Summary
GAO reported in October 2002 that the visa process needed to be strengthened as an antiterrorism tool and recommended that the Secretary of State, in consultation with appropriate agencies, (1) develop a clear policy on the role of national security in the visa process, (2) create more comprehensive guidance on how consular officers should screen against potential terrorists, (3) fundamentally reassess staffing requirements, and (4) revamp and expand consular training. This report examines State's and other agencies' progress in implementing changes to the visa process since 2002, in the areas of policy and guidance; consular resources, including staffing and training; and information sharing.
The Department of State (State), the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), and other agencies have taken many steps to strengthen the visa process as an antiterrorism tool. Led by the Assistant Secretary of State for Consular Affairs, consular officers have received clear guidance on the importance of national security. We observed that consular officers at eight posts, including those of interest to antiterrorism efforts, regard security as their top priority, while recognizing the importance of facilitating legitimate travel. State has also increased hiring of consular officers, targeted recruitment of foreign language speakers, revamped consular training with a focus on counterterrorism, and increased resources to combat visa fraud. Further, intelligence and law enforcement agencies have shared more information for consular officers' use in conducting name checks on visa applicants. Additional issues require attention. For example, State has not consistently updated the consular and visa chapters of the Foreign Affairs Manual to reflect recent policy changes. Consular officers we interviewed also said that guidance is needed on DHS staff's roles and responsibilities overseas. Actions are also needed to ensure that State has sufficient experienced staff with the necessary language skills at key consular posts. In particular, staffing shortages at the supervisory level place a burden on new officers. In February 2005, we found that the visa sections in critical posts in Saudi Arabia and Egypt were staffed with first-tour officers and no permanent midlevel visa chiefs to provide guidance. Further improvements in training and fraud prevention are also needed, and additional information from FBI criminal history files would allow consular officers to help facilitate efficient visa adjudication.
Recommendations
Our recommendations from this work are listed below with a Contact for more information. Status will change
from "In process" to "Implemented" or "Not implemented" based on our follow up work.
Director:
Team:
Phone:
Jess T. Ford
Government Accountability Office: International Affairs and Trade
(202) 512-4268
Matters for Congressional Consideration
Recommendation: As GAO has reported, information is a crucial tool in fighting terrorism, and the timely dissemination of that information is critical to maintaining the security of our nation. Although State and the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) have taken steps to increase the amount of information available to consular officers in the visa process, further information from criminal history files would help facilitate visa adjudication for legitimate travelers. Thus, Congress may wish to require that the Department of State and FBI develop and report on a plan that details (1) the additional information from criminal history records that should be made available to visa adjudicators; (2) how the FBI proposes to provide this additional information to State; (3) the potential concerns associated with increased access to this information such as technology limitations and privacy concerns, and how the agencies propose to mitigate these concerns; and (4) any legislative changes that may be necessary to facilitate the exchange of this information between the FBI and State.
Status: In process
Comments: No action reported.
Recommendations for Executive Action
Recommendation: To further clarify current visa policies and procedures, the Secretary of State should update the Foreign Affairs Manual on a regular basis to incorporate all changes in visa policies and procedures.
Agency Affected: Department of State
Status: In process
Comments: No action reported.
Recommendation: To further clarify current visa policies and procedures, the Secretary of Homeland Security, in consultation with the Secretary of State, should develop additional guidance on the relationship between DHS and State in the visa process, including the roles and responsibilities of DHS personnel overseas who assist consular sections and DHS's procedures at points of entry.
Agency Affected: Department of Homeland Security
Status: In process
Comments: No action reported.
Recommendation: To ensure consular sections have the necessary tools to enhance national security and promote legitimate travel, the Secretary of State should develop a comprehensive plan to address vulnerabilities in consular staffing worldwide, including an analysis of staffing requirements and shortages, foreign language proficiency requirements, and fraud prevention needs, among other things--the plan should systematically determine priority positions that must be filled worldwide based on the relative strategic importance of posts and positions and realistic assumptions of available staff resources.
Agency Affected: Department of State
Status: In process
Comments: No action reported.
Recommendation: To ensure consular sections have the necessary tools to enhance national security and promote legitimate travel, the Secretary of State should report to Congress, within 1 year of this report, on the implementation of this plan.
Agency Affected: Department of State
Status: In process
Comments: No action reported.
Recommendation: To ensure consular sections have the necessary tools to enhance national security and promote legitimate travel, the Secretary of State should ensure that consular chiefs update interview wait-time data on a weekly basis.
Agency Affected: Department of State
Status: Implemented
Comments: On September 13, 2005, GAO reported that the State Department's data on wait times for visa applicant interviews was unreliable. Consular posts are required to report, on a weekly basis, the wait times for visa interview appointments. The Department of State (State) considers that consular posts with consistent wait times for visa interview appointments of 30 days or more may signal a resources or management problem. Our analysis of State's data on wait times revealed significant numbers of posts that did not report on a weekly basis during a six-month period. Thus, we found that consular officials may not have accurate workload statistics from which to allocate resources effectively, and visa applicants may be using inaccurate wait-time information when planning their travel to the United States. We recommended that the Secretary of State ensure that consular chiefs update interview wait-time data on a weekly basis. In commenting on a draft of our report, State concurred with this recommendation and noted that the department had subsequently notified all diplomatic and consular posts in an August 2005 cable of the importance of keeping wait times current. In addition, State said that it had contacted delinquent posts directly to instruct them to update their wait time information, and would continue to monitor these data closely. The cable to posts reiterated that all nonimmigrant visa-issuing posts must ensure that this information is kept current.
Recommendation: To ensure consular sections have the necessary tools to enhance national security and promote legitimate travel, the Secretary of State should in consultation with law enforcement and intelligence agencies, further expand consular training in terrorist travel trends, post-specific counterterrorism techniques, and fraud prevention, either at the Foreign Service Institute or at overseas posts.
Agency Affected: Department of State
Status: In process
Comments: No action reported.
Recommendation: To ensure that consular officers have access to all relevant information on known or suspected terrorists, the Secretary of State, in consultation with appropriate agencies, should further encourage interactions between consular sections, law enforcement officials, and other security officials at post to increase information sharing with consular officers on terrorism issues relevant to the visa process, including regional or post-specific terrorism trends, either through the Visas Viper process, or other similar interagency mechanisms.
Agency Affected: Department of State
Status: Implemented
Comments: In September 2005, GAO reported that information sharing at U.S. overseas posts between the consular sections and the law enforcement and intelligence communities varied. While we found that some posts had frequent communications, others had little or no communication. To ensure that consular officers have access to all relevant information on known or suspected terrorists, we recommended that the Secretary of State further encourage interactions between consular sections, law enforcement officials, and other security officials at post to increase information sharing with consular officers on terrorism related issues relevant to the visa process, including regional or post specific terrorism trends. In response to our recommendation, on December 24, 2005, the Department of State issued a cable reminding all chiefs of mission to ensure that all agencies at post keep consular officers informed of terrorist trends or travel patterns affecting their host country. In particular, the cable noted that post management should encourage regular exchange of information between consular sections and relevant agencies at post on fraud and law enforcement issues in country, as well as economic, political, and security trends that may have an impact on consular work.
