U.S. Considers Lifting Ban Blocking Libyans Training in U.S.

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The U.S. Department of Homeland Security is quietly considering lifting a long-standing ban on Libyans coming to the U.S. for training in the aviation and nuclear fields. This is according to an internal document, raising red flags for lawmakers who say Libya is still a security threat. Israeli experts told I-HLS that lifting this ban “is stupidity that may cost lives.” They are not the only ones to show concern, however.

“Now, more than ever, we have concerns about terrorist activity in that country,” Rep. Jason Chaffetz, R-Utah, told FoxNews.com. “Now the administration wants to normalize – that’s just not acceptable.”

Chaffetz and House Judiciary Committee Chairman Bob Goodlatte, R-Va., first drew attention to the draft document, which is circulating inside the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) and is not yet finalized. It comes little more than a year after the Sept. 11, 2012, attack on the U.S. compound in Benghazi in which four Americans were killed. The suspects still have not been brought to justice, and Fox News has reported over the past week how several Al Qaeda-tied individuals are linked to the attack.

U.S. forces just this month captured terrorist Abu Anas al-Libi, who was wanted in connection with the 1998 U.S. Embassy bombings in Kenya and Tanzania, in Tripoli.

iHLS – Israel Homeland Security

“It is shocking that the Obama administration is turning a blind eye to real terrorist threats that exist in Libya today,” Goodlatte said in a written statement. “We still haven’t gotten to the bottom of the Benghazi terrorist attacks and continue to face additional terrorist threats from Libya, yet the Obama administration is preparing to lift a longstanding ban that protects Americans and our interests.”

The DHS document calls to rescind restrictions first put in place in 1983, that barred Libyan nationals from coming to the U.S. to study or train in aviation maintenance, flight operations or nuclear-related fields. At the time, relations between the U.S. and Libya were breaking down as Muammar Qaddafi came to power. Before this decision, the Reagan administration in 1981 also invalidated the use of U.S. passports for travel to Libya and banned the import of Libyan oil. Later in the decade, Libyans spearheaded the bombing of Pan Am Flight 103 over Lockerbie, Scotland, and also were involved in the bombing of a French airliner. In 2011, Qaddafi was killed, and his government was replaced.

A DHS official told FoxNews.com on Monday that the department is now “reviewing U.S. policies that have been in place since before the Libyan revolution to see how they might be updated to better align with U.S. interests.” The official noted that while Libya is subjected to the training restrictions, there are no similar provisions for state sponsors of terrorism including Cuba, Iran and Syria.