To the editor:
When I read the Viewpoints article by Rep. Bernard Ayotte in the December 8 issue, I was extremely upset and angry over the injustice that has been done to Janis Davis and two other DFAS employees, loyal American citizens who just happen to have Canadian spouses and reside across the border of our good neighbor Canada. I also spoke with Phil Bosse, the local representative of Senator Susan Collins concerning this situation.
As director at DFAS Limestone for 13 years, I can personally attest to the professional competence of these three employees and to their loyalty to the DFAS mission and our Air Force customers. For them to be considered a security risk is beyond my comprehension. We’re talking about United States citizens who have consistently demonstrated their dedication, their professionalism, and their loyalty to our country and its vital Department of Defense (DoD) mission for the many years they have worked at DFAS Limestone. Their records clearly speak for themselves. In my opinion, for anyone, who has not known these individuals as I have, to assert otherwise is not only a gross error in judgment but also an embarrassment to the principles of justice upon which this country was founded.
I am amazed that the DoD now considers Canada to be a threat to the United States and, therefore, in perhaps the same category as Iran and North Korea. Between the United States and Canada, we have the longest friendly border in the world, and it’s been that way for almost 200 years. Our citizens pass freely back and forth, our economies are inextricably linked, our foreign policies are closely aligned, and our military forces work side by side in the war on terror and in NATO.
DFAS has foreign national employees working in both Japan and Germany and all the military services employ foreign national employees throughout the world. They are loyal and dedicated and indispensable to the success of our DoD programs. But in this current situation we’re not talking foreign national employees or employees working in a foreign country. We’re talking about three United States citizens who, because of where DFAS Limestone is located, live across the border in our best neighbor Canada. And we’re also talking about employees who are accounting technicians with no access to any kind of classified information; not individuals who work in an intelligence agency.
I am appalled that DoD has taken the actions it has to terminate these dedicated, loyal, and valuable DFAS employees. In my opinion, they are no more of a threat to the United States than I am as a federal retiree living in Florida with a Canadian neighbor, with whom I associate every day. It’s no wonder our government has so much trouble finding Osama Bin Laden and other terrorist leaders. They’re looking at the wrong border!
I urge our entire Maine Congressional delegation to come together as they did when DFAS Limestone was threatened with closure and work to overturn this travesty of justice and restore these employees to their rightful place, helping DFAS in its important mission of supporting our military customers.
Larry Conrad,
retired director
DFAS Limestone
Sebring, Fla.
