Passenger Questioned At Oakland Airport because his name was similar to one on the FBI watch list. It was a false alarm, and doesn’t instill confidence in procedures:

The law enforcement response was part of normal airport procedure and such name matches are “not necessarily a daily occurrence, but it is somewhat routine,” (Airport Spokeswoman Rosemary) Barnes said.

Even a match of the first three letters of a passenger’s name with a name on the FBI’s list could trigger a security alert, according to Barnes.