A bunch of national security journalists are tracking down the three Qataris — described as a potential fifth 9/11 cell — described in this WikiLeaks cable and first reported by the Telegraph. I wanted to do the reverse of what they’re doing — to use their reporting to see how someone gets on a terrorist watchlist.

Perhaps because the threat level color has not changed since 2006, the Washington Post informs us that the Obama administration is considering dropping the color-coded threat levels that were the signature of the George W. Bush era. The replacement for the color-coded threats has not been fully divulged yet, so perhaps we have time to have an influence on the new system.