While the authority to collect intelligence on foreigners is virtually unrestricted, the same is not true for "U.S. persons"—that is, American citizens and green card holders who are protected by the Constitution. While the TOC watchlist tracks members of transnational gangs and people affiliated with international crime syndicates, it also keeps tabs on Americans who, in an increasingly globalized world, are deemed transnational criminals merely because they talk to people in other countries.

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Newsweek reached out to Congressional offices with direct oversight roles, all of whom declined to comment. However, congressional voices have called into question the reliability and independence of auditors in the Trump administration. The chairs of both the House Homeland Security Committee and the Committee on Government Oversight and Reform recently raised concerns that Executive Branch Inspectors General have been "failing to provide basic oversight of [the Department of Homeland Security]," one of the main agencies that contributes to and collects intelligence based on the watchlisting system.

"Compiling lists of national security enemies strikes me as what Hitler did in Germany in the 1930s or what Stalin did in Russia in the '30s, '40s and '50s," says General Taylor, the former head of intelligence for the Department of Homeland Security, referring to American citizens. "That is nothing more than trying to take a sledgehammer when you need a stiletto."