The FBI is permitted to keep people on their terrorist list, even if they have been acquitted of terrorism-related crimes or if the charges against them have been dropped, the Sydney Morning Herald is reporting. Newly-released documents released by the government agency under the Freedom of Information Act confirmed the news. The documents also disclose how police are instructed to act if they come into contact with someone on the list.

If someone is included on the watch list, police are allowed to keep them off planes. Non-citizens can also be blocked from entering the U.S., and suspects can undergo greater scrutiny at airports, border crossings and traffic stops.

Approximately 420,000 people are now included on the list, of which 8000 are Americans. The database, which was released in connection with the 10th anniversary of the September 11 attacks, also states that about 16,000 people, including about 5,000 Americans, aren’t allowed to fly.

The director of the FBI’s Terrorist Screening Center, Timothy Healy, said the documents show the government is balancing civil liberties with a process that determines who no longer needs to be on the list. The documents include guidance memos to FBI field offices that state that even a not-guilty verdict isn’t always enough to take someone off the list. If agents maintain that they still have reasonable suspicion that the person has ties to terrorism, the person can remain on the list.

Written by: Karen Benardello