station manager Brice Phillips said.
"He must have ruffled somebody's feathers," Phillips said. "He is not a terrorist."
http://www.sunherald.com/2012/10/19/4253495/gulfport-man-says-hes-cleared.html