Officials Concerned About Lax U.N. Security
By Benny Avni
August 15, 2007
New York Sun
Original Source: http://www.nysun.com/article/60523
UNITED NATIONS — Authorities are concerned that the lax controls over travel documentation employed by the United Nations could compromise security at the international body, particularly in Manhattan, where a person staying illegally in America could walk into U.N. headquarters carrying easily obtained diplomatic documentation.
The arrest earlier this month of a U.N. translator suspected of faking letters asking for American entry permits on official-looking documents bearing U.N. letterheads has exposed a security vulnerability that appears to be widespread.
The larger issue has always been a concern for us, the spokesman for the American mission to the United Nations, Richard Grenell, told The New York Sun. He spoke of security and immigration concerns in the aftermath of federal authorities' August 6 arrest of a documents translator, Vyacheslav Manokhin of Russia, that go far beyond the case itself. Simply put, all that a terrorist who stays in the U.S. illegally needs to do to enter the U.N. building is to obtain a diplomatic pass, one official who requested anonymity told the Sun. He then can walk right in the front door. No questions asked. No bags checked. No problem.
Several internal U.N. audits seen by the Sun have concluded that such passes, known as U.N. Laissez-Passers, or UNLPs, can be obtained too easily. According to one audit, 70,000 such documents are currently in circulation, but exactly how many of these are actually valid is unclear.
The audits, which were conducted over more than a decade, found that there are no serious controls over the renewal of such passes. Additionally, they can be used even after a passholder's work with the United Nations is finished. The passes are issued in at least three spots around the world with no central oversight. Local offices of the United Nations and related agencies, such as the U.N. Development Program, make recommendations for UNLP issuance that are then generally rubber-stamped at headquarters.
According to one of the audits, conducted in 2002 by the world body's internal watchdog, the Office of Internal Oversight Services, at least seven so-called officers of the Gaza-based U.N. Relief and Works Organization — an agency that employs mostly local Palestinian Arabs — received UNLPs in the early 1980s under suspicious circumstances.
The passes they received, furthermore, were known as red UNLPs, distinguished from the normal blue ones and meant to be reserved for top officials.
When concerns about passes were raised in 2002, the United Nations issued a new list of UNRWA staff members, including the seven, who are entitled to red UNLPs, according to the OIOS audit.
The idea of dedicated U.N. travel documents dates back to the early days of the organization, when it was envisioned as an entity that exceeded such simple national considerations as state-issued passports. Several dozen countries still permit entry into their territory with no more than a UNLP. America and most Western European countries, on the other hand, do not consider such passes valid travel documents.
A UNLP is a valid entry pass into the U.N. Secretariat in Manhattan, where carriers do not have to go through the rigorous procedures required of regular entry pass holders — including verification of legally being in America. Last year, the United Nations introduced a new computer-based entry system for employees at the headquarters building. Current passes are magnetic cards that hold the carrier's personal data. This sophisticated and expensive system is completely undermined if someone with a UNLP can simply walk into the building, the official told the Sun yesterday.