Letters to the editor.(Letter to the Editor)

Your Job May Be Next!

I wish to congratulate William F. Jasper for the insightful articles regarding the losses of American jobs ("Your Job May Be Next!," "Chinagate All Over Again," and "Why the Race to the Bottom?") in your March 10th issue. THE NEW AMERICAN articles addressed two critical points that haven't been touched in the establishment media: identifying the cause of the problem by tracing it back to legislation establishing the H1 and L1 programs; and proposing a realistic solution (repealing the H1 and L1 programs).

I do wish the articles had also dealt with another government-caused exacerbation of the problem--affirmative action. Being an IT professional, I have participated in numerous interviews with job candidates, and I have seen how affirmative action pressure frequently gives foreigners an unfair advantage over Americans for American jobs. No other country gives foreigners employment advantages over its own citizens. For example, when I worked for a Silicon Valley company and was sent to Canada on a troubleshooting assignment, I needed to carry documentation with me as I entered explaining that the companies that brought me there had searched unsuccessfully for a Canadian who could do what I did in Montreal that week.

I would also warn all Americans that the H1 and L1 programs are causing national security problems. Many computer security professionals are taking seriously the threat of a coordinated E-attack on our country's computer systems by terrorists. A coordinated E-attack with deliberate destruction of databases--preceded by worm programs ensuring that the databases, once restored, would still contain unreliable data--would do more damage to our economy than the 9-11 airliner kamikaze attacks did. Many of the foreign countries where our IT jobs are going have terrorist problems far worse than our own. Also, because the Internet is used by the off-shore IT teams for long-distance administration of American computer systems and databases, the inherent insecurity of the Internet only makes matters worse.

KURT HYDE

Corinth, Texas

The three cover story articles from the March 10th issue have been combined in a 16-page reprint under the title "Your Job May Be Next!" To order, see page 25.