Publication: DISAM Journal
Publication Date: 01-JUL-07
Delivery: Immediate Online Access
Author: Womack, David R.
Article Excerpt
History
Human Rights (HR) vetting is an important task required prior to sending any international military student (IMS) to the U.S. for training of any kind. The purpose of HR vetting is to ensure that the IMS is not a gross violator of human rights and to ensure that the U.S. government is not training these violators.
The vetting process came into being in the late 1990s as a law authored by Senator Patrick Leahy. Initially, only military units were vetted prior to any bilateral training. Over time, the requirement grew to include individual IMS vetting and any individual from a military or security service receiving training or participating in a U.S.-sponsored exercise. The Embassies themselves vet the IMS prior to their travel. Names are provided by the different agencies, security assistance offices (SAO), regional security office (RSO), legal attache (LEGATT), etc., and the political section checks their databases to see if the names are listed. Once the political section clears the individual, based on locally available information, the names of any individuals are sent to Washington, D.C. for final clearance. Centralized databases are located in Washington, D.C. at the DoS to collect and centralize all HR reports.
Process
This is where we are today. The process has grown bureaucratic through the years. Embassies are to collect all the information and build a cable. In the cable, the key information about the IMS, such as the name, date of birth, place of birth, rank and unit are listed. The cable listing all the students who are vying for the training is then drafted. The cable is then cleared by each agency participating in the cable, and then sent to Washington, D.C. Also listed in the cable is the training the IMS is to receive, as well as the dates and places of training.
Upon receipt of the cable in Washington, the DoS Country Desk Officer must take the cable and run the names against three separate databases operated by three separate bureaus within DoS. Once they are cleared, the Country Desk Officer must send a cable back to the Embassy informing the Embassy that the "Department has reviewed its files and finds it possesses no credible information of gross violations of human rights at this time by the members of the host nation (HN) military listed below." Upon receipt of this cable back at the Embassy, the IMS is cleared to travel. According to the DoS' Standardized Operating Procedures, the Political Section, which handles...
NOTE: All illustrations and photos have been removed from this article.
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