Pentagon to screen recruits with green cards, foreign ties

WASHINGTON — The Pentagon, citing terrorism and espionage fears, is developing a plan to scrutinize prospective 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.

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 that 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 greencard holders as recruits, marketing such jobs as a chance to attain U.S. citizenship.

The new initiative comes as the Trump administration continues to take unprecedented steps to curb immigration to the United States. Many of its efforts have been halted by federal courts.

Among the people who could be targets of the foreign-nexus screening are people who have foreign contacts, foreign citizenship, dual citizenship, a birthplace outside the United States if born to foreign parents, family members who are not U.S. citizens, and immediate family members who have dual citizenship,according to one of the memos.

Other factors that could require such screening include possessing a non-U.S. passport, having financial interests abroad, residing outside the United States for more than three of the previous 10 years, and living in the United States for less than the last five consecutive years unless the circumstances involved work related to the U.S. government.

Historically, about 70 percent 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.