So much for "Vetting"

[Red Oak]

Fearing a civil liberties backlash and "bad public relations" for the Obama administration, Homeland Security Secretary Jeh Johnson refused in early 2014 to end a secret U.S. policy that prohibited immigration officials from reviewing the social media messages of all foreign citizens applying for U.S. visas, a former senior department official said.

"During that time period immigration officials were not allowed to use or review social media as part of the screening process," John Cohen, a former acting under-secretary at DHS for intelligence and analysis. Cohen is now a national security consultant for ABC News.

One current and one former senior counter-terrorism official confirmed Cohen's account about the refusal of DHS to change its policy about the public social media posts of all foreign applicants.


abcnews.go.com ...

[BigTex]

This is insane.

If you apply for a job, your prospective employer will almost certainly look for your social media activity.

But the people responsible for ensuring that immigrants are no apparent threat to American citizens can't. Or didn't.

Where's Jim Traficant when we need him? "Beam me up, Scotty."

I would love to see the families of the San Bernadino victims sue the government for their lack of due diligence, but they would probably have more success pissing up a rope.

[Red Oak]

"This is insane."

The Idiot in Chief promised "Fundamental Change".

[Red Oak]

Ms. Burriesci, I’ve asked you the number of American’s who’ve traveled to Syria, you don’t know. The number of Americans who may have traveled and returned, you don’t know. The number of Syrian refugees who’ve entered the country in the last year, you don’t know. The number of visa waiver program overstays, you don’t know. The number of visa waiver overstays who may have been to Syria before they came here, you don’t know. And the number of American citizens on the no-fly list and you don’t know. And yet you are the Deputy Assistant Secretary for Screening Coordination, Office of Policy, Department of Homeland Security in front of the oversight committee and you can’t give us one single number to some, I think, pretty basic questions?


Rep. Jim Jordan, R-OH

[mayhem]

There are two questions that are very important:

1. Whose idea was this and
2. Why didn't someone check social media on the sly at least.

You neither need nor want my 'chiming' in, but I want to say that
I am shocked, disappointed and disturbed by this if it is true ... and it sure seems to be.

[Red Oak]

F off.

[mayhem]

Ah ... just give it a rest.

[John in Plano]

There are two questions that are very important:

1. Whose idea was this and
2. Why didn't someone check social media on the sly at least.

You neither need nor want my 'chiming' in, but I want to say that
I am shocked, disappointed and disturbed by this if it is true ... and it sure seems to be.

Ask the President.

He is in charge.

[Red Oak]

Now I read that DHS keeps and eye on Americans Social Media, but not Aliens.

The Obongo administration is an enemy of America.

[John In Austin]

Republicans are a bigger enemy to Obama than terrorists are.

[GFB]

Republicans are a bigger enemy to Obama than terrorists are.

What a coincidence, I think Democrats are...

[Red Oak]

The Department of Homeland Security has operated a program to monitor ordinary Americans' social media discussions about the agency's policy directives, even though it had in place another policy prohibiting agents from checking visa applicants' social media accounts for possible signs of terrorist leanings.

The agency's policy against vetting visa applicants was revealed on Monday by John Cohen, a former DHS under-secretary for intelligence and analysis.

Now an intelligence analyst at ABC News, Cohen says that last year, DHS Sec. Jeh Johnson resisted changing the agency's policy against viewing visa applicants' social media accounts as part of the screening process to let them into the U.S.

Having such a policy in place may have prevented San Bernardino terrorist Tashfeen Malik from entering the country on a fiancee visa last year, Cohen asserted.

From the Daily Caller

[Red Oak]

The Obama administration cannot be sure of the whereabouts of thousands of foreigners in the U.S. who had their visas revoked over terror concerns and other reasons, a State Department official acknowledged Thursday.
The admission, made at a House oversight hearing examining immigrant vetting in the wake of major terror attacks, drew a sharp rebuke from the committee chairman.
You don’t have a clue do you? Rep. Jason Chaffetz, R-Utah, told Michele Thoren Bond, assistant secretary for the Bureau of Consular Affairs.
Bond initially said the U.S. has revoked more than 122,000 visas since 2001, including 9,500 because of the threat of terrorism.

foxnews.com

[Red Oak]

President Obama met today with his national security team in a highly staged and publicized event at the Virginia-based National Counterterrorism Center. Shortly before that meeting officially commenced, there is said to have been a brief but heated rebuke by Barack Obama against a "top FBI official" assumed to be Director James Comey.

That rebuke, described as a "snarl" was apparently initiated by Director Comey's alleged suggestion a "temporary pause" be initiated over immigration from certain regions of the world known to be primary breeding grounds for Islamic-based terror....

The president...did a "double-take" following the suggested immigration pause in the face of what is a very real and ongoing terror threat.

"YOU SOUND LIKE TRUMP!"

Mr. Obama apparently sat at the head of the table clearly unhappy for the remainder of the meeting over the immigration policy suggestion and then made certain that Director Comey stood farthest from him (so far in fact Comey was not even shown by the news cameras) as Mr. Obama addressed the nation ...

[ralph]

good to see but it means nothing except that MAYBE the FBI is still a good organization . With mrobama in charge we will be getting lots more problems imported into the USA no matter what the FBI has to say .