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DHS: Saudi's Are "Trusted Travelers"?

Mike

Well-known member
I'll bet this ends well......................

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.


Read more: http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2013/03/20/decision-to-extend-trusted-traveler-program-to-saudi-scrutinized/?test=latestnews#ixzz2OB67nDOF
 

Steve

Well-known member
I'll bet this ends well......................

Al-Turki’s conviction had been so controversial that Colorado Attorney General John Suthers had to go to Saudi Arabia and meet with King Abdullah, Crown Prince Sultan and al-Turki's family.

Colorado prison chief murder: Authorities investigate link between Tom Clements slaying and his earlier refusal to extradite Saudi national
The El Paso County Sheriff’s Office said because of Clements’ position, his death may not have been a random attack. He was found shot in the chest Tuesday night after answering the front door of his home in Monument.

nvestigators said Wednesday they’re not ruling out the possibility that Tom Clements was targeted because of his job. His murder comes only a week after he denied a Saudi man’s request to serve the rest of his sentence in his home country — a high-profile sex abuse and extortion case from 2006.

“Because of the fact Mr. Clements served in the position he did, we’re sensitive to the fact there could be any number of people who have a motive,” Lt. Jeff Kramer, a spokesman for the El Paso County Sheriff’s Office, said at a news conference.

Clements, the Colorado Department of Corrections chief since January 2011, was shot in the chest around 8:30 p.m. Tuesday after answering

Attacks on officials in the United States are rare, but have been growing in recent years, experts say.

In Clements’ case, he had recently denied the application for Saudi national Homaidan al-Turki to be transferred to a Saudi Arabian prison.

Al-Turki was convicted in 2006 after prosecutors said he repeatedly sexually assaulted an Indonesian housekeeper and kept her as a virtual slave in his Colorado home for four years. He was sentenced to eight years to life in prison.

Clements based his denial on the fact that al-Turki refused to be screened for a sex-offender treatment and monitoring program because he said it conflicted with his Islamic faith.

Al-Turki’s conviction had been so controversial that Colorado Attorney General John Suthers had to go to Saudi Arabia and meet with King Abdullah, Crown Prince Sultan and al-Turki's family.

when will we learn?
 
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