How Did A Friend of America Lose His Visa? : The New Yorker:
Incredibly, though, it really would have been as easy as that. In Iraq and Afghanistan, security “hits” against locals working with the U.S. can be introduced into American intelligence databases in any number of ways: by a soldier mistyping someone’s name, by mistaken arrest, by confused identity, or by someone—American or local—wanting to settle a score. For example, an American contractor allegedly sexually harassed his female Iraqi employees and then fabricated derogatory information about the ones who rebuffed him to raise red flags on the security database. Even if a tip, anonymous or not, is thoroughly investigated—seldom the case—the “hit” is rarely expunged from the database but remains there, a permanent black mark. This is the operating procedure of a bureaucracy that is looking for any reason not to issue a visa to a friend of America, without ever having to say why.