STATE Dept Flubs Up---Again and Again

The Washington Post has a story on how a junior consular officer insulted a senior Indian scientist by denying him and his wife a visa because of his expertise in chemistry.

The dark side of this comedy is apparent to me, as I served for two years as Vice Consul in the former Consulate General in Lyon, France, during a time when there were cumbrous procedures code-named BOULDER that prevented many applicants of Middle East or North African origin to undergo close questioning as to their reason for US travel. I participated in several face-to-face interviews, but find it hard to excuse the behavior of the American consular official who botched the interview according to the Post article.

First, if the scientist had the letter of invitation from the University of Florida, and had previous visas in his passport for the States, what could have been the problem? The only surmise that could excuse this ridiculous turn-down would be that the senior scientist had a new passport without the previous visas and had forgotten the letter of invitation. Even so, his past visas should have been on the computers at the Consulate.

Second, why does the State Dept spokesman deny the rejection?

State Department spokesman Justin Higgins denied yesterday that the United States had rejected Mehta's visa and said the consulate had merely followed standard procedure in dealing with applicants with certain kinds of scientific expertise.

Talk about "tone deaf! And later in the story, it sounds like this spokesman is "stuck on stupid." The officious little jerk

Next question is why the US State Dept has no consulate in Bangalore where the professor lives, and where India's largest aggregation of US-linked computer industries are located?

In his written account, the scientist said that after traveling 200 miles, waiting three hours with his wife for an interview and being accused of deception, he was outraged when his accounts of his research were questioned and he was told he needed to fill out a detailed questionnaire.

The predictable answer to that is Congressional underfunding, which has been the bane of Foggy Bottom since forever. State just doesn't have a natural constituency among the powers-that-be in the national and international arena and therefore is a cheap-shot target for lots of less than responsible Congressmen.

But the post 9/11 butt-covering has reached cosmic disproportion. One scientist familiar with the case makes an invidious comparison:

"If you tell an American, 'If you want a visa to go to India, you have to go to Dallas, Chicago, L.A. or New York, and while you are there, you are going to be fingerprinted, photographed and asked about everything you have done in your research for the last 40 years,' we would find this procedure untenable as Americans,"

And when the professor eventually reaches the USA, he is greeted by the Homeland Security's goon squad, called the TSA, who treats him and his wife even worse than it treats ordinary Americans! See today's previous blog: "The clerks are revolting"

Finally, the situation is explained by scientists as understandable, if not excusable:

William Wulf, president of the National Academy of Engineering, acknowledged that young American consular officers in foreign countries have been under tremendous pressure since the Sept. 11 attacks.

"Making the wrong decision would be career-ending, so they play it safe, not really understanding the macroscopic implications of their decision," Wulf said. "Denying a visa to the president of ICSU is probably as dumb as you can get. This is not the way we can make friends."

Message to Indian brainiacs who want to study or work in the USA. Get ready for the hazing!

President Bush is visiting New Delhi March 1st and this is sure to come up as a talking point somewhere in the proceedings.

I hope the Vice Consul who messed up gets reprimanded for being an officious little twit.