DHS questioned over decision to let Saudi passengers skip normal passport controls

H/T Magic Martin

FOX News:

Published March 20, 2013

FoxNews.com

  • logan_security_102412.jpg

    Oct. 24, 2012: Passengers are scanned at a security checkpoint at Logan Airport in Boston. (AP)

A Department of Homeland Security program intended to give “trusted traveler” status to low-risk airline passengers soon will be extended to Saudi travelers, opening the program to criticism for accommodating the country that produced 15 of the 19 hijackers behind the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks.

Sources voiced concern about the decision to the Investigative Project on Terrorism, which issued a report Wednesday on the under-the-radar announcement — which was first made by Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano after meeting in January with her Saudi counterpart. According to the IPT, this would be the first time the Saudi government has been given such a direct role in fast-tracking people for entry into the United States.

 

About Eeyore

Canadian artist and counter-jihad and freedom of speech activist as well as devout Schrödinger's catholic

4 Replies to “DHS questioned over decision to let Saudi passengers skip normal passport controls”

  1. Alleged al-Qaida operative charged in NY court

    NEW YORK — An alleged al-Qaida operative fought with the terror group in Afghanistan and later plotted to bomb American diplomatic facilities in Africa, federal prosecutors in New York said Wednesday.

    Ibrahim Suleiman Adnan Adam Harun was captured in 2005 before he could carry out the plot targeting U.S. diplomats in Nigeria, prosecutors said. He was extradited to New York City last year and secretly arraigned in federal court in Brooklyn.

    An indictment unsealed Wednesday charges Harun with conspiracy, providing material support to al-Qaida and other counts.

    An attorney for Harun had no immediate comment. The defendant’s next court appearance was slated for Friday.

    Harun, 43, was born in Saudi Arabia and arrived in Afghanistan shortly before the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks so he could fight with an al-Qaida jihad force against U.S. troops, prosecutors said. After receiving further training from the terror group, he allegedly traveled to Africa with orders to attack the U.S. diplomatic sites.

    Citing an indictment and other documents, authorities said Harun tried to flee to Europe after a co-conspirator’s arrest, but was detained in 2005 in Libya while en route.

    The defendant remained in Libyan custody until June 2011, prosecutors said. After that, Italian authorities arrested him on charges he assaulted officers on board a refugee ship bound for Italy, and was there until his extradition on the U.S. indictment.

    “The defendant was a prototype al-Qaeda operative, trained by al-Qaeda in terrorist tradecraft, deployed to fight American servicemen, and dispatched to commit terrorist attacks throughout the world,” U.S. Attorney Loretta Lynch said in statement. “Whether they try to attack our servicemen on the battlefield, or scheme to kill our diplomats and citizens in embassies abroad, terrorists will find no refuge.”

    Harun faces a possible life sentence if convicted.

    http://online.wsj.com/article/APea7f76d7f0fe4ff2be745c4c2f0e3996.html

  2. Obama will happily support this decision, he will support anything that will damage the west.