Speech #810324275

Mr. President. because of the intensive lobbying and propaganda campaign which is being waged by the Department of State against that segment of the bill. S. 4037. which is designed to strengthen the administration of the laws relating to the issuances of visas and passports. I am obliged to make a few comments so that the Senators will not form in their minds an erroneous preconception of this segment of the bill. My comments are further prompted by the fact that this segment of the bill is vital if we are to accomplish our objectives of protecting the internal security of the United States. Although we may write sound internalsecurity legislation. unless we also strengthen the administration of the law we shall have accomplished nothing. Mr. President. during the course of the hearings which were conducted by a special Subcommittee of the Committee on the Judiciary. the chief of the Visa Division of the Department of State revealed an alarming situation with reference to the issuance of visas to aliens who are definite threats to the security of the United States. He testified that in every single case in which the visa division had disapproved a visa application on security grounds involving an official of a foreign government or an affiliate of an international organization the case had been approved by some other division in the Department of State and that these securityrisk cases were running at the rate of about 10 a month. It was further revealed that the Passport Division and Visa Division of the Department of State were precluded from direct contact with the Federal Bureau of Investigation and other security agencies of the Government and that the only intelligence information which was available to these divisions is filtered through intermediate offices of the Department. During the debate on the Senate bill 4037. I shall discuss extensively this situation and I shall reveal the facts respecting a number of subversive cases which have been approved under this present system. but in passing. may I say that the chief of the visa division when he testified could not recall a single case in which a visa had been refused on security grounds to an alien who had a diplomatic passport. notwithstanding the fact that 160.000 diplomatic visas have been issued since 1933. Mr. President. this segment of the bill against which the Department of State is at this moment waging a campaign by buttonholing the Senators in the corridors. by telephone calls. and the like. does just this and nothing more: It creates in the Department of State a Bureau of Passports and Visas to be headed by a Director with rank and compensation not less than that of an Assistant Secretary of State. The Director shall have not less than 10 years experience in the Foreign Service of the United States and shall be appointed by the President. by and with the advice and consent of the Senate. He would have statutory authority to maintain direct and continuous liaison with the internal security officers of the Government. Thus. the Director would have the same relationship to the Secretary of the State that the Director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation and the Commissioner of Immigration and Naturalization now have to the Attorney General. We would have some fixation of responsibility in the matter of issuance of visas and we would attempt to eliminate the monkey business which has so freely occurred in the past in the issuance of visas. At the present time. the Chief of the Visa Division of the Department of State has little more responsibility and authority than an office boy in the Department. His decisions are subject to the whims of the heads of the various political and economic desks within the Department. and we are unable to hold any one indidividual responsible for the situation whereby aliens who are a definite threat to the security of the United States have been and are being freely admitted into the United States. I invite the attention of the Senate to two typical illustrations of the confusion and lack of fixation of responsibility under the present system as it affects the Visa Division of the Department of State. The first illustration is the situation which our subcommittee has been trying to correct with reference to the loose screening procedures in the admission into the United States of aliens from Cuba. The subcommittee learned some time ago that notwithstanding the law which requires that all aliens who seek admission into the United States must be documented. the Department of State. over the protests of the Visa Division. waived documentation for aliens coming to the United States from Cuba who presumably are Cuban nationals and who enter ostensibly for periods up to 29 days. The subcommittee made an investigation of this situation and after discovering that Communist agents were being admitted into the United States under this loose procedure. the subcommittee called for corrective action. After considerable insistence by the subcommittee the State Department finally agreed to reinstitute the visa system. but the Chief of the Visa Division did not even know that the State Department had reached this decision until he read about it in the newspaper. in a press release which had been issued by one of the other divisions In the Department of State. The second illustration of this situation about which I have been speaking pertains to the rules and regulations of this Government with reference to affiliates of international organizations. Under the Headquarters Site Agreement. which was passed by the Congress and signed by the President some 3 years ago. our Government reserved the right to prescribe restrictions on the movements in the United States of certain alien affiliates of international organizations. But until this day the Visa Division of the Department of State has not been able to procure the approval of the other divisions in the Department of State of the rules and regulations which have been drafted governing this situation. If it were not so serious. Mr. President. it would be amusing to reflect on the arguments which the representatives of the Department of State are making to the Senators in opposition to this segment of the bill. They speak of "functional coordination within the Department" and other vague terms which they feel are acceptable in opposition to this segment of the bill. They contend that the Visa Division must be under the thumb of the political and economic divisions of the Department so that the security interest of this country may be weighed in the balance against the economic and political policy phases of our foreign relations. I may say in passing. Mr. President. that the Hoover Commission recommended that the Visa Division functions should be transferred from the State Department to the Department of Justice. I submit. Mr. President. that this structural change which would be provided by the bill is sound in that the Director of the Bureau of Passports and Visas would have no other allegiance except to enforce the laws enacted by the Congress relating to passports and visas which are of extreme importance to the security of the United States. I may suggest in concluding these remarks. Mr. President. that when the Senators are approached with requests to oppose this segment of the bill they ask these questions: First. Has there been a single security case. under the present system. which has been disapproved by the Visa Division which has not subsequently been approved by other divisions of the Department of State? Second. Has there been a single visa application under the present system involving an affiliate of an international organization or an official of a foreign government which has been declined on security grounds? And then ask this question: Have you seen the security files on those aliens who have been admitted into the United States as affiliates of international organizations or officials of foreign governments and who are at this minute endangering the security of the United States? I say.