DHS’ Efforts To Screen Members of Foreign Terrorist Organizations (Redacted)

In June 2012, Egyptian Hani Nour Eldin visited the United States as a member of an Egyptian parliamentary delegation to meet with U.S. Government officials and business leaders. During this visit, Mr. Eldin raised with White House officials the possibility of transferring Omar Abdel Rahman, a convicted terrorist, from U.S. custody to Egyptian custody. In June 2012, former Chairman Peter T. King, of the House Committee on Homeland Security, raised concerns that Mr. Eldin, a self-proclaimed member of Gama’a al-Islamiyya (the Islamic Group), which the Department of State has designated a Foreign Terrorist Organization since 1997, was issued a visa and granted admission into the United States. Former Chairman King requested that we review DHS admissibility processes for members of Foreign Terrorist Organizations. He also asked that we establish whether DHS has a potential role or has been consulted about transferring convicted terrorist Omar Abdel Rahman from U.S. custody to Egyptian custody, for “humanitarian and health reasons.”