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Among the findings of the General Accounting Office (GAO) study:
Perhaps the most important element in the GAO study is its emphasis on the importance of leadership and institutional culture. The report finds that consular officers still have not received guidance, let alone training, on how to incorporate interview techniques that would help screen out potential terrorists — more than one year after 9/11. Consequently, the GAO notes, "Wide discrepancies exist among and within posts in the areas of consular officers' understanding of their authority, the role of the visa process in ensuring national security, the practices at various overseas posts, and the implementation of the many security clearance procedures." Because of the lack of direction from Washington, leaders at individual posts determine the rules and policies to be followed by consular officers. If one of those managers is an adherent of the "courtesy culture," that can mean trouble. One of the fiercest advocates of that disastrous mindset is now the consul general at the U.S. embassy in London, and "consular officers in London told us (the GAO) that they were uncomfortable because they were not interviewing more applicants." This finding should come as little surprise given that the current consul general in London is Thomas Furey, a man who played a key role in the development of Visa Express, and is a confidant of the former head of Consular Affairs (CA), Mary Ryan. Although State officially told the GAO that the report was "thorough and balanced," it is anybody's guess how the suits at Foggy Bottom will respond to the bad press that is sure to result. When faced with criticism from NR or congressmen, State has had a penchant for attacking the messenger and occasionally lying to escape accountability. But that tack may not work quite as effectively with a report from a highly respected, nonpartisan outfit comprised of professional researchers. Some clue about how State will handle itself could be gleaned from how its officials briefed congressional staffers last Friday. The mantra that State's emissaries continually repeated was the admission that "mistakes were made." But showing that State just doesn't get it, the briefers stressed that the mistakes were "understandable." One wonders what part of intentionally violating the law State considers "understandable." According to many of the 25 or so Capitol Hill staffers in attendance, State was short on specifics. And no one contacted by NRO found the session particularly reassuring. One congressional staffer was most troubled by State's apparent unwillingness to acknowledge its crucial role in border security. He pointed to one quote from a State official that struck the wrong note post-9/11: "Consular officers are the front line of the 'Keep America Beautiful' campaign." The Hill staffer said he would have preferred that State would start thinking of consular officers as the front line in the "Keep America Safe" campaign. As further evidence that top brass at Foggy Bottom aren't learning from the past, the State officials admitted at the briefing that the State Department has not conducted a formal review of the failures responsible for legal visas being issued to all 19 of the 9/11 terrorists. As the GAO found out, though, such a review would be hampered from the start by State's woeful document collection practices. Four of the terrorists' visa applications had been destroyed before the GAO (or NR) could get its hands on them, and none of the secondary documentation for any of the applicants was ever stored. Though it is possible that the terrorists submitted additional paperwork, such as bank statements or forms confirming school or employment status, it is unlikely given that the GAO found that Saudi and Emerati nationals weren't expected to jump through such hoops. To this day, State does not store any of the supplemental information applicants submit, and has no plans to do so — despite how vital that information could prove in later investigations into various al Qaeda operatives. Some of State's admissions to the Hill demonstrated their tragically slow learning curve. "We now know that Saudi Arabia exports terrorists to the U.S.," commented one State briefer. After Khobar Towers and the first World Trade Center bombing, State had abundant proof that Saudi Arabia was infested with terrorists — yet it developed Visa Express, enabling al Qaeda operatives to submit their visa applications to private Saudi travel agents. It is this aversion to reality that precipitated the creation of the "courtesy culture" in an increasingly dangerous world. With such a single-minded focus on getting as many people as possible into the United States, it is little surprise that one State official admitted at the briefing that before 9/11, "There was confusion about applying the law." State ought to dispel that "confusion" before it's too late. — Joel Mowbray is an NRO contributor and a Townhall.com columnist. |
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State Department will soon find its visa-issuance policies coming under
even more fire, as an investigative arm of Congress releases a report
Monday that is harshly critical of both State's lax pre-9/11 practices
and its lackluster reform efforts since 9/11. 
"Consular
officers in Saudi Arabia issued visas to most Saudi applicants [before
9/11] without interviewing them, requiring them to complete their applications,
or providing supporting documentation."
