From: wats@next11csc.wam.umd.edu (Bryan Paul Wats)
Subject: Re: Job (baan)
Keywords: NASA, allegiance, security
Organization: Workstations at Maryland, University of Maryland, College Park
Date: Fri, 14 Aug 1992 15:13:53 GMT

In article <1992Aug14.072648.27217@corax.udac.uu.se> ignaz@astro.uu.se (de  
Yeti) writes:
> In article <13AUG199213040690@mars.lerc.nasa.gov>,  
spwim@mars.lerc.nasa.gov (Wim Degroot) writes:
> ->I'd like to start another serious threat in this newsgroup, something  
that is
> ->close to me personally, but can happen to anybody. Suppose you get a  
very good 
> ->job offer in another country (being a Dutch citizen), and the only way  
you can 
> ->accept that job is by becoming citizen of that country (and in doing  
so lose 
> ->your Dutch citizenship). I guess that it depends on the foreign  
country the 
> ->offer is from (knowing many Dutch citizens are not favorably inclined  
towards 
> ->the lifestyle in the US, including yours truly) and the way a person  
fits into
> ->that society. I also have gotten the impression that many Dutch  
citizens are
> ->not very proud of their origin (at least not as much as for example  
the US, but
> ->than, no country is as fanatic in that respect as the US) till they  
are pushed.
> ->I'd like to know how many people are willing to give up their  
nationality for a
> ->career and associate economic benefits, and what are your thoughts  
about it.
> ->
> ->_Wim
> ->
> 
> I'm rather radical in my mind and would never accept a job under those
> conditions. Not that I'm 'proud to be Dutch' (what a terrible  
expression)
> but those kind of conditions you put forward are discriminating and
> against the people's rights. It may not make any difference if you
> are black, white, Dutch, American, male, female, bisexual, homosexual  
etc.
> 
> Even under ordinary conditions I wouldn't give up Dutch citizenship  
since
> there SHOULD BE no need for it in this world.
> ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
> the Yeti

	Yes, I wish it would be like that (it would also save so much  
trouble at airports, etc.). Unfortunately, means of security are needed.
	The JNHS has people coming in from every part of the world (great,  
nothing wrong with that). Try to look at it from the American point of  
view for a second. We must not forget that Wim is working (under contract)  
for NASA. It is not that strange to ask to become a US citizen for those  
kind of agencies (the NSA is another example) and by doing that, showing  
some sort of loyalty.
	To illustrate that, I want to mention an incident that happened  
about a year ago. A Norwegian peace activist (I have nothing against  
Scandinavians or any other world citizen, for that matter) was able to  
sneak in with false papers and started demolishing a communication  
satellite, that he thought was used for military purposes. Total damage:  
$1.5 million.   
	By demanding to be(come) US citizen, agencies like NASA have some  
added security. With that, by no means all problems are solved. Bad things  
also happen from within the agency.
	Don't have the impression that the majority of American companies  
have these requirements. Quite often you will read "such and such company  
is an equal opportunity employer", when you browse through the job ads.
	Greetings,
				Bryan.
<wats@wam.umd.edu>
========================================================================== 
====== wats@wam.umd.edu        |'Is it true that in Holland all the  
windmills wear clogs?'          |'No,but sometimes we have to put a tulip  
in the dike.'

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