Border securitySenators concerned about terrorists entering U.S.

U.S. lawmakers have lingering concerns about the ability for terrorists to enter the country following last week’s Senate hearing that investigated how two Iraqi nationals with terrorist ties were able to enter the United States and live in Bowling Green, Kentucky for several years.

Following the hearing, Senator Rand Paul (R – Kentucky) said, “But after today’s hearing, I remain deeply concerned. We learned that our entire security apparatus is inundated with information. There is so much information, it causes a backlog of fingerprints, yet, we continue to process visas and create the potential for people who wish to do us harm to enter our country.”

The hearing was held at Senator Paul’s request after the two Iraqis were found living in his hometown. Of particular concern was the fact that the two suspected terrorists were able to enter the country despite having fingerprints that linked them to roadside bombs in Iraq.

“The role of the federal government in preventing terrorists from entering our country must include the ability to secure our borders and keep out those who wish to do us harm. We must prevent the kind of terrorist travel that allowed two Iraqi refugees and suspected terrorists into my hometown of Bowling Green,” Senator Paul said.

A Government Accountability Report (GAO), released on the same day as the hearing, found four critical gaps in preventing terrorists from entering the United States. In the report titled “Combating Terrorism: Additional Steps Needed to Enhance Foreign Partners’ Capacity to Prevent Terrorist Travel,” the GAO cited “limited sharing of information about known and suspected terrorists within foreign governments; failure to address the use of fraudulent travel documents abroad; limited passport issuance security; and corruption in passport issuance and immigration agencies” as critical problems in border security.

Citing the report at the hearing, Senator Joe Lieberman ( I – Connecticut), the chair of the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee, said, “As part of our efforts to keep terrorists from entering the U.S. we provide security assistance to foreign countries where terrorist are likely to begin their travels.  Unfortunately the GAO has found miscommunication and overlap on the part of U.S. agencies trying to help foreign partners.”

To remedy these issues, the GAO made several recommendations including reducing overlapping responsibilities between agencies, having the State Department take the lead in coordinating inter-agency efforts, and the development of metrics to track and measure progress on enhancing foreign partners’ capacity to prevent terrorist travel overseas.

Senator Lieberman concurred with the report’s findings and “urged the administration to update what is now a five year old strategy for preventing terrorist travel so that we can work as effectively as possible to keep terrorists out of the country and away from Americans.”