Newsletter No. 897
News-Analysis
February 7, 2008

 

HOMELAND SECURITY OFFICIAL: TWO FINGERS ARE NOT ENOUGH

Another emissary from the Land of Liberty has washed up on Japanese shores with the latest next-gen plan for security modernization: Japan must begin taking all ten fingerprints of every foreigner arriving in the country. The current policy of taking two fingerprints from ordinary people as if they are all criminals is not nearly enough, it seems.

This message was delivered by Robert Mocny, the head of the US-VISIT program of the Department of Homeland Security. He wants a dialogue with the Japanese government to see if they will “follow what we've done.” He further explained: “Accuracy is one reason why we're doing this… It's important to the people of America and the people who visit America that they have a safe and law-abiding society.”

This latest story -- which appeared in Kyodo News -- underlines what I have said earlier: It is ultimately the United States government that is quietly encouraging and emboldening the Japanese rightwing to reassert controls in this country that were supposed to have been eliminated “forever” by the constitutional and legal reforms of the occupation era (1945-1952). To a significant degree, Kunio Hatoyama and his ilk are the unwitting creatures of US policy.

So perhaps Mr. Mocny will succeed in convincing Tokyo to take all ten of my fingers next time I deplane in Japan. Frankly, however, I have just one finger that I’d like to show this man and his colleagues.