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Questions for GAO Interviews on U.S. EmbassyNon-Immigrant Visas (NIV) Policies and Procedures (as of 4/17/02): R. Sean Cooper

Date: April 18,2002 Post: Doha , QatarComments in blue are from a phone interview with M r. Cooper conducted on April 25 .Qatar is a very small post, staffed by Mr. Cooper, the consular section chief, a vice consul,one consular associate who can ad judicate visas, and tw o FSNs. Prior to his assignm ent inQatar, Mr. Cooper had been in Kingston and Ciudad Juarez.1) Has your post made any of the following changes to the NIV application and approval processsince September 11, 2001? (Check all that apply)

'' ' ' - ' ; a. Strengthened anti-fraud programs " < b. Instituted hew or changed existing standards on tow closely an iapplicant's name and date of birth must match the name and date tfof birth returned byCLASS (before consular officers submit :|requests for a Security Advisory Opinion) " :c. Reduced the availability of personal appearance waiverprograms - < - - , , ' " .

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2) About wh at percent of N IV applicants were interviewed at your post (a) in the 12 monthsprior to September 11,2001, and (b) since September 11, 2001?a. 12 months prior to September 11,2001 approx67%

b. Since September 11, 2001 approx 75%Please provide additional comm ents, if any.

Numbers of NIV applicants who are interviewed has increased somewhat. The only personseligible for interview w aiver in Doha a re Qatari natio nals . In practice, we interview anyapplicants who come in with their documents. In particular, first-time Qatari student visaapplicants, and many renewing applicants, are now interviewed in greater numbers.

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3) In your opinion, to what extent, if any, do the fo llowin g security procedures and requirementshelp your post's consular officers identify potential terrorists?(Please check one box in each row.)

a) Security AdvisoryOpinion for selectedindividuals from StatesSponsoring InternationalTerrorism (see State109933)b) Visas Viper Committeesc) CLASS name check sd) The 20-day waitingperiod for selectedapplicants (see State196355)e) R equirement thatapplicants provideinformation on the DS-157formf) The Visas Condorprocess (see State 015702)

Great extent

X

Some extent

X

N o extent Not sureX

X

No basis to judge

X

X

Please provide additional comm ents, if any.3a, d: Mr. Cooper said that he doesn't know if the special clearance requirement for certaincountries and the 20-day wait period are effective at all in detecting potential terrorists. He saidthat the special processing jus t delay s visa issuance.3b . Mr. Cooper said that he is trying to increase the participation of other agency officials in theViper program.3c. He said that CL ASS is, essentially, the only tool that consular officers (COs) have, other thanthe interview.3e . Mr. Cooper said that additional inform ation form s like the DS 157 can be useful and thatother posts he has worked at have used supplemental forms. In general, however, he thinks thatone page of information should suffice. The DS 157 is available only in English in Qatar - thepost gets so many TCNs it would not be feasible to have it available in many different languages.Applicants often have a hard time understanding what is required of them on the DS 157.3f . M r. Cooper said he felt the same way about the Condor as he does about the 20-day waitperiod and the other special clearance processing. He said the Condor is very labor intensive andthat it is an attempt to make up for a lack of database sophistication. Qatar sends a couple ofCondors every day - about 10 a week - but has yet to receive a response on any of them.

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4) For your post, to what extent, if any, would the following proposed changes to the NTVapplication process help identify potential terrorists? (Please check one box in each row.)

( I f you check vety or &indicate thepercentage h e l p f u l , pleaseb. Interview all applicantsc. Fingerprint a percentage of all applicants ( I f youcheck very or somewhat h e l p j t d , please indicate the .:percentage % ) " ' ; - . " ^ 4 j - ' ; " > r ? : . " ' ,d. Fingerprint all applicantssuspected terrorists, cooperatingi n t e r n a t i o n a l ^ - * ^ *- *-> ,- ;*g. Make thevisaprocess;*comments sectiononaccomplished, e.g.,within State orh. O ther (please specify) ^^:-&^^~i. Other (please specify/' .I 1 y

Please provide additional comments, if any.Don'tfingerprint - grab biometrics. Old-fashionedfingerprintingcharts areunwieldyand make people feel like criminals. Thumbprint scanners are already in use at ourMexican posts to produced BCC biometric data. Applicants just place their thumb onthe little scanner and it's done. Thesoftware deployed to all ourembassiesandconsulates worldwide supports the collection of this data - it's just a matter of sayingwe want to do it andgetting the hardware in place. Then it's a short leap to comparingthat biometric data to other agencies' databases. Much more accurate than a"namecheck", as names can be changed. It's much harder to change personalbiometrics.

4a. Mr.Cooper said that it does not make sense to interview everyoneto try to detect terrorists.He said that it is possible to tell if an applicant is an intending immigrantwhen you interviewhimbut that it is not easy to detect terrorists through the interview because the terrorists are good atlying about their intentions.4e. Mr. Cooper stressed the need for more cooperation with other agencies. He thinks that thereis definitely a lack of information sharing on terrorists. He'd also like to see training increased,too, such as training on body language, how to tell ifsomeone is lying, etc.4g. He did not think it would be a good idea to combine State's diplomaticfunction with a lawenforcement function.

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5) How feasible would it be for your post to implementthe following proposed changes to theNIV process? (Please check one box in each row.)

V e r y ,feasible . .

Some-what feasible

Notfeasible 4

you checlcvei^^s^eiKRatheftrfW, please indicate*X

b.Interviewallappticants Xc. FingerprintSi of all applicants ( I f youiri8teate'thef '"< f c flngerprin Xe. Improve

enforcement ftmction

Please provide additional comments, if any.Yes. Letter g. See my comments to the previous question.Also, note that just because it may be feasible that Doha could accomplish these measures ifrequired, it doesn't mean that implementation of these policies would be desirable orproductive - either from a border security or bilateral relationship perspective. (See nextquestion.)Mr. Cooper said that most of changes listed in this question are feasible in Doha because theworkload is low, but that there would be negative e f f ec t s in m a k i n g these changes. Interviewingeveryone would insult some Qataris, such as businessmen and government officials.Fingerprinting could be done but Mr. Cooper thinks that many Qataris would forgo travel to theU.S. if they had to be fingerprinted because they would be so insulted.

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6) Would any of the following factors make it difficult for your post to fully implement theproposed changes listed in questions 4 and 5? (Please check one box in each row.)

a Consular staffing shortagesb. Lack of space, facilitiesc. An adverse effect on U.S. interestsin the host country (please elaboratein comments section)d Host country would require sameof U.S. citizens (reciprocity)e. Other (please specify)

Yes, to a great extent Yes, to some extent

X

NoXX

Not sure

X

Please provide additional comments, if any.Mr. Cooper said that workload and space constraints would not be a problem in Qatar if changeswere made to the visa process. The program would be in relations with the Qataris, who wouldbe insulted by most of these proposed changes. He did not think that travel to Qatar by UScitizens would be affected since not many Americans travel to Qatar, anyway.