US diplomats warn travel ban makes America less safe

Hundreds of US diplomats are warning that US President Donald Trump's ban on refugees and citizens from seven predominantly Muslim countries makes the US less safe -- not more, media report said.

Under the executive order signed by Trump on last Friday, refugees from all over the world will be denied US entry for 120 days while all immigration from so-called "countries with terrorism concerns" will be suspended for 90 days. The countries included in the ban are Iraq, Syria, Iran, Sudan, Libya, Somalia and Yemen.

Former CIA Director David Petraeus told Congress on Wednesday that the unprecedented uprising of dissent within the State Department over Trump's immigration and refugee order cannot be ignored, CBS news reported.

More than 800 career diplomats have signed a dissent cable that Rex Tillerson, confirmed as Secretary of State on Wednesday, will find waiting for him at the State Department.

The cable said Trump's order will have "little practical effect in improving public safety" because a "vanishingly small number" of immigrants to the US have committed acts of terrorism.

"The net result... will not be a drop in terror attacks in the US," it said, "rather it will be a drop in international goodwill toward Americans".

The dissent process began during the Vietnam War and allows diplomats to protest government policy without fear of retribution.