It appears that “foreign Fred” Mitchell may be spending too much time gallavanting around the world and not enough time at his office doing his job.
Former National Security Minister Tommy Turnquest has criticised Foreign Affairs Minister Fred Mitchell and the Nassau Guardian over irresponsible comments they made regarding unmanned US surveillance airplanes authorised to fly over the Bahamas.
“We have to get to the facts, find out what happened,” Mitchell told a local reporter.
Mr Mitchell, who has a habit of flying around the globe as if trying to imitate Henry Kissinger in his glory days, said that his PLP government needs to, “find out what other secret things they [the FNM] did and didn’t tell us.”
Mr Turnquest responded in a letter sent to the media, saying Mr Mitchell’s remarks showed that he was “woefully uninformed” and reflected a Cabinet minister “seemingly ignorant of his role and responsibilities”.
Mr Turnquest also took aim at a Nassau Guardian editorial, saying the comments helped feed “the irrational xenophobia so often promoted by segments of the present government to obscure their ineptitude and to ‘whip-up’ anti-foreign sentiments among our people”.
The newspaper’s editorial foolishly stated that “foreign agents” are “constantly moving” through Bahamian territory, leading many to wonder “if there are boundaries to what we will let the Americans do in our country regarding drugs”.
The editorial asked: “Who was being watched?” and questioned if Americans will answer Mr Mitchell’s inquiry.
Mr Turnquest explained: “Bilateral anti-criminal and specifically, antidrug and anti-human trafficking initiatives between our government and law-enforcement agencies with those of the United States of America government have a long and respected history.
“These are joint and or approved surveillance programmes and not ‘spying’ which would suggest unauthorised, and hence illegal, surveillance.”
Turnquest pointed to the high levels of co-operation between the United States and the Bahamas, saying it has been “critical” to Bahamian anti-crime initiatives, especially in delaing with “sophisticated trans-national criminal organisations”.
Noting that threats to world peace from international criminal cartels and terrorist organisations have increased since 9/11, Mr Turnquest said this has resulted in the development of “significantly improved surveillance capabilities by agencies of the United States government,” .
“One such capability is the use of unmanned surveillance drone aircraft; an untethered surveillance balloon so to speak. As a partner with the United States and all peace-loving states of the international community, the Bahamas continued to lend assistance to international and bilateral counter criminal initiatives,” the former Minister stated.
“It must be understood by any minister of government that sensitive matters relating to national security and law enforcement are frequently time-sensitive and secret and are not responsibly disclosed to the media and the general public so as to safeguard the lives of dedicated law enforcement personnel,” Turnquest said, defending the FNM’s interest in not announcing the drone flights.
Mr Mitchell also allegedly complained that even his ministry has no information about the drone planes.
However, Mr Turnquest advised the new foreign affairs minister to consult with Prime Minister Christie and National Security Minister Bernard Nottage so he could familiarise himself with developments over the past five years and bring himself up to date.
“I would have expected that this would have been the first order of business for a new minister,” Mr Turnquest said.
