A heartless homeland security screw-up (Michelle Malkin)

Townhall.com ^ | January 26, 2005 | Michelle Malkin

[Stoat]

A heartless homeland security screw-up
Michelle Malkin
 

January 26, 2005

Do you remember when immigration officials sent out flight school visa approval notices for two of the 9/11 hijackers -- six months after they had committed their suicide attacks on America?

 President Bush proclaimed his outrage, four federal immigration officials were reassigned, and Washington vowed that such embarrassing bureaucratic paperwork snafus would never happen again.

 I'm sorry to report to you that it has, in fact, happened again.

 On Jan. 15, immigration officials sent a notice to Eugueni Kniazev of Brooklyn, N.Y. The letter informs Kniazev, an immigrant from Siberia, that he is now "deemed to be a lawful permanent resident of the United States." The notice directs Kniazev to obtain a new alien registration receipt card (what we commonly call a "green card") and instructs him to appear in person at the immigration office at 26 Federal Plaza in New York City with his passport and three recent photos.

 But Eugueni Kniazev won't be appearing at Federal Plaza. He won't be going anywhere. Kniazev, 47, was an employee of the Windows on the World restaurant located on the 107th floor of the World Trade Center's North Tower. After working his way up from dishwasher to facilities manager and living the American dream, Kniazev was murdered in the terrorist attacks on Sept. 11, 2001.

 Let me repeat that for the clueless paper-pushers at the Department of Homeland Security: Eugueni Kniazev won't be picking up his green card because he has been dead for nearly three-and-a-half years.

 What on earth is wrong with our federal government? Can you imagine how upsetting it must have been for family members to receive the letter? Why didn't it occur to anybody to cross-check the official list of Sept. 11 victims against the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services' records? Did homeland security officials learn nothing from the dead hijacker visa letter fiasco?

 After that debacle, top immigration officials pledged "to improve the efficiency and effectiveness of the nation's immigration system." In the fall of 2002, President Bush signed into law the creation of the behemoth Department of Homeland Security, encompassing 22 agencies, 180,000 employees and a nearly $34 billion budget. Last month, the president signed the Intelligence Reform and Terrorism Prevention Act, creating another huge mega-agency "to ensure that the people in government responsible for defending America have the best possible information to make the best possible decisions."

 Promises, promises. Despite billions spent on restructuring and new technology, our homeland security system is still unable to prevent a green card approval notice from being sent to a dead person. The fact that the letter recipient is a murdered Sept. 11 victim adds unconscionable insult to bureaucratic injury. A Department of Homeland Security spokesman told me it's up to family members to notify the government when an applicant dies. "It's unfortunate," he said, but there is no mechanism in place to prevent this from happening again.

 Eugueni Kniazev's case is only the tip of the incompetence iceberg:

 -- The nation's various fingerprint databases still have not been integrated because of bickering among FBI, State Department and homeland security officials, which means that most visitors entering the country still aren't thoroughly screened for terrorist or criminal ties.

 -- There is still no system in place for notifying immigration investigators about stolen passports, which led the Homeland Security inspector general to conclude last month that foreigners using the fraudulent documents have "little reason to fear being caught."

 -- The long-delayed entry-exit tracking system for foreign visitors -- in the works for nearly a decade -- has still not been implemented fully.

 -- There is still no systematic tracking of illegal alien felons.

 -- And while millions of legal applicants deal with paperwork backlogs and mishaps that take years if not decades to resolve, the White House supports granting "temporary guest worker" status to upward of 20 million illegal aliens -- a move that rank-and-file homeland security officials say will lead to rampant fraud and even greater bureaucratic overload.

 The same overwhelmed and inept immigration system that facilitated Eugueni Kniazev's murder has now made a mockery of his memory.

 What more will it take before "Never again" is more than just an empty rhetorical mantra to pacify the American public?

Michelle Malkin is a syndicated columnist and maintains her weblog at michellemalkin.com

[Stoat]

About

 

I began my career in newspaper journalism more than a decade ago as an editorial writer and columnist for the Los Angeles Daily News (1992-94).  Covered school board meetings and pole sign ordinances. Exposed Rep. Maxine Waters' gang-infested job-training center boondoggle. Received a death threat from the Mexican mafia. Moved to the Pacific Northwest and worked at the Seattle Times from 1996 to 1999. Wrote editorials supporting a repeal of the death tax. Opposed editorial board on everything else. Exposed Gov. Gary Locke's Buddhist temple cash connections. Opposed publisher and supported successful campaign to abolish race-based affirmative action in government hiring, contracting, and college admissions. Quit job and moved to Washington, D.C.

My column, now syndicated by Creators Syndicate, appears in nearly 200 papers nationwide. My first book, Invasion: How America Still Welcomes Terrorists, Criminals, and Other Foreign Menaces to Our Shores (Regnery 2002), was a New York Times bestseller.

Other: Fox News Channel contributor. Oberlin College grad. Philadelphia-born. South Jersey-raised. I live with my husband and two children in Maryland. Reach me via e-mail at malkin@comcast.net.

[Stoat]

[Clemenza]

I sent Michelle an email a few days back asking here when she would be posing in Maxim. No response as of yet.

[gubamyster]

With crack staff & high-end equipment like this in use, I foresee no problems in our ability to document & track those guest workers & their employers once they all register for the program.

[A CA Guy]

Mend it or end it and start again.

[Ready4Freddy]

And while they're at it, why not cross-reference against every frickin' obit in the US since 9/11........ *rollseyes*

Why didn't it occur to anybody to cross-check the official list of Sept. 11 victims against the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services' records?

[Waco]

If Iraq can succeed in setting up an uncontrollable bureauracy ala US, the enemy will never win???

[alloysteel]

Getting all the bureaucrats now housed under the Homeland Security umbrella to carry out the duties of their respective offices is a little like herding cats. One of the problems is that many of the positions have no focus on duties (or responsibilities), only on filling the organizational slot. Apparently there is no function as of yet to cross-reference obituaries with legal residency, or criminal arrests with legal status within this country.

The information may be impossible to retrieve with the current hodgepodge of conflicting Federal, state and local regulations.

[Poundstone]

I would feel a lot better about Michelle Malkin if I knew she had never filed an immigration petition on behalf of her Filipino relatives. Unfortunately, I suspect she has done so -- and thereby contributed to the massive LEGAL immigration crisis confronting America, about which I have written before on this web site.

[B4Ranch]

Have you emailed her to verify your suspicions?

[Conservative Infidel]

What? She is "spoken for"? But... but... I have been saving myself just for her. What am I to do now?

[kittymyrib]

This is the same throughly inept government that we are supposed to trust to take care of us in our retirement...incredible. That's why when the Dems and RINOs whine about trusting Wall St. with 5% of our SS funds, I question their sanity. Or perhaps I question ours, because we would still be handing over 95% to the least-trustworthy entity in our lives, the federal government.

[Poundstone]

Yes, some time ago, but I got no response -- which only fueled my suspicion.

[JoeSixPack1]

Social Security has no, or very little problems at deciding who's dead. If homeland security has this problem maybe they need to consider everyone dead until proven otherwise, and make new lists.

That'll keep their pixels poppin.

[ZeitgeistSurfer]

Only someone who has worked for the Federal government understands that each agency is like a separate corporation. There is no fundamental coordination or even a set of directors that oversee how agencies should work with each other or coordinate their functions. Unless specifically directed by Congress or by Presidential directive, it's essentially up to the discretion of each agency to decide how they will work with other agencies. It sometimes takes years to reach agreements among different agencies. And of course this is not to mention the plethora of incompatible information systems and procedures. In theory OMB (Office of Management and Budget) has responsibility for oversight, but in practice, it's 95% a budget review process. Essentially, the government needs to be restructured so that a higher level of coordination and direction can act as a driver to necessary integration and cooperation. However, while this is necessary, it would be resisted by the bureaucracy and to a large degree by people who (rightly) fear massive government.

[JoeSixPack1]

...each agency is like a separate corporation.

Therein lies the entire affairs of state.

The Homeland Security project is supposed to specifically address agency interaction. Obviously decades of building privacy walls in a quest to prove each agencies own right to exist is proving a tougher nut to crack then reported or expected.

Can we fire em all and start over??? :-)

[B4Ranch]

Maybe she conidered it none of your business, who knows?

[Mikey]

"... once they all register for the program."

Those are the key words.

What if they don't register?

[ArGee]

-- The nation's various fingerprint databases still have not been integrated because of bickering among FBI, State Department and homeland security officials, which means that most visitors entering the country still aren't thoroughly screened for terrorist or criminal ties.

While I like Michelle this statement shows the problem we all have with coming to grips with the monumental task facing the U.S. in homeland security. To be honest, I wouldn't know about it if I hadn't had business reason to be dumped in the middle of the personal identity issue.

Simply put, how does the U.S. know that you are truly you when it enters you into any database? They are probably counting on your driver's license, which probably has a photo on it since most (if not all) do these days, but how did DMV know you were you when it put the photo there? They probably relied on a birth certificate and, in some states, a Social Security card. Neither of those has any proof of the bearer's identification other than his word. (When I got my photo DL at 16 my mom came with me and vouched for my identity, but what was the proof she knew?)

Since there are differing standards for verifying you are who I think you are based on my need for proof, it is not at all unreasonable that different agencies would be slow to adopt verified identity information - such as a fingerprint database - without understanding exactly how each one determined the identity before taking the fingerprints. Andy Taylor might let Otis into his jail based on sight, but should the FBI let Otis' records into their database tied to something as verifiable as fingerprints on the same criteria?

It's not bickering for the FBI to say it won't accept a fingerprint as being tied to a person without a good idea of how the supplying agency verified the identity of the person.

I don't know how many of the other issues Michelle brought up are stimied by similar problems, but I don't think it's fair to say it's all about interagency bickering and incompetence.

Shalom.

[spodefly]

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