Column: The Syrian Refugee Crisis's Impact on America's National Security

Op-Ed

By Congressman Scott Tipton

I take issue with President Obama and Governor Hickenlooper's refusal to address the realities of the national security risks posed by the federal government continuing to admit thousands of refugees from Syria without the capability to stringently verify their identities and backgrounds.

Without the capability to sufficiently vet and verify the identities of refugees coming from Syria, the government admitting thousands of refugees would provide ample opportunity for an ISIS terrorist to hide amongst.

President Obama and Governor Hickenlooper claim that a stringent vetting process is already in place, but I and many others, including national security and military experts, have serious concerns that the current screening process is woefully inadequate.

In October, one of the President's top security officials, FBI Director James Comey, testified in the House Committee on Homeland Security that the United States does not have the capability to effectively vet Syrian refugees, citing numerous challenges to proving the identities of individuals under the current system.

This stands to reason since there are no records or databases in Syria against which to confirm the identities of refugees. Under the current system, the most intensive part of the review process is an interview, where refugees are taken at their word as they answer questions that attempt to verify their identity.

This system is ripe for exploitation by ISIS terrorists and others looking for a way to enter into the U.S. by posing as refugees. In Paris, just a week ago, one of those involved in carrying out the senseless and horrifying attacks masqueraded as such.

To be clear, Syrian refugees who are innocent victims of war are not the threat. Nobody serious is saying that. Furthermore, those who are calling for our country to ban refugees who practice the Muslim faith couldn't be more wrong and have no place in this discussion. I will remind them that we are a nation founded on the principle of religious liberty for all, and that is sacred.

My concern is that terrorists will seek to exploit the plight of innocent refugees and the goodwill of the United States as a way to enter into our country, intent on killing Americans. The risk is legitimate; it has happened before.

In 2011, President Obama suspended the admission of refugees from Iraq for six months so the U.S. government could review its screening process after al Qaeda terrorists were found to have entered the country as refugees. We recently voted to take a similar course of action in the House of Representatives.

This week we passed our legislation (H.R. 4038) with a veto-proof bipartisan majority to establish the most thorough verification process possible and require all three of our national security agencies to vet and certify that a refugee poses no threat before being allowed into the United States. If stringent verification is the goal--as the President and Governor have claimed--then they should wholeheartedly embrace this commonsense step.

Until this process is in place, and we have the capability to more stringently vet refugees coming from this war-torn region, the federal government should immediately suspend the admission program. Our bill requires that. This timely and critical legislation now goes to the Senate. I strongly urge Senator Michael Bennet to lead in getting this to the President's desk.

We all have empathy for the innocent victims of war who have been displaced in Syria, but that doesn't mean that the U.S. government should prioritize the admission of insufficiently vetted refugees over the safety of the American people.

It's possible to show compassion and provide security and the opportunity for these displaced people to rebuild their lives without risking Americans' safety in the process. One way to do that is to work with coalition and peacekeeping forces to establish safe-zones within Syria and friendly countries in the region.

These are the types of solutions on which we should be focused and merit immediate pursuit.

*Published in the Denver Post on Sunday, November 22, 2015

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