Harty Confirmed - Democrats push through Consular Affairs nominee

NRO ^ | November 15, 2002 | Joel Mowbray

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November 15, 2002, 11:35 a.m.

Brushing aside the strenuous objections of the families of 9/11 victims and the parents of abducted American children, Democrats late Thursday pushed through the nomination of Maura Harty as head of the Consular Affairs (CA) bureau at the State Department. She was confirmed as the new assistant secretary of state for consular affairs as part of a compromise package that allowed conservatives to get simultaneous votes through on several judges and another State nominee.

Harty's nomination has been embroiled in controversy since it was announced nearly four months ago. Harty has long been a favorite within State, rapidly rising through the ranks. Last April, she was named as Colin Powell's executive secretary, a prestigious gatekeeping role. From that perch, close to the secretary of state, she has lobbied Congress to lay off lax visa policies. Prior to running Powell's office, she headed the Office of Children's Issues (OCI), the division within Consular Affairs that handles foreign abductions of American children.

This July, opportunity — in the form of a torrent of bad press for the former head of CA Mary Ryan — presented itself. Mary Ryan was becoming, in the words of a senior Senate staffer, "radioactive" because of her involvement in the State Department's Visa Express program, which allowed Saudi residents to submit their visa applications to private Saudi travel agents. With Congress poised to strip State of its visa authority, something had to be done. Powell offered up Ryan as a sacrifice — and one State official contends that Harty played a role in that move by "greasing the skids." Within two days of Ryan's "retirement," State sent Harty's name over to the White House. No other candidate was considered, let alone interviewed.

Harty and Ryan have been close for many years now, so it was little surprise that Ryan hand-picked Harty to succeed her — even if several people at State now believe that Harty's hands were not entirely clean in the decision to force Ryan's "retirement." What came as a much bigger surprise was the White House's willingness to swiftly pass along Harty's name to the Senate to replace Ryan.

Harty's nomination, however, was not without opposition. Families of 9/11 victims objected to Harty's role as a principal deputy at CA who supported the implementation of the "courtesy culture" and under whose watch many of the terrorists received visas. They were especially troubled by her refusal to read the visa-application forms of the 9/11 terrorists before he Senate confirmation hearing. Parents of American children abducted to foreign lands felt that Harty did very little, if anything, to help them when it was her primary job to do so. Conservatives took issue with Harty's apparent indifference to security concerns and the strong possibility that she will perpetuate the corrosive culture that has long infected State.

In the end, her critics couldn't overcome the secretary of state's lobbying. Powell spent more time pushing for Harty's nomination than those of all other State nominees combined. Even though a core group of conservative senators, lead by Arizona Republican Jon Kyl, remained opposed to Harty's nomination, liberal Democrats — led by Sen. Barbara Boxer (D., Calif.) — achieved the upper hand by insisting that a whole slate of conservatives nominees, from judges to other State appointees, would be held up unless and until Harty was confirmed.

Now that the Senate has given its final approval to Harty, Congress must assume a zealous oversight role to ensure that much-needed reforms at Consular Affairs are implemented. Harty, after all, believes that suspected terrorists should be given visas, absent hard evidence tying applicants to terrorism. That alone should not provide much comfort that she is, as State claims, an "agent of change."

Harty, of course, could now surprise her critics and live up to the advance billing she was given by Powell and others, despite her less-than-inspiring track record. If she does not, however, and terrorists continue to exploit lax visa policies that are not tightened under Harty's watch, the Senate should have to answer for refusing to demand change at State.

— Joel Mowbray is an NRO contributor and a Townhall.com columnist.