Officials have touted the program as a way to speed up vetting of recruits who have what the Pentagon considers “foreign nexus” risks.
Marine Sgt. Edson Mejia Jimenez, left, originally from Colombia, and Army Pvt. Sehyeon Park, originally from South Korea, take the Oath of Allegiance along with other citizenship candidates during a naturalization ceremony in Virginia on Feb. 22, 2016. By Dan Lamothe Dan Lamothe Reporter covering the Pentagon and the U.S. military Email Bio Follow March 12 at 10:51 AM A Pentagon program designed to screen potential recruits with foreign ties, including green-card holders and some U.S.
But the plan also may come with complications, according to emails obtained by The Post. That would be a concern for a military that has long sought to attract immigrants to meet its recruiting goals in part by promoting the possibility of U.S. citizenship.Discussions about the program began in earnest after a federal judge issued a preliminary injunction in November ordering the Pentagon to begin sending a backlog of thousands of green-card recruits to initial training.
Russ Beland, a senior civilian official in the Navy Department, said in a Feb. 27 email obtained by The Post that the estimates officials were using to determine which recruits needed additional screening “may be far too low.” After assessing its pool of recruits waiting to go to initial training, the Navy determined that “somewhere between a third and half” could require new screening, he wrote.
Beland, in an email, said that he could not comment on the messages because the policy is “in a pre-decisional state.”Air Force Lt. Col. Carla Gleason, a Pentagon spokeswoman, said that she was unable to address questions but that the Defense Department needs “every qualified patriot who is willing and able to serve.” As of May 2018, about 19,800 noncitizens were among the nation’s 1.2 million active-duty service members.
In January, U.S. District Judge Thomas S. Zilly found in the MAVNI troops’ favor, ruling that the Pentagon had not met its burden of proof to require the screening.
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