During Tuesday’s Special Report, Fox News Channel confirmed that the Pentagon had suspended their program that allowed certain immigrants hastened U.S. citizenship, the Military Accessions Vital to the National Interest (MAVNI). “Lawmakers tell us the program has been, quote, "compromised." With reports that some enrollees are unaccounted for tonight and fears of foreign infiltration spreading across Capitol Hill,” announced Anchor Bret Baier at the top of the show.

Although Fox News Channel’s confirmation was exclusive, talk of a “compromised” program had been around for a while, with no mention of it by the Big Three Networks (ABC, CBS, and NBC).

In describing the purpose of the Pentagon’s program, Fox News Channel’s Chief Washington Correspondent James Rosen explained that “since 2009, the Defense Department has enrolled more than 10,000 foreign-born individuals into the U.S. armed forces under [MAVNI] … In exchange for service, the foreigners selected for language or other needed skills can receive an expedited path to U.S. citizenship.”

The knowledge of the MAVNI program possibly being compromised by hostile actors had been publicly talked about since at least late June of 2017. In a public Congressional Hearing on June 28, Oklahoma Representative Steve Russell told his colleagues that “the program has been replete with problems to include foreign infiltration.”

“So much so that the Department of Defense is seeking to suspend the program due to those concerns,” Congressman Russell added.

The possible ending of MANVI was first reported by The Washington Post on June 26. “The Pentagon is considering a plan to cancel enlistment contracts for 1,000 foreign-born recruits without legal immigration status, knowingly exposing them to deportation, a Defense Department memo shows,” they wrote.

According to an official Pentagon memo obtained by NPR, and reported on in early July 2017, “the potential threat posed by individuals who may have a higher risk of connections to Foreign Intelligence Services." “And it refers to an ‘elevated’ risk of an insider threat,” NPR added.

In his report on Tuesday, Rosen mentioned that the IG review of the program had been going on for 15 months and reported that the Pentagon was not answering major questions:

And one of those lawmakers is also saying to me now that he isn't getting answers from the Pentagon to the questions: Where are these people? What do they know? Where are they serving? And, what are their numbers?

It’s a truly shocking revelation that went unreported by ABC, CBS, and NBC for over a month. Since the program was completely suspended with concerns of it being “compromised,” and now with reports of unaccounted soldiers, let’s see if it will get on the radar of the Big Three Networks.

Transcript below: