WASHINGTON, Oct. 31 (UPI) -- Attorney General John Ashcroft has named FBI official Steve McCraw to head the new Foreign Terrorist Tracking Task Force.
The unit will coordinate government efforts to keep terror suspects out of the country and arrest those already within its borders, Ashcroft said in making the announcement Wednesday at the Justice Department.
The appointment follows up on an earlier announcement about the task force from President George W. Bush at the White House.
It's also a sure sign that administration officials are trying to draw a tighter knot around the borders of the United States in the wake of the Sept. 11 terror attacks.
Ashcroft pointed out that it's a huge task, with more than 550 million people passing back and forth across U.S. borders each year. About 30 million a month are non-citizens.
The United States "welcomes friends," Ashcroft
said, but "will not allow our hospitality to be used against us."
Ashcroft said he has also sent the names of 46 suspected "terrorist organizations" -- most with Arabic names and Islamic connections -- to Secretary of State Colin Powell under the terms of the anti-terrorism law signed into law by Bush last Friday.
The organizations have already been identified. Some of the groups' assets were frozen by presidential order on Sept. 26. Others have already been named on State Department terrorism lists.
Ashcroft said the new task force will ensure that three types of aliens are denied entry into the United States: those who are members of terrorist organizations or support such groups; those who engage in terrorism, and those who support terrorist activity.
The task force will also coordinate government efforts in tracking suspected terrorists in the United States and arresting them.
The Justice Department has also asked the State Department to make several changes in the overseas visa process.
Department officials are being asked to elicit more biographical material and other information from U.S. visa seekers. State Department officials are also being asked to refer any the application of potential security risks to Washington, and to hold up visa approval until the application is cleared.
After Ashcroft's appearance, a Justice Department official said there are no details yet on how much resources McCraw's task force will have.
Answering questions from reporters, Ashcroft said he has no reason to back away from the broad warning of new terrorist action he issued earlier in the week.
He also said the Justice Department was awaiting tests to see if the main building had been contaminated by anthrax spores found in an off-site mail facility last weekend.
Commissioner James Ziglar of the Immigration and Naturalization Service appeared with Ashcroft and McCraw for the announcement.
Ziglar defended the new entry process.
"What we're dealing with is not immigration," he said, "we're talking about evil."
