The State Department Visa Office was the subject of a harshly critical congressional General Accounting Office report issued this week. According to the report, which was requested by Rep. Christopher Shays (D-CT), the chair of the National Security Subcommittee of the House Government Reform Committee, major security problems continue to plague the Visa Office.
After it was learned that all 19 of the September 11th hijackers had been issued visas, some attention was diverted from the INS’s failure to ensure that those who’s visas had expired were no longer in the US to the fact that they had even been issued visas. Indeed, the fallout led to the resignation of Mary Ryan, the head of the Bureau of Consular Affairs, which oversees the visa issuing process. According to this report, the State Department has not yet provided clear guidance as to when a visa should be issued, nor has it adequately trained visa officers.
The report found that there is conflict among consulates as to the “role of the visa process in ensuring national security.” There is also no agreement between the State Department, which issues visas, and the Justice Department, which has final say on whether a person will be admitted to the US, on what type of evidence is necessary to deny a visa based on suspected ties to terrorism. The Justice Department maintains that any applicant whose name appears in the terrorist tracking database should be denied a visa, while the State Department argues that the consular office must have specific information regarding the suspected ties to terrorism before he or she can deny a visa.
The GAO did find that the State Department is working more closely with the FBI and the CIA in intelligence sharing. However, increased security measures have, in large part, means that there is little obvious effect from the improvements. Because so many applicants are subject to increased security screening, the process frequently takes more than 30 days. According to the report, under pressure to issue visas in a reasonable time, in 200 cases the State Department issued visas to people who were later found listed in terrorist databases. The State Department says that all those visas were revoked, and that it no longer imposes a 30-day limit on security checks.
The report did find that the State Department has made significant improvements since September 11th. For example, according to the report, most of the visa applications submitted by the hijackers who obtained visas in Saudi Arabia were not filled out completely. Also, 13 applicants were issued visas without interviews. The GAO report says that these visas should never have been issued.
The GAO report acknowledges what many observers know – that the visa issuing process is highly politicized, and that pressure from outside sources often makes it difficult for the State Department. Many consulates are understaffed and overwhelmed with applications. Moreover, there is near constant pressure from government officials, including members of Congress, to issue visas promptly.
The report was commissioned as part of the congressional debate over what to do with the Visa Office. Many wanted to relocate it in the new Department of Homeland Security. The House of Representatives voted to leave it in the State Department, but the legislation is still pending before the Senate, and it is possible that this report could lead to changes.
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