T5 B65 GAO Visa Docs 5 of 6 Fdr- 4-20-02 GAO Interview of Jeffrey P Lodinsky- Oman Response 822

8/14/2019 T5 B65 GAO Visa Docs 5 of 6 Fdr- 4-20-02 GAO Interview of Jeffrey P Lodinsky- Oman Response 822

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Questions for GAO Interviews on U.S. EmbassyNon-Im migrant Visas (NIV) Policies and Procedures (as of 4/17/02)

Name: Jeffrey P. LodinskyDate:

on v

April 20, 2002 Post: M uscat, Om anComments in blue are from the phone interview with Jeff Lodinsky on April 24,2002.1) Has your post made any of the following changes to the NIV application and approval processsince September 11 , 2001? (Check al l that apply)

* " " ; ; < ' - , - - : ' - . ' * ,a . Strengthened anti-fraud programs - *- - - *& ' t * r ':X*"b. Instituted new or changed; existing standards on how closely aniapplicant's name and date of birth must match the name and dateof birth returned by CLASS (before consular officers s u b n u f c l f - . %^!|requests for a Security A dvisory Opinion) fic. Reduced the availability of personal appearance waiver - ' ., ; , 4 jprograms ^ - , . ; ' , " , - ' . ' - d. Increased the percentage of N F V applicants who are ; Jinteviewed - ' .''*!e. Other pleasespecify) , %f. Other (please specify) /

YesX

XX

N oX

N /A

Please provide additional comments, if any.Mr. L odinksy has been a State employee for many years but Muscat is only his second tour as aForeign Service Officer. His first post was Oslo. He arrived in Muscat in August 2001. He didnot receive any training in A rabic or area studies b efore arriving at post.M r. Lodinksy is the only consular officer in Muscat. Tw o FSNs w ork with him, and during thebusier summer months, an eligible U S family mem ber wil l usual ly help out in the consularsection. During our phone conversation, Mr. L odinksy made the follo w ing comments:la. Oman is a low fraud post; he believes that he rarely sees visa fraud. He processes few visas -just 6600 NIVs last year an d approximately 26 0 IVs.Ib . Mr. Lodinksy described A rabic names as the A chilles' heel of the CL A SS system since thereare so man y ways to spell them. Since 9-1 1, Mr. L odinksy said that he has sent in m any moreSAO s and he is consult ing w ith the RSO and O mani FSNs more to make sure that hisinterpretation of A rabic name matches is correct.


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When asked how he defines a "close match," M r. Lodinsky said that he puts the most emphasison seeing a close m atch on the date of birth. This is because Om an issues reliable birthcertificates that he feels he can rely on. Since there are so many way s to spell Arabic names, hefeels that the DOB is more reliable. He also looks at when the hit was entered. As a generalguideline, Mr. Lodinsky said that he first considers the closeness of the DO B match, then thename match, and then other factors, such as when the hit was entered into the CLA SS system. Atleast one of these elem ents has to be very close in order for him to request an SAO.Ic. M r. Lodinksy said that the post does not have a drop box or travel agenc y referral programsince the visa volume doesn't w arrant it. Omanis personally drop off their a pplications or havetheir driver or a company representative drop it off.M r. Lodink sy said that he has been as king mo re Om anis to com e in for an interview since 9-11.Prior to 9-11, he would issue visas to people even if they couldn't really describe why they w eretraveling to the U.S. Now he wants Omanis to come in and explain why they are traveling. Hesaid that the DS-157 is useful to him because it asks for so muc h more information. Often theOmanis do not fully understand the DS-157 and therefore do not fill it out completely. Mr.Lodinksy will ask them to come in to the embassy so that they ca n review the form an d talk moreabout their travel plans.Id. Approximately 50% of NIV applicants in Muscat are TCNs. The practice, even before 9-11,has been to interview all TCNs. Before 9-11, Mr. Lodinksy said that he interviewed only about 1percent of Omani applicants. This has increased by about 8-10 percent since September 11 . Heprimarily interviews Omani men, aged 16-30.


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2) About what percent of NIV applicants were interviewed at your post (a) in the 12 monthsprior to September 11 , 2001, and (b) since September 11 , 2001?a. 12 mon ths prior to September 11,2001 52b. Since September 11 ,2001 60Please provide additional comments, if any.M r. Lodinksy said that the increase from 52 percent to 60 percent is due to the increase ininterviews fo r Omanis . As m entioned above, post's practice, pre and post 9-11 , has been tointerview all TCNs. Since 9-11, about 8 - 10 percent of Omani applicants areinterviewed.


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3) In your opinion, to what extent, if any, do the following 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) Requirement thatapplicants provideinformation on the DS-157formf) The Visas Condorprocess (see State 015702)

Great extent

XXX

Some extentXX

XXX

XXX

No extentXX

XX

XX

XXX

Not sure No basis to judge

Please provide additional comments, if any.3a. Upon discussing the survey, Mr. Lodinsky changed his answer for 3a to read "some extent"instead of "no extent." He said that requesting an SAO would give him a little more comfort butthat he does not feel an SAO is 100 percent protection against terrorists.3b. Mr. Lodinksy said that he convenes the Visa Viper committee quarterlybut that it is"useless" since other agencies at the embassy who have information tend to send it back to theirow n headquarters using their ow n methods of communications. Mr. Lodinksy felt that otheragencies were not using the Viper channel to submit information on potential terrorists.3c. Mr. Lodinksy said that he thinks that CLASS is a good system but that he does not have a100 percent comfort level with it. When asked how he would improve CLASS, he said that hewished it had more information in it. He would like to see less-cryptic CLASS entries. He wouldlike entries to include more information on the background of "00" hits, so that he could see theactual application of that person and then try to figure out if that person was the same as theperson applying for the visa. He acknowledged that CLASS is an unclassified system but hethought maybe there could be a classified section of CLASS just for consular officers (i.e. thatFSNs could no t access at all). Mr. Lodinksy thinks that CLASS is very "bare bones" in itscurrent configuration.3d. As we spoke, Mr. Lodinsky decided to change his initial answer of "some extent" to "noextent."


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Mr. Lodinksy said that the 20-day w ait does not help him in any way. He said that perhaps ithelps someone in Washington to make a decision on the applicant bu t that it does not change hisdecision process at post in any way. It only prolongs the visa process, creates m ore work fo r him,an d incon venien ces legitimate travelers.M r. Lodinksy said that the 20-day wait is the "number one" annoyance at post. It hurts legitimatetravelers and does not help the consular officer make decisions on the applicant. M r. Lodinksysaid that there are many rich, influential businessmen in Oman who travel to the U.S. often an dthis 20-day waiting period is very aggravating to them. M r. Lodinksy ha s recommended toC A/EX that there needs to be some sort of "fast track" fo r certain applicants since he thinks it isuseless to paint all Omani men with the same brush - i.e. to give the same scrutiny tounemployed 18-year olds as you give to influential businessmen.M r. Lod insky has yet to receive a negative response on any of the 20-day wait applicants.3e. Mr. Lod insky likes the DS-157. He feels that consular officer can never have to o muchinformation. He gives the DS-157 to men older than 45 and to many w omen , too, and he claimsthat he has not heard any com plaints from applicants. H e said that he would re-write/changesome of the questions on the form bu t that, in general, he is in favor of it.3f. A s with the 20-day wait, M r. Lodinksy feels that the Visa Condor does not help him detectpotential terrorists in any way. He said that perhap s the Condors are useful to State in order toscreen out terrorists bu t that it does not help him any way. He said that he sends Condors fo rvirtually al l Om ani male applicants in the age group because they all fit the Condor criteria insome way. T his adds considerably to his workload.


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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.)

a. Interview a greater percentage of allapplicants( I f yo u check very or somewhat helpful, pleaseindicate the percentage 9 6 )b. Interview all applicantsc. Fingerprint a percentage of all applicants ( I f youcheck very or somewhat f t e l g f i t l , please indicate thepercentage % ) ' d Fingerprint an applicantse. Improve training for consular officers in identifyingsuspected terrorists, cooperating with other agencies/international organizations^ and cultural sensitivityg. Make the visa process a law enforcementcomment s section on how this should beaccomplished, e.g., should the function remainwithin State or be moved to another agency)h. Other (please specify) , ,rv* . .- , fif , "\ " -' ;. , """,i. Other (please specify)

Veryhelpful

XXX

Some-whathelpful NothelpfulXX X

XX XXXX

XXX

Not sure

XXX

Please provide additional comments, if any.4a , b. Mr.Lodinksy thought that it would be pointless to interview all O m a n i applicants. He notedthat even though he had increased the percentage of Omanis he interviewed since 9-11, hisrefusal rate had not increased.4c. Mr.Lodinksy did not think that fingerprinting applicants would, in any way, be useful for him4d . He said that he could see how fingerprinting might be useful for headquarters but he didn'tthink that it would help anyone in the field make decisions about who was a terrorist.4e. Mr. Lodinksy felt strongly about improving training for consular officers. In his initialconsular training in 1999, there was no mention of terrorists at all. Hesaid that he would like tosee mandatory training for consular officers on how to detect terrorists.4g . Mr.Lodinksy marked "not sure" for this question since he was not sure if the question impliedthat consular officers would have law enforcement duties or if it implied that there would be INSofficers staffed at post alongside the consular officer.M r. Lodinksywas skeptical about making the visa system a function of law enforcement. He saidthat the visa role should definitely not be turned over to another agency. However, he thought itmight help to have an INS officer at every post that consular officers could talk to if they ha dquestions about an applicant (the closest regional INSofficer that Lodinksy has is in Greece).


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4h. Mr. Lodinksy thinks that the visa process "works", even though the 19 hijackers fromSeptember 11 obtained visas. He said that consular officers are not mind readers and that it is notalways possible to detect someone's nefarious intentions. Hethinks that anything that asks formore information of the applicant - such as the DS 157is good. Hethought that it should bemandatory for consular officers to ask for more documents, such as birth certificates andemployment verification letters, [auditor's note: more docs are great only if they're legitimate].


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5) How feasible would it be for your post to implement the follow ing proposed changes to theN FV process? (Please check one box in each row.)

a . Interview a greater percentage of all applicants (Ifyou checkvery orsomewhat helpful, please indicatethe percentage 9 6 )b. Interview all applicantsc. Fingerprint a percentage of all applicants (I f youcheck very or somewhat helpful, please indicate th epercentage % ) ' 'd. Fingerprint all applicantse. Improve training for consular officers in identifying 'Vsuspected terrorists, cooperating with other agencies/ ;international organizations, and cultural sensitivity :f. Make the visa process a law enforcement functiong. Institute a secure travel document that incorporates abiometric such as fingerprints . ;:4% r;h. Other (please specify) ;;?s

.',' '**!$&L Other (please specify) , ;

Vcry;feasibleXX

XX

Some-what feasible Not , ." ,feasible

XX

X XXX

N otsure

XXXX

Please prov ide additional comments, if any.M r. Lodink sy had neglected to answer this question whe n he sent in the survey, but he gave hisanswers as we spoke on the phone.5a, b. It would be feas ible for post to interview mo re/all applicants as the N IV volume is low.5c,d. Giv en the assum ption that the consular officer would ha ve to do the fingerprinting, M r.Lodinksy did not think that it would be feasib le to do this at the post because he wo uld not hav etime.5e. Im prov ed training wou ld not be feas ible because it would be difficult to finance it throughthe post. Moreover, since M r. Lodinksy is the only consular officer in Oman, it is difficult fo rhim to find th e time to participate in training program s. If he is away from the consular section,then other officers at the embassy hav e to take ov er his duties.5f, g. M r. Lodinksy was "not sure" about the feas ibility of turning the visa process ov er to lawenforcement or of implementing a secure travel document. H e felt that it would be feasible ifsomeone e lse were pay ing for it - but that this decision is out of his domain. He said that is moreof a quest ion for the adminis tra t ion officer.


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6) Would any of the following factors m ake it difficult fo r your post to fully implement th eproposed changes listed in questions 4 and 5? (Please check one box in each row.)

a Consular staffing shortagesb. Lack of space, facilitiesc. Anadverse 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 extentXX

XX

Yes, to some extent

XX

No

XX

No t sure

Please provide additional comments, if any.As with question 5, Mr. Lodinksy failed to com plete this question before sending in the survey.W e discussed th e question on the phone and he gave me his answers.6a. The proposed changes in questions 4 and 5 wou ld be difficult to implement in Oman becauseM r. Lodinksy is the only consular officer. He would not have th e time fo r many of the proposedchanges.6b. Space is not an issue in Oman.6c. Mr. Lodinksy said that it would be a "disaster" to fingerprint al l Omani applicants. The 20-day wait for some applicants was already a major insult to some Omanis. Fingerprinting wouldbe a public relations disaster.6d. Since few U.S. citizens travel to Om an, host country reciprocal actions are not too great of aconcern.Other comments from M r. Lodinksy:

Mr. Lodinksy said that, in general, posts need more information. Any additionaltraining and guidance would be useful. Some consular officers are getting cynical. They are wondering if anyone is readingthe cables they send in. Consular officers sho uld not b e asked to do more w orkunless they know w hat they're doing is useful and being done for some purpose. Mr. Lodinksy wondered if the implementation of new visa regulations since 9-11was really m aking a difference. At the moment, th e Condors and the 20-day waitperiod are just inconvenient for the legitima te traveler and for the consular officer.H e really questioned why they're b eing required to do these additional steps.

T5 B65 GAO Visa Docs 5 of 6 Fdr- 4-20-02 GAO Interview of Jeffrey P Lodinsky- Oman Response 822

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