Memo: Pentagon plans to scrutinize recruits with foreign ties

WASHINGTON — The Pentagon, citing terrorism and espi- onage fears, is developing a plan to scrutinize prospec- tive recruits with foreign ties, including some U.S. citizens, after a related effort targeting thousands of green-card holders was blocked by a federal judge last year.

The new policy, still in development, will be distributed to the military services by no later than Feb. 15, according to two defense officials and several Defense Department memos obtained by The Washington Post. The officials spoke on the condition of anonymity due to the issue’s sensitivity.

The new vetting would likely screen thousands of recruits per year who have what the Pentagon considers “foreign nexus” risks, including Americans who marry a foreign spouse and who have family members with dual citizenship, the memos said. Anyone identified for the screening would not be allowed to attend recruit training until they are cleared, a process that could take days for some but drag on much longer for others.

One draft document, labeled “predecisional,” has circulated in recent weeks among senior officials and others who oversee recruiting. It is attributed to Joseph Kernan, the undersecretary of defense for intelligence, and James Stewart, who performs the duties of undersecretary of defense for personnel and readiness, a post President Donald Trump has left without a permanent political appointee since Robert Wilkie left it to run the Department of Veterans Affairs.

“One primary concern associated with qualifying for these positions relates to the potential counterintelligence or terrorism risks,” the memo says. “... The Department must implement expanded foreign vetting and screening protocols to identify and mitigate the foreign nexus risks.”

Defense officials declined to comment on the memos, saying the new policy is undergoing legal reviews and some changes could be made.

The documents reveal how the Pentagon is grappling with the dual challenge of thoroughly screening prospective recruits for potential security threats and finding enough men and women willing to join the military. The Armed Forces have long sought green-card holders as recruits, marketing such jobs as a chance to attain U.S. citizenship.

A Dec. 21 memo prepared by Stephanie Miller, who oversees recruitment policy for the Pentagon, says the Defense Department recognized gaps associated with its screening of individuals with foreign ties “since the receipt of specific reporting beginning of 2016,” though the memo does not specify what that information covers. But the concern stretches to some American citizens, too, she argued.

“DoD recognizes that some U.S. citizens pose a similar risk by virtue of their foreign associations, foreign travel, marriage to a foreign spouse, or dual citizenship,” she wrote. “It is imperative to treat the risk related to a foreign nexus in a similar fashion for any recruit or Service member, regardless of citizenship.”

The Pentagon is prepar- ing the new policy after Kernan’s office and the Army combined in the summer of 2018 to screen green-card holders already in the mili- tary through a new process that relies on dozens of existing intelligence databases, one Defense Department memo said. The screening detected more derogatory information about the ser- vice members in less time than traditional background checks managed by the Office of Personnel Management, the memo said.

The memo promised the new process — called foreign nexus screening and vetting, or FNSV — “can be completed in a matter of days or, depending on the anal- ysis required for detected anomalies, in a few weeks, as compared to the months and years” required under traditional background checks. The new screening process, the memo said, “can process up to 1,600 cases per day.”

Historically, about 70 per- cent of all recruits with green cards are processed quickly, defense officials said in the memo. Under the new policy, the other 30 percent would still be withheld from recruit training until their screening is complete, but the process would in theory be faster.