Seems to me he was essentially only on TIDE, which sounds like basically a catch-all list (700000? come the fuck on, odds are someone on hubski knows someone on that list), because he was Chechen?

The first Russian request came in March 2011 through the F.B.I.’s office in the United States Embassy in Moscow. The one-page request said Mr. Tsarnaev “had changed drastically since 2010” and was preparing to travel to a part of Russia “to join unspecified underground groups.”

This is so fucking odd. Did we just choose not to believe the Russians because we assumed they had ulterior motives toward a Chechen national? I mean, I can understand that to an extent. They probably do.

The agents concluded by June 2011 that they could not find any connections to extremists, and in August the results of the assessment were provided to the Russians, according to the United States official. At the time, F.B.I. agents requested additional information on Mr. Tsarnaev and asked to be informed of any further developments.

It seems to me that it's possible the guy just hadn't done anything worth throwing him out of the country for.

I mean, correct me if I'm wrong, but it looks as though the only reason Tamerlan was on any watch lists initially was because the Russians were interested in him and he was Chechen. Later, his status got upgraded because he went home for a while. Frankly, I'm not seeing what else the CIA could have done in this situation. Deportation -- well, yeah, but without cause that's an argument for liberals in the other direction.

Odd story.