72 Dept. of Homeland Security Employees Listed On Terror Watch List

No fewer than 72 Staff of the United States Department of Homeland Security (DHS) are listed on the U.S. terrorist watch list, according to a Democratic lawmaker.

Rep. Stephen Lynch (D., Mass.) said in a national public radio interview that a congressional investigation recently found that at least 72 people working at DHS also “were on the terrorist watch list.” “Back in August, we did an investigation — the inspector General did — of the Department of Homeland Security, and they had 72 individuals that were on the terrorist watch list that were actually working at the Department of Homeland Security,” said Lynch.

Lynch said he has “very low confidence” in DHS based on its many failures over the years. For this reason, he voted in favor of recent legislation that will tighten the vetting process for any Syrian refugees applying for asylum in the United States.

“I have very low confidence based on empirical data that we’ve got on the Department of Homeland Security. I think we desperately need another set of eyeballs looking at the vetting process,” he said. “That’s vetting that’s being done at major airports where we have a stationary person coming through a facility, and we’re failing 95 percent of the time.”

“I have even lower confidence that they can conduct the vetting process in places like Jordan, or Belize or on the Syrian border, or in Cairo, or Beirut in any better fashion, especially given the huge volume of applicants we’ve had seeking refugee status,” Lynch said.

On this failure of American DHS, clearly revealed in the latest TSA inspection in airports around the country where the agency failed to stop 95 percent of those who attempted to bring restricted items past airport security, Lynch said: “We had a hearing three weeks ago where the new TSA director said that they’re going back to the drawing board, and beginning again in terms of what their approach is. That’s a good thing. It’s a little bit late in coming, but I think because of what happened in Paris and what happened in Egypt with the airliner, what happened in Beirut… We’re redoubling our efforts, but obviously the system that was initially put in place was inadequate.”

Culled from: i-HLS.