U.S. Response:  Student Tracking System to Be Operational by July

The U.S. Immigration and Naturalization Service is expected to have a new computerized system operational by July to track 1 million non-U.S. students in the United States, Justice Department sources said yesterday (see GSN, May 9).

The INS was “supposed to keep up with (students) — and obviously the schools were not cooperating — but the bulk of the problem was the system itself was antiquated,” a Justice official said.  “You can’t push a million students through a paper system and expect to get accuracy.”

The system will provide current information on non-U.S. students, such as name changes or dropouts, an official said.  Each school will have 24 hours to record new information electronically, according to the Washington Post.  The system will connect U.S. embassies and consulates with every INS port of entry in the United States and every U.S. school that can enroll foreign students, said Terry Hartle, senior vice president of the American Council on Education.

A student applying for a visa to study in the United States must first be accepted by a school, which, according to the INS plan, will enter the student’s personal information into the database, the Post reported.  According to the plan, the student will pay a $95 registration fee and receive a receipt to be presented along with the school’s acceptance letter, when applying for a visa, Hartle said.

INS officials have said, however, that they lack the agents needed to track down non-U.S. students who leave school or never show up for classes.

“This [system] will create the possibility of monitoring international students far more carefully and in real time,” Hartle said.  “But the INS will still have to act on the information it receives.  Whether INS will have the resources to act on the information it receives remains to be seen” (Cheryl Thompson, Washington Post, May 10).

Foreign Scientists Go Home, U.S. Agriculture Department Says

The U.S. Agriculture Department last month enacted a policy to no longer allow non-U.S. scientists and students to apply for visas to work in USDA laboratories, Science reported today.

Currently, there are 200 non-U.S. scientists working at USDA Agricultural Research Service laboratories, most of whom have H1-B visas, Science reported.  The new policy will allow those scientists to stay until their visas expire but will not allow them to request an extension.  The department also will not sponsor any new visa applications from non-U.S. scientists.  Non-U.S. scientists may still work at ARS laboratories if they are hired outside of the department, such as by a university, according to Science.

The department does not plan to make exceptions for scientists from countries or fields of study that pose little risk to the United States, according to a USDA spokesperson.

“It’s just easier for us to do this across the board,” said a spokesperson for Agriculture Secretary Ann Veneman.

USDA scientists, however, have said the new policy will hurt the department by limiting all scientists’ access to department laboratories.

“It’s going to make it more difficult to get good researchers,” said James Tumlinson, a team leader at an ARS laboratory in Florida (Martin Enserink, Science, May 10).

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Iraq:  Czechs Stand by Reports Al-Qaeda Leader Met With Iraqi Spy

Czech officials have said they are standing by their report that suspected Sept. 11 hijacker Mohamed Atta met an Iraqi intelligence agent in Prague last year, despite recent reports that U.S. officials have found no evidence of the meeting (see GSN, May 1).

Czech Interior Minister Stanislav Gross said in October that Atta met Ahmed Khalil Ibrahim Samir al-Ani — a suspected member of Mukhabarat, Iraq's intelligence agency — at least twice, including five months before the attacks.

Some U.S. officials have said that the meeting is evidence of a link between al-Qaeda and the Iraqi regime.  Last week, however, some U.S. officials said they have found no evidence to support the claim that the men met. 

“What's been said, we stick to it,” Czech spokesman Libor Roucek told the Prague Post in Tuesday's edition (Brian Whitmore, Boston Globe, May 8).

Alleged CIA Conspiracy

CIA and FBI officials want the U.S. public to believe Atta and al-Ani did not meet, William Safire wrote in a column in today's New York Times.  If evidence supports the report that the two men met, it would help give the United States a reason to take military action against Iraq.  CIA and Justice officials fear that such action would expose the intelligence agency's lack of success in conducting covert operations, Safire wrote.

CIA and Justice officials, therefore, have been telling journalists that CIA and FBI analysts have discovered no evidence to support an Atta-al-Ani link, Safire said.  A senior Bush administration official, however, told Safire otherwise.

“You cannot say the Czech report about a meeting in 2001 between Atta and the Iraqi is discredited or disproven in any way.  The Czechs stand by it, and we're still in the process of pursuing it and sorting out the timing and venue.  There's no doubt Atta was in Prague in 2000, and a subsequent meting is at least plausible,” the official said, according to Safire.

“I believe the counterintelligence services more than journalists,” Gross said, adding that Czech intelligence agents have no new information to suggest Atta and al-Ani did not meet.  “Therefore, I consider the matter closed,” he said, according to Safire (William Safire, New York Times, May 9).

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U.S. Response I:  Pentagon Increases Defenses

The U.S. Defense Department is creating a new police agency to better defend the Pentagon and its thousands of workers against terrorist attack, the Washington Post reported today.

Deputy Defense Secretary Paul Wolfowitz signed an order this week to create the Pentagon Force Protection Agency, which will incorporate all the functions of the Pentagon’s current Defense Protective Service and expand its security responsibilities, a defense official said yesterday.

The current protective service is mostly focused on building security, and the new agency will add anti-terrorism and other law enforcement activities to its duties.  The agency will have a larger budget and will probably expand its force from 250 to 300 officers, the Post reported.

The department is taking other steps to improve Pentagon security, including using CD-ROMs to train employees how to respond to a terrorist attack, installing an improved public address system and upgrading computer systems so warnings can appear on screens (Steve Vogel, Washington Post, May 9).

Authorities have also installed equipment to detect chemical or biological agents in and around the building, Pentagon police chief John Jester said (Jabeen Bhatti, Washington Times, May 9).

Some of the steps, such as improved communications, were planned before the Sept. 11 attacks, but the attacks accelerated the efforts, Jester said.

Pentagon Stages Chemical Attack

Military and local first responders staged Operation Misty Court — a mock sarin gas attack — in the Pentagon’s courtyard yesterday (see GSN, May 2).  A smoke plume of mock sarin gas erupted in the courtyard, and more than 300 people pretended to be victims or emergency responders in the exercise, funded by the Justice Department’s Domestic Preparedness Program.

Fire departments from Virginia cities Arlington, Fort Myer, Alexandria and Fairfax participated, along with FBI agents, Virginia State Police and local hospitals.  Pentagon police used new chemical detection devices (Vogel, Washington Post).

The exercise was planned before Sept. 11, and Pentagon officials said the drill does not mean there is an increased threat, the Washington Times reported.  The drill went well and the Pentagon police are more prepared to respond to threats than they were eight months ago, Jester said.

Arlington County Fire Department Battalion Chief Benjamin Barksdale agreed the drill went “very well,” adding that the fire department had practiced similar procedures before.  “This was our first chance to try it on a larger scale,” he said (Bhatti, Washington Times).

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U.S. Response II:  NORAD Commander to Head Northern Command

U.S. President George W. Bush has selected Air Force Gen. Ralph Eberhart to head the newly created Northern Command, the U.S. Defense Department said yesterday (see GSN, May 8).

Eberhart is a four-star general who currently commands the Northern Aerospace Defense Command (NORAD).  The Senate must confirm his nomination before he takes charge of the Northern Command, which will be responsible for coordinating homeland defense (Associated Press/Chicago Tribune, May 9).

“It is an honor to be nominated as the first commander of U.S. Northern Command,” said Eberhart, who will retain command of NORAD.  “Our job will be to preserve the nation’s security by defending the American people where they live and work.”

Senior Canadian military officials praised the selection of Eberhart to head the new U.S. command but did not say whether Canada would join it as they had NORAD.

“We’re not at the stage” where that decision has to be made, NORAD Canadian Deputy Commander Lt. Gen. Ken Pennie said.  “But I think that the NORAD model is excellent.  It’s responsive to both governments.”

The Northern Command is to begin operations in October at Peterson Air Force Base in Colorado, according to the Globe and Mail (Paul Koring, Globe and Mail, May 9).

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U.S. Response III:  Pentagon Drops Research Restrictions

The Defense Department has dropped plans to create restrictions on the use and spread of unclassified research funded by the Pentagon, the Boston Globe reported today.

The Pentagon counterintelligence office created the draft regulations after the Sept. 11 attacks, one of which would have forced researchers funded by the Pentagon to obtain approval before publishing their research or face criminal penalties, the Globe reported.  The Pentagon cancelled the regulations after complaints from Congress, defense scientists and U.S. academic institutions, said Elaine McCusker, co-chair of the Coalition for National Security Research, a group that represents universities and scientific societies.

“The draft was written by the counterintelligence component in the Pentagon, and it never pretended to understand what the impact on science and technology would be,” McCusker said.  “I feel they are on the right track now, but it is something we will have to continue to watch.”

The restrictions would have crippled scientific studies and would have made it impossible for some scientists to continue to accept Pentagon funding, according to lobbyists for Harvard University and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

“It’s ludicrous.  Scientists are not about to submit to the Pentagon deciding if basic, scientific research should be classified or not,” said Eugene Skolnikoff, emeritus professor of political science at MIT.  “It’s all part of the climate I see now inside the Washington beltway, particularly in the Defense Department.  They are at war with a capital ‘W,’ and when you’re at war, all kinds of controls and restrictions become possible” (Mary Leonard, Boston Globe, May 9).

New Panel to Review Foreign Student Visa Requests

Meanwhile, the Bush administration has created a new panel that would screen some foreign students’ requests for visas to study sensitive subjects at U.S. universities, the Associated Press reported yesterday (see GSN, April 18).

Immigration and State Department officials will refer some student visa applications to the newly created Interagency Panel on Advanced Science and Security, which will issue opinions, according to AP.  State Department and immigration officials will make the final decision on applications.  The panel is expected to review up to 2,000 applications per year, AP reported.

The review will apply to foreign students and researchers who wish to come study in the United States and those already here who wish to do graduate and postgraduate work in areas of study with technologies only available in the United States, according to AP.  Areas of study that would fall under the review include studies involving lasers, navigation and guidance systems, missile propulsion and nuclear technology, among others, AP reported.

The point of the review is to make sure foreign students do not acquire unique knowledge at U.S. universities that could be put into the service of terrorism, said James Griffin, assistant director for social, behavioral and education sciences at the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy.

“We’re not talking about all international students and all science areas, but rather, those who are going into advanced programs,” Griffin said (Pete Yost, Associated Press/Yahoo.com, May 8).

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U.S. Response IV:  New Homeland Security Center to Open

A new facility to help coordinate federal, state and local homeland security efforts will be operational in coming weeks, the Washington Times reported today (see GSN, May 3).

“By the time we get done — this is still a work in progress — we’ll be able to connect with just about every conceivable public institution in the country,” Homeland Security Director Tom Ridge said yesterday during a tour of the new Homeland Security Coordination Center in Washington.

The new facility includes the Threat Monitoring Center, which will be staffed with representatives from more than 12 federal agencies, including the CIA, FBI and the National Security Agency.  The center, which is four miles from the White House and its Situation Room, is designed to be an information clearinghouse, according to the Times.

“We needed to be within a strategic distance of the White House but not too far away,” said Carl Buchholz, executive secretary for the Homeland Security Council.  “We’re doing a lot of things that the Situation Room has not done to date, especially with state and local government.”

If necessary, the president and senior administration officials could evacuate the Situation Room and regroup at the Homeland Security Coordination Center, Buchholz said.

The facility also includes a Coordination Center, which would monitor potential terrorist incidents, the Times reported.  For example, after a train wreck in California last month, the center began looking for other accidents that might have indicated a terrorist attack, according to the Times.  No signs of such an attack were discovered (Joseph Curl, Washington Times, May 9).          

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U.S. Response:  Pentagon Wants Extra $10 Million for Northern Command

By Mike Nartker
Global Security Newswire

WASHINGTON — The U.S. Defense Department has included $10 million in its fiscal 2002 supplemental appropriations request to help set up the proposed Northern Command, Pentagon officials said yesterday (see GSN, April 18).

The command would defend the United States and help civilian authorities respond to terrorist attacks involving weapons of mass destruction, the officials said.

The $10 million included in the request would go toward the Northern Command transition team, Pentagon Comptroller Dov Zakheim told the Senate Appropriations Committee yesterday.  Defense has also included $81 million in its fiscal 2003 budget to begin Northern Command operations, Zakheim said.  The fiscal 2003 budget request also includes $215 million for related secure command and control activities, but that would not be specifically for Northern Command, he said.

The Northern Command is expected to begin operations Oct. 1, although no commander has yet been named, Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld told the committee.  The Northern Command will take over the U.S. Space Command’s current responsibility for the Northern American Aerospace Command (NORAD), as well as activities from the U.S. Joint Command, Rumsfeld said.

“The biggest thing that’s being assigned to Northern Command is NORAD, in terms of numbers of activities and organization structure,” Rumsfeld said.

National Guard Role

The U.S. National Guard needs to be more fully involved in the Northern Command, said Senator Christopher Bond (R-Mo.).  The Pentagon should examine the idea of naming a National Guard commander as a Northern Command deputy commander, Bond said.

“These are men and women who live in almost every community in America.  They are undoubtedly not only the most readily available, but also the eyes and the ears for national defense,” Bond said.  “So I would urge ... a careful consideration to that role for the Guard.”

Rumsfeld said, however, that he believes the National Guard could be used for homeland defense but does not have to be limited to such missions.

“I don’t think of homeland security as the sole responsibility of the Guard, and I think that ... we’re not organized and arranged for that to be the case,” Rumsfeld said.

More Accountability Needed, Byrd Says

Senate Appropriations Committee Chairman Robert Byrd (D-W.Va.) said the Pentagon must better account for money that Congress already has allocated for the war on terrorism and homeland security before he will support the department’s supplemental request.

The Pentagon’s fiscal 2002 $14 billion supplemental request includes $7 billion for combat operations, $4 billion to support the reserves, $1.5 billion for command and control and intelligence functions, $500 million to replaced used ordinance and $1 billion for other activities, according to Appropriations Defense Subcommittee Chairman Daniel Inouye (D-Hawaii).

About $11 billion of the supplemental request is expected to go into a Defense Emergency Response Fund to support the war on terrorism, Byrd said.  The fund will be made up of the $7 billion allocated for combat operations and the $4 billion for the reserves, according to a Byrd spokesman. The Pentagon, however, has not adequately defined how it would use the money in this fund, Byrd said. 

“This request for $11 billion is a tremendous amount of money, and I think Congress ought to have better strings attached than simply to put this money into a fund and allow the Defense Department to disburse it without further ado, virtually,” Byrd said.

Congress has already given the Pentagon more than $17 billion to support the war on terrorism, which the department has said will run out by the end of the month, Byrd said.  Out of that funding, the Defense Department has committed about $14 billion, and of that, has spent $12 billion, Zakheim said.

The Defense Department, however, has not informed Congress as to how it has spent this $17 billion, Byrd said, adding he would have difficulties supporting future funding requests without this information.

“I want to be supportive.  I want to help the Defense Department.  But I also have a responsibility to the taxpayers and to the Senate and to the other members of the committee,” Byrd told Rumsfeld.  “We want this information.  If you have it, let us have it.  Otherwise, you’re not going to get the support from this chairman for what you’re asking for.”

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