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State Department's Visa Boss Quits NewsMax.com WiresWASHINGTON – The chief of the State Department's consular affairs division announced her resignation Wednesday amid mounting criticism over how the department has issued visas to Arabs in the wake of Sept. 11 terrorist attacks. State Department deputy spokesman Phil Reeker said Secretary of State Colin Powell Tuesday evening asked Mary Ryan to retire after 36 years in the Foreign Service. She had risen to the rank of career ambassador. 'Retirement' From 'Service' "They had always discussed, you know, that at a particular time it would be time for Assistant Secretary Ryan to retire. She's now had 36 years of service. And the secretary determined that this was that time and asked her to retire and made that decision," Reeker said. Fox News Channel reported Wednesday night that she was forced to retire. Wednesday the House Judiciary and House International Relations committees began deliberations on legislation that would transfer the oversight of the visa process to a new Department of Homeland Security. This approach is favored by powerful critics of the State Department on other issues such as House Majority Leader Dick Armey, R-Texas, who ignored Powell's requests in the spring to table pro-Israel legislation and brought to the floor a House resolution defending Israel's retaliation against the Palestinian Authority during Israel's April incursions into the West Bank. The news of the Ryan retirement also comes a day after news broke that the Department's diplomatic security, in conjunction with the FBI and the Immigration and Naturalization Service, were on the trail of 29 Arab nationals that obtained fraudulent visas from the U.S. embassy in Qatar. "This investigation has been focused on the alleged illegal issuance of visas to approximately 70 individuals at the U.S. embassy in Doha," Reeker said Wednesday. "We determined specifically that 71 individuals received visas for which the appropriate written records were not found." Indeed, senior State Department officials told reporters earlier Wednesday that the investigation revealed that 38 Jordanian nationals, 28 Pakistanis, one Syrian and three Bangladeshis bought the visas for possibly as much as $10,000 a piece. Nor is visa fraud a particularly new phenomenon. In June former consular officer Thomas Carroll received a 21-year prison sentence for selling up to 800 visas for $10,000 to $15,000 each in Guyana. And Wednesday, the Washington Times reported that the State Department has a policy to approve a visa for any Saudi national unless it has a specific reason to deny one. Copyright 2002 by United Press International. All rights reserved.
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