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State Dept. Threatens U.S. Citizens by Jonathan G
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State Department Threatens American Citizens
Jonathan Gurwitz
Thursday, July 18, 2002
The State Department took extraordinary steps last week to shore up security related to its visa-granting Bureau of Consular Affairs (C.A.). Unfortunately for the American people, State's idea of heightened security was to detain a journalist, Joel Mowbray of National Review, who wrote about C.A.'s scandalously lax attitude toward screening visa applicants.
Until recently, nearly every foreigner requesting a visa to enter this country was required to go to a U.S. embassy or consulate for an interview with a C.A. official. Interviews were the first line of defense in weeding out visa applicants with dubious backgrounds or requesting entry to the U.S. under false pretenses.
During the nine-year tenure of Mary Ryan as chief of the Bureau of Consular Affairs, C.A. moved away from face-to-face interviews in an effort to streamline the visa process, creating a "courtesy culture" that made entry into the U.S. more foreigner-friendly.
The crown jewel of this effort is the Visa Express program, which allows foreigners to obtain visas from "qualified" travel agencies in their home countries. In Saudi Arabia for instance, where 15 of the 19 Sept. 11 hijackers obtained their visas, applicants need only submit a two-page form and a photo to a certified Saudi travel agent, regardless of whether the applicant is a Saudi citizen. In its first three months of operation, Visa Express allowed three Sept. 11 hijackers to enter the United States.
In the wake of Sept. 11, one might assume that changes were put in place to increase scrutiny of visa applicants, particularly from countries with a known terrorist presence. On the contrary, C.A. under Ryan's leadership fought to preserve Visa Express and thwarted cooperation with the FBI and CIA to identify potential terrorist threats.
Last week, Secretary of State Colin Powell requested Ryan's resignation after 36 years in the Foreign Service. Powell stated that it was simply time to make a change and that the resignation had "nothing to do with any of the present circumstances." But Ryan's departure came as the State Department also disclosed that three of 71 men, mostly Jordanian and Pakistani, accused of paying bribes to obtain U.S. visas in Qatar also had connections to the Sept. 11 hijackers.
Mowbray at National Review has been a vocal critic of the State Department's absurd visa policies. In an acrimonious press conference at Foggy Bottom on July 12, Mowbray read from a leaked classified cable excerpts that contradicted State Department spokesman Richard Boucher's diplomatic doublespeak concerning the status of Visa Express. The leaked cable had previously been reported in National Review and the Washington Post.
As Mowbray left the briefing, a State Department official, accompanied by four guards, requested that he remain to answer questions related to the leaked cable. When Mowbray suspected he was not free to leave he asked, "Am I being detained?"
A diplomatic security official told him "no" and Mowbray announced his intention to leave, at which point Mowbray was told, "Now you're being detained." After a cell phone call to an attorney and calls to the State Department press office from National Review, Mowbray was released after a half-hour.
Leaking classified material is illegal; reporting it is a First Amendment right - which makes the leaked cable another of State's security problems, not Joel Mowbray's journalistic problem. The real irony is that pinheads at the State Department would detain an American citizen and journalist for interrogation while allowing thousands of potential terrorists to enter the United States without question.
Across the Potomac in Alexandria on Monday, John Walker Lindh, the American Taliban, pleaded guilty to "providing services" to enemies of the United States. A fair understanding of those words suggests there are at least a few State Department diplomats who should be similarly indicted. Until Congress and the media begin to focus more scrutiny on our dangerous visa policies, American citizens will continue to be put at risk by their own Department of State.
http://www.newsmax.com/archives/articles/2002/7/18/30849.shtml
"If cowardly and dishonorable men sometimes shoot unarmed men with army pistols or guns, the evil must be prevented by the penitentiary and gallows, and not by a general deprivation of a constitutional privilege." - Arkansas Supreme Court, 1878
Jonathan Gurwitz
Thursday, July 18, 2002
The State Department took extraordinary steps last week to shore up security related to its visa-granting Bureau of Consular Affairs (C.A.). Unfortunately for the American people, State's idea of heightened security was to detain a journalist, Joel Mowbray of National Review, who wrote about C.A.'s scandalously lax attitude toward screening visa applicants.
Until recently, nearly every foreigner requesting a visa to enter this country was required to go to a U.S. embassy or consulate for an interview with a C.A. official. Interviews were the first line of defense in weeding out visa applicants with dubious backgrounds or requesting entry to the U.S. under false pretenses.
During the nine-year tenure of Mary Ryan as chief of the Bureau of Consular Affairs, C.A. moved away from face-to-face interviews in an effort to streamline the visa process, creating a "courtesy culture" that made entry into the U.S. more foreigner-friendly.
The crown jewel of this effort is the Visa Express program, which allows foreigners to obtain visas from "qualified" travel agencies in their home countries. In Saudi Arabia for instance, where 15 of the 19 Sept. 11 hijackers obtained their visas, applicants need only submit a two-page form and a photo to a certified Saudi travel agent, regardless of whether the applicant is a Saudi citizen. In its first three months of operation, Visa Express allowed three Sept. 11 hijackers to enter the United States.
In the wake of Sept. 11, one might assume that changes were put in place to increase scrutiny of visa applicants, particularly from countries with a known terrorist presence. On the contrary, C.A. under Ryan's leadership fought to preserve Visa Express and thwarted cooperation with the FBI and CIA to identify potential terrorist threats.
Last week, Secretary of State Colin Powell requested Ryan's resignation after 36 years in the Foreign Service. Powell stated that it was simply time to make a change and that the resignation had "nothing to do with any of the present circumstances." But Ryan's departure came as the State Department also disclosed that three of 71 men, mostly Jordanian and Pakistani, accused of paying bribes to obtain U.S. visas in Qatar also had connections to the Sept. 11 hijackers.
Mowbray at National Review has been a vocal critic of the State Department's absurd visa policies. In an acrimonious press conference at Foggy Bottom on July 12, Mowbray read from a leaked classified cable excerpts that contradicted State Department spokesman Richard Boucher's diplomatic doublespeak concerning the status of Visa Express. The leaked cable had previously been reported in National Review and the Washington Post.
As Mowbray left the briefing, a State Department official, accompanied by four guards, requested that he remain to answer questions related to the leaked cable. When Mowbray suspected he was not free to leave he asked, "Am I being detained?"
A diplomatic security official told him "no" and Mowbray announced his intention to leave, at which point Mowbray was told, "Now you're being detained." After a cell phone call to an attorney and calls to the State Department press office from National Review, Mowbray was released after a half-hour.
Leaking classified material is illegal; reporting it is a First Amendment right - which makes the leaked cable another of State's security problems, not Joel Mowbray's journalistic problem. The real irony is that pinheads at the State Department would detain an American citizen and journalist for interrogation while allowing thousands of potential terrorists to enter the United States without question.
Across the Potomac in Alexandria on Monday, John Walker Lindh, the American Taliban, pleaded guilty to "providing services" to enemies of the United States. A fair understanding of those words suggests there are at least a few State Department diplomats who should be similarly indicted. Until Congress and the media begin to focus more scrutiny on our dangerous visa policies, American citizens will continue to be put at risk by their own Department of State.
http://www.newsmax.com/archives/articles/2002/7/18/30849.shtml
"If cowardly and dishonorable men sometimes shoot unarmed men with army pistols or guns, the evil must be prevented by the penitentiary and gallows, and not by a general deprivation of a constitutional privilege." - Arkansas Supreme Court, 1878
Comments
When Clinton left office they gave him a 21 gun salute. Its a damn shame they all missed....