Published: November 06, 2008

Despite Obama Win, State Department Security Clearance Bias Continues

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WASHINGTON, Nov. 6 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- The following is a statement by Concerned Foreign Service Officers:

Barack Obama's election proves the strength of the American idea. That all men are created equal. That one great people can be forged out of many. But even as our Secretary of State expresses her personal elation at this monumental event, State's Bureau of Diplomatic Security (DS) continues to exercise ethnic and other bias and prejudice in investigating and adjudicating security clearance cases. Concerned Foreign Service Officers continues to see cases in which security clearances are denied or revoked based on ethnic background, religion, sexual orientation, mental health counseling, or the expression of legitimate dissent over the foreign policy interests of our nation. If the Secretary is honest in her stated desire to facilitate the transition and to see America's Liberty again enlighten the world, we urge her, in her final days, to end the bigotry in her own agency. Ethnic and other bias in DS is the biggest impediment to the diversification of America's Foreign Service representatives overseas. If Secretary Rice will not address it, who will?

SOURCE Concerned Foreign Service Officers