Earlier this year, USIS became the focus of congressional scrutiny when it was disclosed that the company handled the background investigation of Snowden, accused of disclosing top secret materials taken from the National Security Agency facility where he worked.
“From Edward Snowden to Aaron Alexis, what’s emerging is a pattern of failure on the part of this company, and a failure of this entire system, that risks nothing less than our national security and the lives of Americans,” Senator Claire McCaskill said in a statement Thursday.
“What’s most frightening is that USIS performs a majority of background checks for our government. We clearly need a top-to-bottom overhaul of how we vet those who have access to our country’s secrets and to our secure facilities,” she said.
As early as December 1993, a team of al Qaeda operatives had begun casing
targets in Nairobi for future attacks. It was led by Ali Mohamed, a former
Egyptian army officer who had moved to the United States in the mid-1980s,
enlisted in the U.S.Army, and became an instructor at Fort Bragg. He had pro-
vided guidance and training to extremists at the Farouq mosque in Brooklyn,
including some who were subsequently convicted in the February 1993 attack
on the World Trade Center. The casing team also included a computer expert
whose write-ups were reviewed by al Qaeda leaders.
83
The Immigration and Naturalization Service (INS), with its 9,000 Border
Patrol agents, 4,500 inspectors, and 2,000 immigration special agents, had per-
haps the greatest potential to develop an expanded role in counterterrorism.
However, the INS was focused on the formidable challenges posed by illegal
entry over the southwest border, criminal aliens, and a growing backlog in the
applications for naturalizing immigrants.The White House, the Justice Department,
and above all the Congress reinforced these concerns. In addition, when
Doris Meissner became INS Commissioner in 1993, she found an agency seri-
ously hampered by outdated technology and insufficient human resources. Bor-
der Patrol agents were still using manual typewriters; inspectors at ports of entry
were using a paper watchlist; the asylum and other benefits systems did not
effectively deter fraudulent applicants.
40
Commissioner Meissner responded in 1993 to the World Trade Center
bombing by providing seed money to the State Department’s Consular Affairs
Bureau to automate its terrorist watchlist, used by consular officers and border
inspectors. The INS assigned an individual in a new “lookout” unit to work
with the State Department in watchlisting suspected terrorists and with the
intelligence community and the FBI in determining how to deal with them
when they appeared at ports of entry. By 1998, 97 suspected terrorists had been
denied admission at U.S. ports of entry because of the watchlist.
41
Inspectors at the ports of entry were not asked to focus on terrorists. Inspec-
tors told us they were not even aware that when they checked the names of
incoming passengers against the automated watchlist, they were checking in
part for terrorists. In general, border inspectors also did not have the informa-
tion they needed to make fact-based determinations of admissibility.The INS
initiated but failed to bring to completion two efforts that would have pro-
vided inspectors with information relevant to counterterrorism—a proposed
system to track foreign student visa compliance and a program to establish a way
of tracking travelers’ entry to and exit from the United States.
45
In 1996, a new law enabled the INS to enter into agreements with state and
local law enforcement agencies through which the INS provided training and
the local agencies exercised immigration enforcement authority. Terrorist
watchlists were not available to them. Mayors in cities with large immigrant
populations sometimes imposed limits on city employee cooperation with fed-
eral immigration agents.A large population lives outside the legal framework.
Fraudulent documents could be easily obtained. Congress kept the number of
INS agents static in the face of the overwhelming problem.
46
While the 9/11 Commission was critical of the information provided to inspectors at ports of entry, the administration insists that aliens who evade the inspections process be granted official identity documents and pathways to United Staters citizenship. Aliens who evade the inspections process are not screened so that even if the inspectors are provided with the best possible information, aliens who enter the United States without inspection circumvent the vital inspections process.
The 9/11 Commission was also very critical of “sanctuary cities” that refuse to take immigration factors into account in enforcing laws, the federal government never takes action against such cities and states, such as New York City which has a sanctuary policy in place.
Incredibly, New York City’s Mayor Bloomberg, who is adamant about maintaining “Stop and Frisk” and has often demanded that those who trespass into public housing in New York be arrested and prosecuted because they pose a threat to the safety of the residents of those housing complexes, refuses to accept that it is no less dangerous when millions of aliens trespass on America.
On October 12, 2012 CAPS (Californians for Population Stabilization) posted my commentary
On August 16, 2013 New York City’s local CBS News website posted a report on Bloomberg’s latest proclamation:
“Bloomberg’s Public Housing Fingerprinting Idea Stuns, Infuriates Residents”
Here is an important quote from the report:
Bloomberg said. “The people that live there, (in public housing) most of them, want more police protection. They want more people. If you have strangers walking in the halls of your apartment building, don’t you want somebody to stop and say, ‘Who are you, why are you here?’”
Bloomberg blithely ignores the fact that those who violate our borders and immigration laws are not unlike the trespassers in public housing, who have so attracted his ire. If he could come to that commonsense understanding, he would then understand just how perilous it is that there are millions of foreign nationals (aliens) who live in towns and cities, including New York, whose true identities, backgrounds and intentions for coming to America are unknown and unknowable. You have to wonder if he lacks “mouth/ear coordination” in that his ears seem to not hear what his own mouth is saying!
Ironically, the questions posed by Bloomberg, “Who are you, why are you here?” are essentially the very same questions that CBP Inspectors ask arriving foreign visitors- question that are never asked (or answered) by millions of illegal aliens who enter the United States by running our borders.
There are other questions that must be asked about Comprehensive Immigration Reform that are not being asked and consequently, not being answered. On July 3, 2013 the Washington Times published my Op-Ed:
It is not “Anti-Immigrant” to be Pro-American!
If our government’s failures to protect American jobs by securing our nation’s borders and effectively enforcing our immigration laws concerns you or especially if it angers you, I ask you to call your Senators and Congressional “Representative. This is not only your right- it is your obligation!
All I ask is that you make it clear to our politicians that we are not as dumb as they hope we are!
We live in a perilous world and in a perilous era. The survival of our nation and the lives of our citizens hang in the balance.
This is neither a Conservative issue, nor is it a Liberal issue- simply stated, this is most certainly an AMERICAN issue!
You are either part of the solution or you are a part of the problem!
Democracy is not a spectator sport!
Lead, follow or get out of the way!
On Friday evenings from 7:00 PM until 8:00 PM Eastern Time, I host my show, “The Michael Cutler Hour” on the USA Talk Radio Network on Blog Talk Radio.
Here is a link to the program:
Senior Special Agent, INS (Ret.)
Senior Fellow, Californians for Population Stabilization
September 20, 2013
The fact that we do not have a firm enough background-check system is something that makes us more vulnerable to these kinds of mass shootings.
The President called for more stringent background checks for those who purchase firearms but ignores the current lack of integrity to the background checks being conducted in conjunction with the immigration benefits program, including the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program that compromises national security and community safety.
In point of fact, if our government ultimately enacted Comprehensive Immigration Reform, millions of participating illegal aliens would not even be subjected to in-person interviews. There would be no resources to do the most rudimentary field investigations to substantiate information contained in their applications.
On September 3, 2013, I joined Congressman Lou Barletta (R-PA) on the campus of Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University in Daytona Beach, Florida, at a town hall meeting on illegal immigration. Talk show host Marc Bernier moderated the discussion.
When I raised concerns about the all-but-worthless “background checks” that are being touted by the administration, moderator Bernier was incredulous and asked Congressman Barletta, who is a member of the House Homeland Security Committee, about my concerns. Barletta substantiated my statements and noted former Secretary of Homeland Security Janet Napolitano admitted to him that there would be no in-person interviews of the millions of aliens who would participate in Comprehensive Immigration Reform.
Although you would never know it to listen to the President and advocates for Comprehensive Immigration Reform, America’s borders and immigration laws exist for two primary purposes, to protect American lives and the livelihoods of American workers.
Aliens enter the United States covertly because they know that they belong to one or more categories of excludible aliens as delineated in Title 8, United States Code, Section 1182, including aliens who suffer dangerous communicable diseases or who suffer from extreme mental illness and are prone to violence or are sex offenders, aliens who have been previously deported, are convicted felons or are fugitives from justice. Additionally, aliens who are human rights violators, war criminals, spies and terrorists are also deemed excludible, as are aliens who would become public charges or work illegally, thereby displacing Americans in the workforce or causing wages or working conditions to be adversely impacted.
The true identities of these aliens, including their countries of citizenship, their actual dates of entry and their ultimate goals in entering the United States surreptitiously, are known only to them.
Illegal aliens who have never been fingerprinted in the United States and who lie about their identities, using readily available documents to substantiate their false identities, easily pass the background checks required by USCIS (United States Citizenship and Immigration Services). Yet this gaping hole in the immigration system is being ignored.
The 9/11 Commission Report addressed the importance of the immigration inspections process conducted at ports of entry and made recommendations about providing vital information to inspectors to protect America and Americans and noted that immigration fraud enabled terrorists to hide in plain sight.
None of these enhancements to the inspections process matters when aliens evade the vital inspections process. The lack of integrity in the immigration benefits program is being ignored, and a massive amnesty program would only exacerbate this vulnerability.
It is no less important to keep criminals and terrorists out of the United States and off the streets of our towns and cities as it is to keep guns out of the hands of criminals and the insane.
By Michael W. Cutler
Senior Special Agent, INS (Ret.)
Senior Fellow, Californians for Population Stabilization
In the wake of the mass shooting at the Washington Navy Yard on September 16, 2013, that resulted in the death of 13 people, including the gunman, President Obama, as reported by ABC News on September 17, 2013, said:
The fact that we do not have a firm enough background-check system is something that makes us more vulnerable to these kinds of mass shootings.
The President called for more stringent background checks for those who purchase firearms but ignores the current lack of integrity to the background checks being conducted in conjunction with the immigration benefits program, including the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program that compromises national security and community safety.
In point of fact, if our government ultimately enacted Comprehensive Immigration Reform, millions of participating illegal aliens would not even be subjected to in-person interviews. There would be no resources to do the most rudimentary field investigations to substantiate information contained in their applications.
On September 3, 2013, I joined Congressman Lou Barletta (R-PA) on the campus of Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University in Daytona Beach, Florida, at a town hall meeting on illegal immigration. Talk show host Marc Bernier moderated the discussion.
When I raised concerns about the all-but-worthless “background checks” that are being touted by the administration, moderator Bernier was incredulous and asked Congressman Barletta, who is a member of the House Homeland Security Committee, about my concerns. Barletta substantiated my statements and noted former Secretary of Homeland Security Janet Napolitano admitted to him that there would be no in-person interviews of the millions of aliens who would participate in Comprehensive Immigration Reform.
Although you would never know it to listen to the President and advocates for Comprehensive Immigration Reform, America’s borders and immigration laws exist for two primary purposes, to protect American lives and the livelihoods of American workers.
Aliens enter the United States covertly because they know that they belong to one or more categories of excludible aliens as delineated in Title 8, United States Code, Section 1182, including aliens who suffer dangerous communicable diseases or who suffer from extreme mental illness and are prone to violence or are sex offenders, aliens who have been previously deported, are convicted felons or are fugitives from justice. Additionally, aliens who are human rights violators, war criminals, spies and terrorists are also deemed excludible, as are aliens who would become public charges or work illegally, thereby displacing Americans in the workforce or causing wages or working conditions to be adversely impacted.
The true identities of these aliens, including their countries of citizenship, their actual dates of entry and their ultimate goals in entering the United States surreptitiously, are known only to them.
Illegal aliens who have never been fingerprinted in the United States and who lie about their identities, using readily available documents to substantiate their false identities, easily pass the background checks required by USCIS (United States Citizenship and Immigration Services). Yet this gaping hole in the immigration system is being ignored.
The 9/11 Commission Report addressed the importance of the immigration inspections process conducted at ports of entry and made recommendations about providing vital information to inspectors to protect America and Americans and noted that immigration fraud enabled terrorists to hide in plain sight.
None of these enhancements to the inspections process matters when aliens evade the vital inspections process. The lack of integrity in the immigration benefits program is being ignored, and a massive amnesty program would only exacerbate this vulnerability.
It is no less important to keep criminals and terrorists out of the United States and off the streets of our towns and cities as it is to keep guns out of the hands of criminals and the insane.
It is not “Anti-Immigrant” to be Pro-American!
– See more at: http://www.capsweb.org/blog/comprehensive-immigration-reform-background-checks-require-reality-check#sthash.RhBhBsqP.dpuf