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April 6, 2009, 12:20 PM ET
Federal Agency Postpones Controversial Rule on Screening Workers Again
The U.S. Agency for International Development has again postponed an important step in the start of a controversial security program that would screen charities and their employees for possible ties to terrorists.
In the April 2 Federal Register, the agency said it would delay until May 4 a rule that would exempt the program, known as the Partner Vetting System, from some privacy laws.
The final rule was issued in January and was scheduled to go into effect a month later. In February it was postponed and now has been postponed again.
Under the system, nonprofit groups that apply for agency grants and contracts must provide the names of “key individuals” overseeing their projects, including board members, executives, and other employees. The federal government would then check the names against a classified intelligence database that contains information on terrorists.
Agency officials say that the system is needed to make sure foreign aid distributed in politically unstable regions and war zones is not diverted — intentionally or unintentionally — to terrorists or violent militant groups.
But charity leaders argue it violates the civil rights of their employees and could place aid workers in danger overseas because they would appear to be working as an arm of American security agencies or the military. The nonprofit groups say that there is no substantial evidence that aid money has gone to support terrorists.
Read The Chronicle’s article about the Partner Vetting System.
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