Journalist Stephen F. Hayes, whose pro-America credentials include a spot high on The Weekly Standard’s masthead and a seat at Bret Baier’s table, has found himself on the most unlikely of lists.
And it’s not The Hill’s “50 Most Beautiful.”
Just informed I’m on the @DHSgov terrorist watch list. Explains why I have been subject to extra screening each of my recent trips.
— Stephen Hayes (@stephenfhayes) September 23, 2014
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
Hayes added in a separate tweet that he suspects it’s because he took a one-way flight to Turkey in late July, which isn’t too far from a country that’s been in the headlines a lot the last couple of years.
He detailed the ongoing travel issues it’s caused him recently — he hasn’t known all along — during a podcast with The Weekly Standard. Hayes said it began during a trip to Minneapolis, when he was subjected to an advanced screening that he chalked up to randomness.
“But then on the way back, the same exact thing happened. It took quite a bit longer, and I asked the supervisor who was doing the screening, am I on some kind of a list? And he said [I] can’t really speak about it, but I think that you are,” Hayes recounted.
The writer was subsequently unable to obtain a printed boarding pass online, after the airline informed him that he was on a government terror watch list. His issues were ongoing as of Wednesday morning.
Terrorist watchlist update: Pulled out of line,TSA supervisor called. Officer Chutz at BWI: “You’re on the list.” @DHSgov
— Stephen Hayes (@stephenfhayes) September 24, 2014
