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Suspected Terrorists Still in U.S. Despite Revoked Visas

Aired June 18, 2003 - 10:15   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.


THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.


LEON HARRIS, ANCHOR: In the war on terrorism, the General Accounting Office says that the U.S. has a process to keep suspicious people out of the country, but seems to be unable to track down those whose visas have been revoked after getting in.
CNN's Bob Franken is covering this development for us. He checks in now from Washington.

Good morning, Bob.

BOB FRANKEN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: This is the latest, Leon, from the General Accounting Office report, made at the request of a congressman. The GAO is, in fact, the investigative arm of Congress.

And what it is saying is that in this time when the accusation is made against the U.S. government that it is too aggressive in its prosecution of the war against terror, we hear now from the GAO that sometimes some of the agencies aren't aggressive enough.

And as a result of the failure to communicate, quoting from the report, "at least 30 individuals whose visa was revoked on terrorism grounds may still remain in the country."

Now, the reason for that, they say, is that the INS, meaning the Immigration and Naturalization Service, and the FBI did not routinely attempt to locate or investigate any of the individuals. Why? Because there wasn't really a way to communicate.

"The U.S. government," the report goes on, "has no written policy on the use of revocations as an anti-terrorism tool."

Now the one thing that must be pointed out, as we've heard this thing before. We should also point out that the United States officials say it's a problem they're working on. The creation, for instance, of the Homeland Security Department is an answer to that. But there needs to be better coordination.

The GAO recommends that "as a result, there's a heightened risk that suspected terrorists could enter the country with a revoked visa or be allowed to remain after their visa is revoked without undergoing investigation or monitoring."

The recommendations are, in effect, that the federal government needs to clean up its act. But, of course, we're talking about a bureaucracy, inherently cumbersome. The problem is that the adversary, the enemy, is an extremely agile terrorist organization or groups of terrorist organizations. So it's a report that we've heard before. We'll probably hear some more, Leon, but it is something that can't be reported too many times.

HARRIS: Good point, Bob. Let me ask you this quickly, is there any one place where most of the fingers are pointing here? Because it seemed as I read through all the documents about this, the State Department kept popping up more than anything else.

FRANKEN: Well, the State Department does not have a formal process with INS and the FBI to notify them. And this is something that they need to improve. The state says that -- the government says that, in fact, that process is being improved.

HARRIS: All right. Thanks, Bob. Bob Franken in Washington. Good to see you again, my friend. I think the last time we talked on the air was back during the war. Nice to have you back. Take care.

TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com






Aired June 18, 2003 - 10:15   ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
LEON HARRIS, ANCHOR: In the war on terrorism, the General Accounting Office says that the U.S. has a process to keep suspicious people out of the country, but seems to be unable to track down those whose visas have been revoked after getting in.
CNN's Bob Franken is covering this development for us. He checks in now from Washington.

Good morning, Bob.

BOB FRANKEN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: This is the latest, Leon, from the General Accounting Office report, made at the request of a congressman. The GAO is, in fact, the investigative arm of Congress.

And what it is saying is that in this time when the accusation is made against the U.S. government that it is too aggressive in its prosecution of the war against terror, we hear now from the GAO that sometimes some of the agencies aren't aggressive enough.

And as a result of the failure to communicate, quoting from the report, "at least 30 individuals whose visa was revoked on terrorism grounds may still remain in the country."

Now, the reason for that, they say, is that the INS, meaning the Immigration and Naturalization Service, and the FBI did not routinely attempt to locate or investigate any of the individuals. Why? Because there wasn't really a way to communicate.

"The U.S. government," the report goes on, "has no written policy on the use of revocations as an anti-terrorism tool."

Now the one thing that must be pointed out, as we've heard this thing before. We should also point out that the United States officials say it's a problem they're working on. The creation, for instance, of the Homeland Security Department is an answer to that. But there needs to be better coordination.

The GAO recommends that "as a result, there's a heightened risk that suspected terrorists could enter the country with a revoked visa or be allowed to remain after their visa is revoked without undergoing investigation or monitoring."

The recommendations are, in effect, that the federal government needs to clean up its act. But, of course, we're talking about a bureaucracy, inherently cumbersome. The problem is that the adversary, the enemy, is an extremely agile terrorist organization or groups of terrorist organizations. So it's a report that we've heard before. We'll probably hear some more, Leon, but it is something that can't be reported too many times.

HARRIS: Good point, Bob. Let me ask you this quickly, is there any one place where most of the fingers are pointing here? Because it seemed as I read through all the documents about this, the State Department kept popping up more than anything else.

FRANKEN: Well, the State Department does not have a formal process with INS and the FBI to notify them. And this is something that they need to improve. The state says that -- the government says that, in fact, that process is being improved.

HARRIS: All right. Thanks, Bob. Bob Franken in Washington. Good to see you again, my friend. I think the last time we talked on the air was back during the war. Nice to have you back. Take care.

TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com