Foreign Oceanography Students at MIT Get Mixed Messages From U.S. Government

Washington — After receiving a letter of protest from a U.S. congressman, the Department of Homeland Security abandoned its claim this week that eight foreign graduate students in oceanography who needed access to American ports for their research were security threats. However, the department did not reverse its decision to withhold security clearance from the students, who are enrolled at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. In May the department deemed at least two of the students as “security threats” when they applied for Transportation Worker Identification Cards, which are required for access to the secure areas of ports where research ships sometimes go. The two students are from Britain and Germany, and the Transportation Security Administration said they did not possess the necessary visas for clearance. Rep.... [read full story]