Enhancing National Security: CIS Vetting Failure Database

This week’s episode of Parsing Immigration Policy reminds listeners of the threats that made President Trump's recent Executive Order, "Protecting the United States from Foreign Terrorists and Other National Security and Public Safety Threats," necessary. The Center for Immigration Studies maintains a comprehensive database detailing examples of preventable federal government vetting failures which resulted in the entry of individuals who posed a threat to national security. Todd Bensman, the Center’s national security fellow, has recently added new cases into the database, highlighting the need for the improvement of U.S. vetting processes. “The Center’s database offers valuable insights for preventing future threats,” said Bensman. “I hope this crucial tool for understanding past failures will be useful to the Trump administration’s renewed robust security vetting efforts.”

Key Highlights:

Purpose: The database identifies fail points in the complex immigration security screening system, providing insights for homeland security agencies and congressional overseers to strengthen future vetting processes.

Analysis: Each entry includes an after-action report detailing what went wrong, offering lessons to improve future vetting procedures. Users can access all primary research materials used in the analyses.

Notable Cases Highlighted: The database contains over 50 entries revealing the entry of foreign threat actors, including a Brazilian ex-police officer who had committed mass murder; a Bosnian war criminal who ran prison camps and was involved in brutal interrogations, torturing, and the killing of inmates; and an Egyptian student who was involved in a plot to bomb the Israeli embassy.

Historical Context: The 9/11 attacks prompted a comprehensive overhaul of U.S. immigration vetting processes. The year 2008 was chosen as the starting date for collecting vetting failure cases on the assumption that the first series of 9/11 visa vetting reforms would have fully vested by then and because significant new process improvements were implemented that year.

In his closing commentary, Mark Krikorian, the Center's executive director and podcast host, highlights President Trump's success in securing the border, achieving the lowest level of apprehensions recorded in history. Will this administration and future administrations stay vigilant?

Host

Mark Krikorian is the Executive Director of the Center for Immigration Studies

Guest

Todd Bensman is a National Security Fellow at the Center for Immigration Studies.

Related

Database: National Security Vetting Failures

Egyptian Student Added to CIS National Security Vetting Failures Database

Afghan Evacuee Added to CIS National Security Vetting Database

Brazilian Mass Murderer Who Slipped through U.S. Vetting Three Times Is Added to CIS Database

Panel: A New Database of Vetting Failures

Commonplace: They Said It Couldn't Be Done

The Greatest Mass MIgration Border Crisis in U.S. History Is Over

Intro Montage

Voices in the opening montage:

• Sen. Barack Obama at a 2005 press conference.
• Sen. John McCain in a 2010 election ad.
• President Lyndon Johnson, upon signing the 1965 Immigration Act.
• Booker T. Washington, reading in 1908 from his 1895 Atlanta Exposition speech.
• Laraine Newman as a "Conehead" on SNL in 1977.
• Hillary Clinton in a 2003 radio interview.
• Cesar Chavez in a 1974 interview.
• House Speaker Nancy Pelosi speaking to reporters in 2019.
• Prof. George Borjas in a 2016 C-SPAN appearance.
• Sen. Jeff Sessions in 2008 comments on the Senate floor.
• Charlton Heston in "Planet of the Apes".