Congresswoman Michele Bachmann and her four Republican colleagues are under fire for raising questions about Secretary of State Hillary Clinton’s longtime top aide, Huma Abedin, and her family ties to the Muslim Brotherhood.
Although Rep. Bachmann is catching flak by the Left as well as some Senior Republicans, it is worth noting that the request for certainty regarding whether proper security checks have been run is not outrageous; indeed, the “adjudicatory guidelines” specifically detail the problems of family members in foreign countries.
To explain: for the security clearance regulations relating to clearing someone with a parent living abroad and involved in matters that might be exploited to compromise the government employee seeking the clearance, see this page for State Department clearances in general. In addition, here is the page for the adjudicatory guidelines (the important link); look at the foreign influence section.
And, is it possible that the State Department clearance folks might have overlooked these ties? To answer, one must ask whether the national security apparatus of the entire federal government has ever overlooked obvious ties to bad guys. Apparently not.
As Rep. Bachmann noted, “For us to raise issues about a highly based U.S. government official with known immediate family connections to foreign extremist organizations is not a question of singling out Ms. Abedin. In fact, these questions are raised by the U.S. government of anyone seeking a security clearance.”
Diana West, writing in WorldNetDaily, wonders if such reports are true, and, if so, do they have security implications.