June 5 2000 UNITED STATES CIA urged to spy on all foreign students FROM BEN MACINTYRE IN WASHINGTON TO TACKLE the threat of international terrorism, the US should monitor every foreign student within its borders, encourage CIA agents to recruit more "unsavoury" informants and impose sanctions on friendly states who fail to act against terrorists, according to a Congressional report published today. The US National Commission on Terrorism, set up by Congress two years ago after the bombing of US embassies in East Africa, gave warning that US anti-terrorism policies were "seriously deficient" and recommended a series of drastic measures that have angered its allies accused of tolerating terrorism. The most radical element in the report is a proposal to begin surveillance of every foreign student on US soil, since "a small minority may exploit their student status to support terrorist activity". To keep track of potential student-terrorists, government officials should be made aware whenever a foreign student changes academic course suspiciously, say, "from English literature to nuclear physics", the commission said. If the proposal is taken up, Laura Spence, the British schoolgirl rejected by Oxford and now heading to Harvard, could find herself monitored. The report, a blueprint for future counter-terrorism policy that is expected to prove influential on Capitol Hill, argues that Greece and Pakistan, close allies of the US, should be listed with Afghanistan as "not fully co-operating on counter-terrorism". That would bar those countries from buying American military equipment. "The threat is changing, and it's becoming more deadly," Paul Bremer III, a former anti-terrorism expert at the State Department and the commission chairman, said. The investigation found the CIA had become unnecessarily cautious and gave warning that "this has inhibited the recruitment of essential, if sometimes unsavoury, terrorist informants". While not giving the agency "carte blanche to hire thugs and murderers", agents were too restricted by human rights guidelines on recruiting informants, Jane Harman, a former member of Congress and a panel member, said. Bill Harlow, a CIA spokesman, said: "CIA headquarters has never turned down a request to use someone - even someone with a record of human rights abuse - if we thought that person could be valuable to our overall counter-terrorist programme." The ten-member commission, made up of senior security and intelligence officials, singled out Pakistan for providing "safe haven, transit, and moral, political and diplomatic support to several groups engaged in terrorism", and Greece, a Nato ally, for being "disturbingly passive in response to terrorist activities". The US has made inadequate preparations for a "catastrophic terrorist threat or attack" involving biological, chemical or nuclear weapons, the panel concluded. President Clinton should officially designate the US military, rather than the FBI or the Federal Emergency Management Agency, as the body prepared to respond to such an attack, the report said. "We need to take better steps to get ahead of the curve on biological terrorism. We need to be ready, and we're not," Mr Bremer said. Pakistani officials insisted Islamabad was providing "extensive co-operation" on anti-terrorism measures, while Greece rejected the report's allegations as "totally unfair". <A HREF="http://www.ctrl.org/">www.ctrl.org</A> DECLARATION & DISCLAIMER ========== CTRL is a discussion & informational exchange list. Proselytizing propagandic screeds are unwelcomed. Substance—not soap-boxing—please! These are sordid matters and 'conspiracy theory'—with its many half-truths, misdirections and outright frauds—is used politically by different groups with major and minor effects spread throughout the spectrum of time and thought. That being said, CTRL gives no endorsement to the validity of posts, and always suggests to readers; be wary of what you read. CTRL gives no credence to Holocaust denial and nazi's need not apply. Let us please be civil and as always, Caveat Lector. ======================================================================== Archives Available at: http://home.ease.lsoft.com/archives/CTRL.html <A HREF="http://home.ease.lsoft.com/archives/ctrl.html">Archives of [EMAIL PROTECTED]</A> http:[EMAIL PROTECTED]/ <A HREF="http:[EMAIL PROTECTED]/">ctrl</A> ======================================================================== To subscribe to Conspiracy Theory Research List[CTRL] send email: SUBSCRIBE CTRL [to:] [EMAIL PROTECTED] To UNsubscribe to Conspiracy Theory Research List[CTRL] send email: SIGNOFF CTRL [to:] [EMAIL PROTECTED] Om
