Mike Chertoff's DHS Plummets To New Depths

(Obligatory apology once more for that truly disturbing pic...)

The New York Times tells us here that a German graduate student studying at M.I.T. recently applied for an ID card allowing him to work around ships and docks (the student is studying oceanography, hence the post title).

You would think this would be the proverbial “slam-dunk,” but since we’re talking about Mike Chertoff’s DHS…

What the student, Wilken-Jon von Appen, received in return was a letter that not only turned him down but added an ominous warning from John M. Busch, a security administration official: “I have determined that you pose a security threat.”

Similar letters have gone to 5,000 applicants across the country who have at least initially been turned down for a Transportation Worker Identification Credential, an ID card meant to guard against acts of terrorism, agency officials said Monday.

The officials also said they were sorry about the language, which they may change in the future, but had no intention of withdrawing letters already sent.

“It’s an unfortunate choice of words in a bureaucratic letter,” said Ellen Howe, a security agency spokeswoman.

Gee, Ms. Howe, ya’ think (and maybe, based on this story, it might be a good idea to train our airport security screeners better than to try and frighten overseas students).

And how exactly did the student react to this bureaucratic harassment?

Mr. von Appen, 23, one of at least four oceanography students at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology who received identical letters, said he was stunned by its language.

“I was pretty much speechless and quite intimidated,” said Mr. von Appen, whose research is supported by a $65,000-a-year grant from the National Science Foundation.

A British student at M.I.T. who was rejected, Sophie Clayton, 28, said that at first she was amused at what appeared to be a bureaucratic absurdity. But as she pondered the designation, Ms. Clayton said she grew worried. “The two words ‘security threat’ are now in the files next to my name, my photograph and my fingerprints,” she said.

Institute officials were also disturbed. The agency controls airport security, and “our students travel in and out of the country a lot,” said Danielle Guichard-Ashbrook, associate dean and director of the international student office at M.I.T.

By the way, as noted in the Times story, I love the casual attitude of TSA spokesperson Ellen Howe who says in essence, “Well, if someone is denied a TWIC card, that doesn’t mean they can’t enter a port with someone who does have one” (as if overseas graduate students will be bothered with that nonsense when they have the option to study somewhere else).

And this Daily Kos post by another individual who apparently is studying oceanography through M.I.T. echoed my sentiments pretty well…

I have no intention of taking a cruise to the Arctic or the Southern Ocean or whatever remote and cold locations have data that needs collecting; I'd prefer to not take trips to the stratosphere to collect ozone samples or to the mesopause to measure temperature gradients, either. But to deny graduate students their research, or worse, to deny this country its research, is simply unacceptable. John M. Busch, you are an idiot.

This story notes the results of a survey that found that while overseas students are still coming to the U.S. to study, primarily from China and India, they are not doing as much over the last few years as before (and you’ll never guess why, which "no one could have predicted" of course)…

"There's a growing perception among international students that the United States is not as welcoming to international students as it has been in the past," (survey author Ken) Redd said.

After the terrorist attacks of 2001, obtaining a visa to study in the U.S. became more difficult. Students have to submit to extensive record checks and monitoring.

Applications from abroad took a severe hit in 2004 and 2005, something analysts attributed to the same factors they say are at play today -- including aggressive recruiting from other countries. About 65 percent of the schools surveyed in the study have not recovered from that decline.

Redd said stalled application rates from India could account for some of the lackluster rates nationwide. Applications from China increased 12 percent from 2007 to 2008.

The weak dollar means that studying in the U.S. is a bargain compared with other universities, but Redd said that doesn't seem to be enough to bring droves of international students.

"Regardless of currency factors, students still have to get a visa to come here," he said. "Financing and money is just one factor that students take into account before coming to the U.S. -- lots of other factors are at play."

On the one hand, I want to see jobs in this country protected first, but this isn’t about that I’ll admit. It’s about allowing individuals who want to come here and study to do so in the hope that they will be tomorrow’s entrepreneurs or researchers blazing a trail in scientific exploration or medical research.

Here’s a thought for Mikey and his TSA geniuses; how about allowing for consideration of the grade-point average of these individuals in whether or not they’re denied a TWIC card (or a VISA altogether)? If someone works hard to establish a career here, wouldn’t it make them less inclined to want to attack this country later?

And by the way, what a neat scam by Lockheed Martin to charge $132 for the TWIC card. Any chance that I could get “a piece of that action” somehow without owning shares of the company?