Maura Harty - In Detail

[youmolide]

I will have a lot more info in a few hours ... I am Googlizing Harty and Cabral and will come up with a lot more 'stuff' ... but this was so important I thought I would post it in its entirety. This makes me ill ...

 

M

 

 

http://www.nationalreview.com/mowbray/mowb...wbray100302.asp

 

 

Little Change at Consular Affairs

Senate considers a status-quo replacement for Mary Ryan.

 

 

 

The Senate Foreign Relations Committee Thursday is holding a perfunctory hearing in advance of a likely rubber stamp for the nominated replacement of the pioneer of Visa Express, former Assistant Secretary of State for Consular Affairs Mary Ryan, with her protégé, Maura Harty. Unless a senator on the committee is willing to stand up to the State Department, Harty could soon be confirmed as the head of Consular Affairs (CA), the agency within State that oversees consulates and sets policies for visas regarding who gets in this country — and who does not.

 

 

Harty has been criticized by the parents of kidnapped kids for her management at the Office of Children's Issues (OCI), the division within CA responsible for recovering American children abducted to other countries by their foreign parents, while others raise serious doubts about her ability to provide dynamic leadership as the chief visa officer.

 

As a careerist at State, Harty has held positions throughout the world, ranging from a consular tour in Spain to two stints heading up OCI. Ironically, at the same time as Harty's confirmation hearing in the Senate Thursday, Rep. Dan Burton's Government Reform Committee is holding hearings about a mess Harty did virtually nothing to fix: the scandal of American children held hostage in Saudi Arabia. "Her record was one of indifference bordering on hostility to the interests of American parents," Patricia Roush, one of the most vocal of those parents, has said.

 

Despite the animosity parents of abducted children harbor for her, Harty is well-liked by her colleagues — and she has hit it off with the staff director for the Senate committee's ranking member, Sen. Jesse Helms. With the conservative Helms in declining health, committee staff now handle most decisions not considered vital, and the staff director, Patricia McNerney, happens to be self-professed liberal. One senior State official quipped about the McNerney-Harty meeting, "They had a feminist bonding session."

 

People who have worked under and side-by-side with her describe her as "nice," "technically proficient," and "ambitious," but the word not used by any of them is "leader." One current consular officer who has worked for her noted, "Maura Harty is very good at doing what she is told and not rocking the boat." While such a go-along, get-along attitude has smoothed the path for her rapid rise through State's ranks, it could prove problematic when she is charged with restricting access to visas to keep out terrorists.

 

The damage that could result from Harty's instinctive embrace of stability can be seen on a smaller scale in an incident that occurred under her watch more than a decade ago. When she was chief of non-immigrant visas in Bogotá, Colombia, Harty had to deal with a conflict between two Foreign Service Nationals (FSNs), both of whom worked under her at the embassy. One FSN accused the other of visa fraud — an allegation that was proved true after an investigation. But months before the investigation, Harty responded swiftly — she fired the clean FSN who pointed the finger at the corrupt FSN. A person familiar with the case notes, "Maura Harty didn't want to have to deal with a messy situation, so she opted for a fix that made her life easier."

 

It's possible that what happened in Columbia was an anomaly, but even today Harty seems apathetic about the job of determining what steps are needed to keep visas out of the hands of terrorists.

 

Given that all 19 of the 9/11 hijackers came here on legal visas, the most important task for a new head of Consular Affairs should be plugging the holes in our border security that made possible the worst terrorist attack in U.S. history. Harty does not seem to share that view, however, since a senior State official confirms that she has not even looked at the visa-application forms of the September 11 terrorists. "Her disregard for learning the important lessons of our utter failure in visa policy preceding September 11 shows that Maura Harty will follow in the footsteps of Mary Ryan and carry on business-as-usual for the visa power," says former consular officer Nikolai Wenzel.

 

In a time of war, when the enemy has his eyes set on gaining access into the United States, we need a bold and dynamic leader calling the shots at Consular Affairs. Maura Harty is not that leader

[chinadave2001]

She was the one in charge of "visa express" in Saudi Arabia which generated many of 9-11 terrorists visas. Then she got promoted.

[rocksplit]

She was the one in charge of "visa express" in Saudi Arabia which generated many of 9-11 terrorists visas. Then she got promoted.

By whom?

[Guest Long_strider]

Here is some stuff about Harty. Ryan was forced out but Harty was her clone in this matter. My biggest concern is that Powell, whom I have often admired, support her in the nomination process.

 

 

 

 

http://www.state.gov/secretary/rm/2002/14852.htm

 

http://www.state.gov/secretary/rm/2002/14852.htm

 

http://www.nationalreview.com/mowbray/mowb...wbray111402.asp

 

http://www.softcom.net/webnews/wed/bb/Asta...t.R8Bc_CN1.html

 

http://www.stoptheinvasion.com/news020603.html

[youmolide]

A lot of Harty's personal information (home address & phone, as well as her boyfriend's !) is listed on google & yahoo people search. No way will I post it here (don't want to get censured/censored) ... but if you want it ... it's there.

 

 

M

[chinadave2001]

A lot of Harty's personal information (home address & phone, as well as her boyfriend's !) is listed on google & yahoo people search. No way will I post it here (don't want to get censured/censored) ... but if you want it ... it's there.

 

 

M

I doubt that calling her at home would do anything to advance your petition. More likely the opposite.

[rfsun]

If only there was a way to seperate her from her boyfriend for a little while, say about a year. Then she could email herself and ask for help.

Ha ha.

 

A close read of some of those articles explains why there is a black hole. According to one of the articles "Harty is unsuited to execute key, family-uniting, visa-granting duties."

 

We need to make some noise.

[AZwolfman]

If only there was a way to seperate her from her boyfriend for a little while, say about a year.  Then she could email herself and ask for help.

Ha ha.

[SBS]

YES we should do that if we could