The right-wing media has put a lot of effort into blaming the Obama administration for the fact that Faisal Shahzad was dropped from some kind of purported government “terrorist” watch “list.” They're basing their accusations on a May 5 CBSNews.com article that said, in part:

Sources tell CBS News that would-be Times Square bomber Faisal Shahzad appeared on a Department of Homeland Security travel lookout list - Traveler Enforcement Compliance System (TECS) - between 1999 and 2008 because he brought approximately $80,000 cash or cash instruments into the United States.

TECS is a major law enforcement computer system that allows its approximately 120,000 users from 20 federal agencies to share information. The database is designed to identify individuals suspected of or involved in violation of federal law.

So, CBS News reported that Shahzad was on a “travel lookout list... between 1999 and 2008.” Now, “between” 1999 and 2008 suggests that he was dropped in 2008. Barack Obama was not president until January 20, 2009. Also, nothing in the CBS News report indicated the Obama administration was involved with removing Shahzad's name from the “travel lookout list.”

No matter, though. The blogs jumped all over blaming Obama, and Fox News followed suit.

For example, on Gateway Pundit, Jim Hoft posted a blog entry titled, “Breaking: Obama Administration Removed Faisal Shahzad From Terror Surveillance List Before Attack.” He wrote, “More hope and change...Faisal Shahzad was removed from the national terrorist surveillance list before the Times Square attack,” and that he was “removed from the Department of Homeland Security travel lookout list sometime after Barack Obama came into office.” Hoft cited the CBSNews.com article and the blog Strata-Sphere as evidence. (Strata-Sphere, by way, fell for a satirical post on the Borowitz Report that said the government only surveilled Shahzad by following his Twitter account. Before realizing it was “probably satire,” Strata-Sphere called it a “damning tidbit.”)

The Fox & Friends crew, Gretchen Carlson, Brian Kilmeade, and Steve Doocy couldn't resist weighing in. Early in the show, while they reported on the TECS list, on-screen text alternated from saying, “Security slip? WH may have removed Shahzad from list” and “On the White House's watch? Shahzad may have been taken off list.” They seemed to backpedal some in their later reporting on the issue, by saying that he “was taken off” the list “in 2008,” and making no suggestion that the Obama administration was involved. The moment was short-lived; Kilmeade later went right back to saying Obama was to blame. After Richard Grenell, former communications aide to John Bolton, said, “this administration is sending the message that we're not going to play in this area,” (meaning, anti-terrorism efforts), Kilmeade said, “Especially if it turns out he was pulled off this watch list and they pulled off his tail. I think that would be an issue.”

It's also not even clear that the list was related to terrorism when Shahzad was placed on it. A FoxNews.com article reports that Shahzad was placed on the TECS list in 1999 when it was run by the Treasury Department, called the “Treasury Enforcement Communications System,” and was used to monitor, “potential violations of customs and travel laws.” The article notes that an “official” said a "'lookout' related to Shahzad was never issued." From the article:

Shahzad, however, did appear in some government files not related to terrorism investigations or watchlists. Customs and Border Protection, in particular, created several files as a result of his repeated travel between the United States and his native Pakistan.

In 1999, after declaring on customs forms that he was bringing tens of thousands of dollars in cash into the United States, customs officials entered Shahzad into the Treasury Enforcement Communications System (TECS), a database of more than a billion records designed to help authorities identify potential violations of customs and travel laws.

A “lookout” related to Shahzad was never issued, according to one official.

“It is not unusual for CBP to see individuals with long-term travel to countries with informal cash-based economies to self declare large quantities of cash when entering or exiting the country,” another official said.

TECS is currently maintained by the Department of Homeland Security, but Shahzad's TECS file was created when the system was housed in the Treasury Department and before DHS was even established.

The FoxNews.com article also made no mention of the Obama administration removing Shahzad's name from any list.

From Fox & Friends: