By The Bounce Black Team
Most people believe that secret government watchlists are reserved for dangerous terrorists.
The truth is far more disturbing.
Since 9/11, sweeping surveillance laws like the US Patriot Act and programs like Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA) Section 702 have created a vast, secretive system of monitoring and punishing innocent civilians — not just in the United States, but around the world.
Our Founder, Nikki Adebiyi, is one of those civilians. Although she is based in the UK, this 24/7 surveillance and harassment follows her across borders.
She is not alone. There are many more like her. She is directly connected to more than a dozen, but the number of affected individuals in total is greater than this small group.
How Did We Get Here?
The Patriot Act (2001) was passed in the aftermath of 9/11 to “protect national security.” It gave U.S. agencies enormous new powers to spy, surveil, and collect information about suspected threats — often without proper oversight, evidence, or court approval.
FISA Section 702 (2008) expanded these powers even further. It allowed warrantless surveillance of communications “targeting” foreign individuals outside the U.S., but swept in millions of innocent people through incidental collection — including U.S. citizens and allies worldwide.
What Are Fusion Centers?
Fusion Centers are state-run intelligence-sharing hubs across the United States, created after 9/11 to improve coordination between federal, state, and local agencies on counterterrorism and national security threats.
They gather, analyse, and share information from multiple sources, including law enforcement, government agencies, private companies, and even public tips, supposedly to detect and prevent threats.
Concerns About Fusion Centers:
- Overreach: They often monitor ordinary people, activists, whistleblowers, and minority groups under the vague label of “potential threats.”
- Poor Standards: Fusion Centers have been criticised for collecting unreliable information, spreading disinformation, and targeting innocent civilians.
- Lack of Oversight: There is very little transparency about how they operate, who they target, and how their intelligence is used.
- Private Sector Ties: Many Fusion Centers share data with corporations, expanding surveillance beyond public agencies.
Why It Matters:
Fusion Centers have contributed to the wrongful watchlisting, harassment, and surveillance of countless innocent people — and help maintain systems like the Terrorist Screening Database (TSDB).
The Terrorist Screening Database, recently renamed the Threat Screening Database, was created to centralise the names of people seen as potential threats—but with shockingly low standards for inclusion.
You don’t need to commit a crime to land on this list.
You don’t even have to be investigated.
An unverified tip, a misinterpretation, or simply standing up against injustice can be enough.
The result?
A secret “hit list” with tens of thousands of innocent people — whistleblowers, activists, minority groups, and everyday citizens — subjected to ongoing, illegal harassment and repression.
And it’s not confined to the U.S.
The reach is global, thanks to the sharing of “intelligence” across allied governments, including the UK.
What is the KST File?
KST stands for Known or Suspected Terrorist file. It is part of the U.S. government’s TSDB, managed by the FBI’s Terrorist Screening Center.
The KST file collects and stores information on individuals who are flagged as “known” or merely “suspected” of being connected to terrorism.
However, the standards for being added are extremely vague and do not require actual evidence of wrongdoing or criminal behaviour.
What’s the Problem with the KST File?
Low Standards for Inclusion. You can be placed in the KST file based on unverified tips, secret accusations, or even mistakes, without your knowledge and without any opportunity to challenge it.
No Due Process. Individuals are not notified when they are added. They are also denied the right to meaningfully contest their listing.
“Non-Investigative Subjects”: Many people placed in the KST file aren’t even being actively investigated for anything. They are placed on the list just “in case”, which can result in lifelong surveillance, harassment, job loss, denial of travel, and more.
Impact Beyond the U.S.: The TSDB, including the KST file, is shared widely with foreign governments, private companies, airlines, police departments, and even hospitals and schools in some cases. This means people in countries like the UK, Canada, and Australia can experience harassment based on a U.S. listing they don’t even know about.
How It Ties to Organised Harassment
Many targets of organised harassment experience stalking, defamation, blacklisting, strange police encounters, and sabotage.
These harassment tactics are strongly linked to being listed in the KST file or TSDB under the vague label of “suspected threat,” often without ever committing any crime.
The abuse of the KST file is a key part of how illegal watchlists have become secret punishment systems.
In 2022, NSA Whistleblower Karen Melton Stewart revealed that FBI Fusion Centers are being used as “vengeance for hire entities”.
In our Founder’s case, she was placed on the list by her former employer NBCUniversal in retaliation to reporting her (senior) ex-boss for bullying, harassment and discrimination, and filing an Employment Tribunal claim against them.
Catch up on her story here, if you aren’t familiar with it:
- That Could Have Been Me: Surviving workplace bullying and victimisation
- Their Word Against Mine: How investigators fail workplace bullying victims
- Hidden In Plain Sight: Workplace retaliation and organised harassment
What Happens to Targets?
Once on the list, people may experience:
- 24/7 surveillance and “community policing”
- Organised harassment and sabotage of their lives
- Smear campaigns, blacklisting, and economic sabotage
- Psychological warfare designed to push them to despair
- Wrongful detentions, arrests, and harassment at borders
- Isolation from friends, family, and support networks
- In extreme cases, attempts may be made on their life or the lives of their friends, family and loved ones
This is not science fiction. This is not fake news or hysteria. This is happening right now.
And because the list is secret and the programs are cloaked in “national security,” it is almost impossible to challenge your inclusion or seek justice through traditional legal routes.
Why This Matters for Everyone
Even if you are not personally targeted, unchecked surveillance and repression are a threat to us all. When governments can secretly blacklist citizens without evidence, silence dissent, and weaponise “national security” to destroy lives, no one is truly free.
If we do not act now, more innocent people will suffer. More lives will be ruined. More voices will be erased.
What You Can Do
Empower Yourself:
- 📖 Visit the Surviving Organised Harassment Guide for tools, resources, and support.
- 📝 Complete an Impact Statement to tell your story clearly and powerfully.
- 🗣 Speak up where it’s safe to do and document everything. Truth and visibility are weapons they fear.
Sound the Alarm:
- ✍🏽 Sign Michelle Igunbor’s petition demanding a congressional investigation into the FBI’s abuse of the TSDB: Sign here
- 📢 Write to your local government representatives demanding accountability for intelligence abuse and unlawful watchlisting.
- 🔗 Share this information widely. We cannot allow disinformation to drown out the truth. Read and share our ‘All iZ On Me‘ campaign.
Final Words
This is not just a personal issue. This is a global human rights crisis.
History shows us that unchecked power always leads to injustice. Today’s targets are the canaries in the coal mine.
We have a duty—to ourselves, to each other, and to future generations—to resist, to speak out, and to demand a world where no innocent person lives under secret surveillance and silent persecution.
The time to act is now.
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