NEVER TOLERATE TYRANNY!....Conservative voices from the GRASSROOTS.

Is it just ME or does anyone else think everyone in Washington DC just had a (brain drain)

where their skull contents spilled out onto the street, into the gutter, then on into the sewer system to intermix with all the other effluvium of liberal progressive democrat life, only to pollute, in the end, all of our oceans which brought forth life after the Big Bang??

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

Published March 20, 2013

FoxNews.com

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.

"I think you have radical Wahhabism in certain elements in Saudi Arabia, and I think to be more lenient there than in other places would be a mistake," Rep. Frank Wolf told the Investigative Project on Terrorism. "There were 15 [hijackers] from that country, and there is a lot taking place in that region."

Only an exclusive handful of countries enjoy inclusion in the Global Entry program -- Canada, Mexico, South Korea and the Netherlands. According to the IPT, some officials are questioning why Saudi Arabia gets to reap the benefits of the program, when key U.S. allies like Germany and France are not enrolled; Israel has reached a deal with

the U.S., but that partnership has not yet been implemented.

Any Saudi travelers cleared through the program will be able to bypass the normal customs line after providing passports and fingerprints. The status lasts for five years.

The decision is a turnaround, the IPT notes, from when Saudi Arabia was briefly placed on a list of countries whose U.S.-bound travelers would face higher scrutiny, in the wake of the failed Christmas Day bombing attempt in 2009.

But Napolitano spoke highly of "the bond between the United States and the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia" when she announced the change in January.

"By enhancing collaboration with the government of Saudi Arabia, we reaffirm our commitment to more effectively secure our two countries against evolving threats while facilitating legitimate trade and travel," Napolitano said.

The Global Entry program was launched in 2008 to expedite pre-approved passengers through the airport customs and security process when they arrive in the U.S. The program is designed to weed out low-risk passengers and enable authorities to zero in on those who may be more likely to pose a threat.`

But the program has sparked controversy in the past. Critics objected in late 2010 when Mexican citizens were included in the program, raising concerns that drug cartels would quickly learn how to exploit loopholes in the plan. DHS officials, however, insisted at the time that people who attain trusted traveler status don't get a free pass and are still subject to random searches.

The program allows travelers who have undergone a thorough vetting process -- fingerprinting, background checks, interviews with customs agents, etc.-- to attain a low-risk status that allows them to skip the line at customs and complete their entry process at an automatic kiosk.

I need a break!

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Comment by Gordon Ray Kissinger on March 22, 2013 at 4:11pm

Dumb and dangerous: America's fast pass for Saudi Arabia

Posted by Michelle Malkin - Syndicated Columnist - March 22, 2013

It's business as usual in the post-9/11 world. Your federal government is back to pandering to wealthy travelers from Saudi Arabia. In the eyes of our massive homeland security apparatus, the comfort of Saudis is a higher priority than the safety of American citizens.

And thanks to reckless, feckless bureaucrats who fear being labeled "racists," "xenophobes" and "Islamophobes," political correctness remains the handmaiden of terror.

According to a new report released this week by the Investigative Project on Terrorism (IPT), President Obama's Department of Homeland Security plans to bestow "trusted traveler" status to travelers from Saudi Arabia. Yes, the home of 15 of the 19 9/11 hijackers will soon enjoy the exclusive privilege of new entry shortcuts into the U.S.

Fox News points out: "Only an exclusive handful of countries enjoy inclusion in the Global Entry program: Canada, Mexico, South Korea and the Netherlands. According to the IPT, some officials are questioning why Saudi Arabia gets to reap the benefits of the program, when key U.S. allies like Germany and France are not enrolled."

Saudi suck-up Janet Napolitano, head of the Department of Homeland Security, hailed "the bond between the United States and the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia" and pledged to work with the government to facilitate "legitimate trade and travel."

This foolish move is astonishing but not unprecedented. As I noted in the immediate aftermath of the 9/11 attacks, the Bush administration had created its own fast-pass system for Saudi elites called "Visa Express." Thanks to this GOP idiocy, three of the 9/11 hijackers skipped the usual consular interview process and bypassed long lines in the hot Saudi sun.

Throughout the jihadist-coddling Saudi kingdom, applicants could simply file their visa paperwork through travel agencies and courier companies for a small fee -- without having to appear in person or submit to extensive background checks. The U.S. embassy in Riyadh bragged before 9/11: "Applicants will no longer have to take time off from work, no longer have to wait in long lines under the hot sun and in crowded waiting rooms, and no longer be limited by any time constraints."

Investigative reporter Joel Mowbray obtained the shocking, shoddy applications filed by the hijackers -- whose omissions about where, when and what they planned to do when they arrived in the U.S. should have raised blood-red flags. But after the Saudi-dominated 9/11 jihad crew murdered nearly 3,000 innocent men, women and children on our soil, Bush administration officials bent over backward to assure touchy Saudis that no changes would be made "in determining visa eligibility as a result of the (9/11) attacks." Visa Express was expanded.

Moreover, State Department employees were banned from communicating with foreign governments about their citizens' visa applications, making it virtually impossible to verify vital information. The Bush State Department official in charge of implementing the "Visa Express" program that helped enable 9/11 hijackers and their colleagues was not punished. Instead, she received "cash prizes for 'outstanding performance in the 12 months from April 16, 2001, to April 15, 2002' -- a period during which at least five of the 9/11 terrorists received visas that should have been denied according to the law," as Mowbray noted, "and during which September 11 happened."

Since that time, consular screening has remained an abject joke. There is still no operational tracking system to detect and deport hundreds of thousands of visa overstayers, including untold numbers of illegal aliens from jihad-friendly Middle Eastern countries. Law enforcement training for consular officials is scant. And Rep. Frank Wolf, R-Va., stated the obvious about Obama's Fast Pass 2.0: "I think you have radical Wahhabism in certain elements in Saudi Arabia, and I think to be more lenient there than in other places would be a mistake."

Twelve years after a Saudi-dominated cabal of young male Muslims committed mass murder in the skies and brought down the Twin Towers, your government refuses to do the unapologetic national security profiling necessary to prevent another domestic attack by foreign jihadis. Instead, they're searching your grandma's knitting bag, your Marine's prosthetic limbs and your toddler's bags packed for Disneyland -- while waving Saudi "trusted travelers" through the fast lane. Deadly deja vu.

Comment by Kathryn Ball on March 21, 2013 at 2:00pm: You might just have something here......I know that Freedomworks is planning a rally in DC on April 15.

Might not be a bad idea to join them........HMMMMM?????

Comment by PHILIP SCHNEIDER on March 21, 2013 at 1:47pm: Kathryn,

You just gave me an idea . . . . . a million patriot march "The Tea Party" didn't get much attention from our legislators

but what about ( I pretty much think I'll just drive wherever I want to go.) we all car pool . . . . or maybe just a couple hundred thousand of us, and park on Pennsylvania avenue for a couple weeks demanding to be heard about TSA and our national security.

That'd kinda be like "Occupy Wall Street" but we'd be in Washington D.C.

But then again, I don't want to be like "Occupy Wall Street" or even legitimize their existence . . . . .

Uhhhmmmm . . . .Never mind.

Comment by Kathryn Ball on March 21, 2013 at 1:34pm: Dear Philip,

Please forgive the colloquialism, but

W. T. F. ?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?

Add to this the testimony of three of Incompatano's goons in front of a House Hearing [Trey Gowdy was questioning them about the release of "Level One Felons" because of the "Sequester"] and I can honestly say that unless airports rid themselves of these idiot TSA people who get their jollies by groping old women and toddlers, I pretty much think I'll just drive wherever I want to go.

Other than that.....I need to go rinse the blood out of my eyes!!!