Audit: Justice anti-terror data flawed

NF Reporter · 02-20-2007, 01:50 PM

AP - Federal prosecutors counted immigration violations, marriage fraud and drug trafficking among anti-terror cases in the four years after 9/11 — despite no evidence linking them to terror activity, a Justice Department audit found Tuesday.

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waltky · 09-26-2007, 04:24 AM

Maybe Justice should look in this direction...

Spy Chief: Qaeda Taps Europe For Recruits
Sept. 25, 2007 - National Intelligence Director Says Reason Is Europeans Can More Easily Enter U.S. Without Visa

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Al Qaeda continues to recruit Europeans for explosives training in Pakistan because Europeans can more easily enter the United States without a visa, the nation's top intelligence officer said Tuesday. Director of National Intelligence Mike McConnell said European al Qaeda recruits in the border region of Pakistan are being trained to use commercially available substances to make explosives, and they may be able to carry out an attack on U.S. territory. McConnell also said he worried that Osama bin Laden's recent video and audio releases may be a signal to terrorist cells to carry out operations, he told the Senate Judiciary Committee.

"That's unusual. He had been absent from airwaves over the last year. Our concern is that's a signal," McConnell said. "It just causes us to be concerned and vigilant." Europeans are being recruited specifically because they generally do not need visas to enter the United States, he said. "Purposely recruiting an operative from Europe gives them an extra edge into getting an operative, or two or three, into the country with the ability to carry out an attack that might be reminiscent of 9/11," he said.

McConnell's threat warning echoed what he told Congress in July at a time when he and the Bush administration were pressing Congress for swift passage of a new law designed to ease warrantless eavesdropping on overseas calls and e-mails. McConnell warned then that the existing law which dictated when the government must obtain warrants from a secret intelligence court to eavesdrop had become a dangerous blockade to spying on terrorists overseas. McConnell told the Senate panel Tuesday that half of "what we know" comes from electronic surveillance, and the outdated Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act had degraded those intercepts by two-thirds.

Under the new law, the government can eavesdrop without a court order on communications conducted by a person reasonably believed to be outside the United States, even if an American is on one end of the conversation - so long as that American is not the intended focus or target of the surveillance. Because of changes in technology, many more foreign communications now flow through the United States. The new law, called the Protect America Act, allows communications initiated outside the United States to be tapped without a court order when they pass through electronic channels on U.S. soil. That law expires in January. The FISA law generally prohibited eavesdropping conducted inside the United States, unless a court approved it. In requesting the change, the Bush administration said technological advances in communications had created a dire gap in the ability to collect intelligence on terrorists, even those overseas.

Spy Chief: Qaeda Taps Europe For Recruits, National Intelligence Director Says Reason Is Europeans Can More Easily Enter U.S. Without Visa - CBS News

waltky · 09-30-2007, 01:42 PM

Something for Justice to consider...

Diversity Visa Program is 'Open Door' for Terrorists, Says Investigation
September 24, 2007 - The State Department's "Diversity Visa Program" is so prone to fraud that it is an "open door" through which terrorists can enter the United States legally, according to a government investigation.

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Rep. Bennie Thompson (D-Miss.), chairman of the House Homeland Security Committee, told Cybercast News Service that the investigation demonstrates a need to clean up the program. The Government Accountability Office (GAO), the non-partisan investigative arm of Congress, examined the program and issued a report on Sept. 21 titled "Border Security: Fraud Risks Complicate State's Ability to Manage Diversity Visa Program."

Among its findings, the GAO called on the State Department to better manage the program to prevent people from successfully using fraudulent identification papers to register for a Diversity Visa (DV). The GAO also suggested that the State Department keep more comprehensive data on proven or suspected fraud cases and use the data to formulate a better strategy to combat fraud.

The report says that 9,800 people from countries designated by the State Department as "state sponsors of terrorism" have used this program to gain permanent legal status in the United States. Of those, more than 3,000 have come from Iran and Sudan respectively, while 160 have come from Syria, and 2,700 have come from Cuba.

The Diversity Visa Program differs from other visa programs because it places no emphasis on employer or family sponsorship from within the United States but uses a lottery system to allocate visas. Since 1995, more than half a million immigrants from countries with low rates of immigration have become legal permanent residents of the United States through the program.

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Diversity Visas for Iranians Increase Since 9/11
September 28, 2007 - After 9/11, the State Department allowed more and more Iranians to legally enter the United States through Diversity Visas, an immigration program that two government investigations have identified as a national security risk. Iran, among four other nations, is defined as a terror-sponsoring state by the State Department.

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State Department documents tracking the Diversity Visa (DV) program from 1997 through 2006 show that Iran went from 525 citizens entering the United States on DVs in 2001 to 785 citizens in 2002. That number fluctuated before 2006 when 543 DVs were issued to Iranians, but every year since 2001 surpassed pre-2001 levels of DVs issued to Iranians.

The State Department also lists Syria, Sudan, Cuba, and North Korea as terror-sponsoring countries - all places where Diversity Visas were issued since 9/11. In all, 9,800 aliens from terror-sponsoring countries have immigrated to the United States using Diversity Visas since the program began. Nearly 7,000 of those have come after 9/11.

Iran leads the way with 2,486 DVs issued since 2002. Last year, 1,361 Iranians won a lottery to be eligible for DVs to enter the United States this year, but the State Department has not released the official number of diversity visas issued for 2007. Five hundred forty-three Iranians entered the United States with DVs in 2006.

If past years are a guide, fewer people actually get the visas than win the DV lotteries because of eligibility requirements and screenings. For example, 820 Iranians won the lottery in 2005, but only 450 got visas.

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