The vetting will go beyond student applicants and includes faculty, employees, contractors, guest speakers and tourists, according to the cable seen by NBC News.

The U.S. State Department ordered all its consular missions overseas to begin additional vetting of visa applicants looking to travel to Harvard University for any purpose, according to an internal cable seen by Reuters on Friday,

US consulates are carrying out enhanced social media vetting of Harvard applicants, in a pilot project that could be rolled out nationwide.