(S/NF) SPIKE IN NATIONAL SECURITY-RELATED ARREST

S E C R E T SANAA 000317 NOFORN SIPDIS CA/OCS/ACS/NEA FOR ERINN STOTT AND PAMELA KAZI, CA/EX FOR HENRY HAND,CA/VO/F/P FOR SADIA NIAZI, NEA/ARP FOR ANDREW MACDONALD, DS COMMAND CENTER, CAIRO FOR RCO CHRISTOPHER ROWAN, RIYADH FOR ICE ATTACHE RONALD KRISKE E.O. 12958: DECL: 02/17/2020 TAGS: ASEC CASC CMGT PTER YM SUBJECT: (S/NF) SPIKE IN NATIONAL SECURITY-RELATED ARREST CASES STRAINS POST,S RESOURCES REF: A. SANAA 71 ¶B. SANAA 151 ¶C. SANAA 173 ¶D. SANAA 230 ¶E. SANAA 289 ¶F. 09 SANAA 720 ¶G. SANAA 202 ¶H. MITCHELL/SIMS TELCON 02/16/2010 ¶I. MITCHELL/SIMS EMAIL 02/16/2010 ¶J. SANAA 214 Classified By: Ambassador Stephen Seche for reasons 1.4(b) and (d). This is an action request: see paragraph 12. ¶1. (S/NF) Summary: Since the start of 2010, Post has seen a dramatic increase in the number of Amcits arrested. Over 80 percent of these cases (REF A-E) have had a nexus to terrorism and national security issues that have required substantial involvement from RSO and LEGATT. This comes as the Consular Section is attempting to alleviate its six-month backlog in upcoming CRBA appointments. Post requests TDY personnel to assist with the anticipated staffing gaps in Consular from April to September and renews its call to increase FSO staffing (REF F) to address the sharply increased workload. End Summary. Arrests of Americans Up, New ROYG Procedures -------------- ¶2. (S/NF) Post has noted a dramatic increase in arrests of Americans in Yemen since the attempted Christmas Day bombing of Northwest 253. In the last seven weeks, seven Amcits were arrested for national security concerns and violations of immigration laws (Ref A-E),compared to only six in the entire four months prior. Six of these cases have suspected links to terrorism that have required significant coordination with LEGATT and RSO. Comment: This upsurge in arrests is the result of more scrupulous ROYG focus on visa overstay cases due to increased international attention to terrorism in Yemen. End Comment. ¶3. (S/NF) Previously, a visa overstay would present himself at the immigration authority, pay his fines, and obtain an exit visa. Recently, however, overstays have been detained and have required post intervention in securing their exit from Yemen. Four of the arrestees were 'abducted' by the Political Security Organization (PSO) or National Security Bureau (NSB) and were held for between 3-10 days before post was given official notice of their whereabouts. Note: In the past two years, the Muslim convert community of Amcits living in Yemen ) who make up the majority of overstays - has been increasingly linked to extremist activities. End Note. In one case, Post has still not received official word of the arrest and is unable to inform the family in the US, who still believes the individual has been kidnapped. The issue of timely notification of arrests was recently raised by post's DCM with the Yemeni Chief of Protocol. Direct Namecheck Hits Increasing -------------- ¶4. (S/NF) In addition to the spike in arrest cases, post routinely sees cases of national security interest in the course of its daily visa and American citizen services (ACS) operations. On average, post has 3-5 cases per week that require LEGATT and RSO attention. The processing time required to clear these hits and allow time for additional interviews is increasingly straining our ability to provide routine services in a timely fashion. Comment: Post had reduced appointment wait time for first-time CRBA applications from six months to three months. We will not be able to continue such high appointment numbers given the recent increase in arrest cases and our current staffing levels. End Comment. Status of Arrestees -------------- ¶5. (S/NF) Post is currently processing five arrest cases, most of which have begun as welfare and whereabouts requests, or visa overstays. A sixth, who was not a national security or terrorist case, was recently released. All five that remain have had strong links to terrorism or national security concerns. The following is an update on these cases. ¶6. (S/NF) XXXXXXXXXXXX (REF A) was being held at the Passport Authority pending further investigation into both his visa overstay and possible links to terrorism. ROYG previously attempted to deport XXXXXXXXXXXX. He was denied boarding, however, due to his presence on the no fly list (NFL). Post had requested guidance from CA on this matter (REF G),as per applicable FAM NFL guidance. Post,s A/RSO-I received a call from Consulate Istanbul,s A/RSO-I (REF H) that XXXXXXXXXXXX arrived in Istanbul on February 16, but was denied onward travel to the U.S due to his NFL status. Post later received notice that XXXXXXXXXXXX is scheduled to board Turkish Airlines flight TK1236 to Sanaa on February 17 (REF I). Note: XXXXXXXXXXXX no longer has a valid Yemeni visa and airport visas are no longer available (REF J). End Note. ¶7. (S/NF) XXXXXXXXXXXX (REF B) is being held at the PSO prison. He is currently still under investigation by the PSO, which plans to deport him. No date for his release has been set. FBI and DS plan to meet him in the US upon his return. ¶8. (S/NF) XXXXXXXXXXXX (REF C) is being held by the Passport Authority and is awaiting deportation. Currently, ROYG authorities are waiting for Mr. XXXXXXXXXXXX to secure an itinerary and tickets to the US before his release. ¶9. (S/NF) XXXXXXXXXXXX (Ref D) is also being held at the PSO prison. He is currently being investigated for his links to terrorism. The ROYG has not given any information regarding possible charges. ¶10. (S/NF) XXXXXXXXXXXX (Ref E) is currently being held at the Immigration Authority prison pending possible deportation. It is currently unclear if Mr. XXXXXXXXXXXX will be able to pay his overstay fines and obtain a standard exit visa to return to the US or if he will be deported. COMMENT -------------- ¶11. (SBU) Post currently has five full-time officers assigned to the consular section and one part-time officer. Prison visits must occur during morning hours pulling officers away from visa and ACS cases. This increase in workload has pushed our already strained operation beyond capacity and has hampered our ability to work through existing backlogs in ACS and IV. In REF F and through Diplomacy 3.0, post requested at least one additional ACS officer based on workload and staffing in FY09. Post's workload in IV has increased by 5,722 cases or over 2.5 times from FY08 to FY09. Additionally, post's NIV workload increased by 918 adjudications, up nearly a third from FY08 to FY09. End Comment. ACTION REQUEST -------------- ¶12. (SBU) Post renews its call for a full-time FS-03 ACS officer and FS-04 Vice Consul, and requests TDY support to cover officer leave and the anticipated staffing gap from April through September. In addition, post requests experienced Arabic-speaking LE Staff and officer TDY support as soon as possible to assist in working through backlogs in ACS and IV. Post fully expects that the trends of increasing arrests and direct hit cases will continue and looks forward to a positive and expeditious response to this request. SECHE ...