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Todd Bensman

From Journalism to Counterterrorism Intelligence - and Back.

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America's Security Vetting Failures

Preventing Espionage and Terrorism: The Real Purpose Behind Trump’s Proposals for Foreign Student and Exchange Visitor Visas

September 30, 2020 by Todd Bensman Leave a Comment

The way the programs are run now, the proposal explains, undermines U.S. national security “due to reduced opportunities for direct vetting of foreign academic students by immigration officers. But it also places research universities and the nation at risk for economic, academic, or military espionage by foreign students and exchange visitors.” By Todd Bensman as published October 1, 2020 by … [Read more...] about Preventing Espionage and Terrorism: The Real Purpose Behind Trump’s Proposals for Foreign Student and Exchange Visitor Visas

Filed Under: Securing America's Borders

Out of Yemen, a Reminder About What May Happen Without “Extreme Vetting” and “Travel Ban” Policies

August 27, 2020 by Todd Bensman Leave a Comment

Restoring visas from travel-restricted countries like Yemen, as Biden promises on grounds that Trump's restrictions are "vile" and "Islamaphobic," portends a return to the circumstances that brought a radical Houthi rebel fighter into the United States in 2014. By Todd Bensman as originally published August 27, 2020 by the Center for Immigration Studies All but lost in political convention … [Read more...] about Out of Yemen, a Reminder About What May Happen Without “Extreme Vetting” and “Travel Ban” Policies

Filed Under: Terrorism and Homeland Security

Indictment of Pakistani Doctor H1-B Visa Holder for jihadist plot raises the question: How’s that Vetting Going?

May 4, 2020 by Todd Bensman

This case undermines criticism that President Trump’s “Travel Ban” wrongly blocked U.S. entry of doctors from Muslim-majority countries on the temporary work H-1B visas. The case also is cause for reassessing current vetting in unlisted countries, to ensure threats are not imported among the doctors and other skilled professionals who use the visa. Finally, the American public, elected leaders, … [Read more...] about Indictment of Pakistani Doctor H1-B Visa Holder for jihadist plot raises the question: How’s that Vetting Going?

Filed Under: Securing America's Borders

A Terror Case the Travel Ban Would Have Prevented

February 14, 2019 by Todd Bensman

Opponents have decried the policy as a racist and religiously discriminatory "Muslim ban." But this defies the fact that Muslim-majority countries such as Jordan, Egypt, Saudi Arabia, the Gulf States, and many other Muslim-majority countries are not designated. Why would this be? Because these Muslim-majority countries keep criminal and intelligence records and share them with America. As … [Read more...] about A Terror Case the Travel Ban Would Have Prevented

Filed Under: Securing America's Borders

Idiot Lights Blinking: Vetting Failures Still Favor Lying Terrorist Migrants

May 1, 2019 by Todd Bensman

By Todd Bensman as published by the Center for Immigration Studies on April 30, 2019 New reports keep piling up that asylum seekers and refugees from terrorism-spawning countries have slipped through the U.S. vetting systems despite records of Islamic terrorism. Like episodic idiot-lights on the car dashboard that briefly blink on and then disappear for a while, news reports slowly raise … [Read more...] about Idiot Lights Blinking: Vetting Failures Still Favor Lying Terrorist Migrants

Filed Under: Securing America's Borders

New Terrorism Case-In-Point: Why Somalia Is on the Travel Ban List and Must Stay There

September 11, 2018 by Todd Bensman

How can U.S. officials vet refugees claiming to be from a country with no government records to check? As when they cross a U.S. land border unknown and with no ID, Somalis who formally apply for refugee resettlement — at, say, a U.S. embassy or refugee camp abroad — present a security challenge to officials trying to separate the malevolent from the benign. Discerning the difference for … [Read more...] about New Terrorism Case-In-Point: Why Somalia Is on the Travel Ban List and Must Stay There

Filed Under: Securing America's Borders

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