Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and Secretary of Homeland Security Michael Chertoff have developed a three-part vision to seek solutions that ensure best use of new technologies and most efficient processes.

CBP initially will be most active in the development of model ports of entry where a welcoming and efficient process will be provided for foreign visitors.

The initiative outlined by the State and Homeland Security secretaries are:

Part I: Renewing America’s welcome with improved technology and efficiency through:

• Improve business and temporary worker visa processing. Recognizing the importance to the U.S. business community the initiative will introduce additional measures to help businesses and other travelers enter the United States, including a new pilot program to complete applications and make appointments online. To help implement this goal, State has established a Business Visa Center to facilitate visa application procedures for U.S. businesses with upcoming travel or events.
• Test use of digital videoconferencing technology. In some countries, bottlenecks arise from the need for applicants to go to the only, or one of the few, U.S. diplomatic posts in their country where they can be interviewed. Digital videoconferencing technology could help streamline visa processing. A pilot program in the United Kingdom and other countries will test the viability of this approach.
• An enhanced partnership with private sector. An advisory board will provide regular, institutional outreach with the travel, business and academic communities to take their views into account and to identify travel "best practices,” and to enlist their support to encourage visits to the United States.
• Encourage students and academic study in the United States. The initiative will expand the length of time foreign students may be issued student visas and arrive in the United States before their academic study. Student visas will be issued up to 120 days (as compared to 90 days under current regulations) and allow entry 45 days (compared to 30 days currently) in advance of studies.

Part II: Travel Documents for the 21st Century

In the past, fraudulent travel documents have been used as a tool to cross borders and violate immigration laws without detection. This part of the joint vision combines innovation in three parallel areas:

• E-Passports. The increased use of machine-readable passports with digitized photographs has heightened security and added protection against identity theft without adding to traveler waiting times at ports. The next generation of international travel documents—e-passports that contain a chip to which biometric and biographic information is written – will further strengthen international border security.
• Secure, less expensive passport card for U.S. land borders. The initiative calls for an inexpensive, secure, biometric passport card as an alternative to a traditional passport book for use by U.S. citizens in border communities who frequently cross our land borders.

Part III: Smarter screening

• Entry-exit system with US-VISIT. Through US-VISIT, CBP officers can screen foreign passengers entering the U.S. against integrated databases that contain information on individuals with criminal, immigration violation or terrorism-related history. Between January 2004 and December 2005, CBP has processed 45 million people under this new system, intercepting more than 970 persons with prior or suspected criminal or immigration violations based on biometrics alone.
• Terrorist screening center coordinates terrorist watch list information across all agencies of the U.S. government. DHS, State, and the Department of Justice as well as other agencies are co-located and work closely together to screen terrorists.
• The human smuggling and trafficking center also converts intelligence to law-enforcement action, canvassing a large body of information about human smugglers, traffickers and terrorist travel facilitators. The center is playing an increasing role in coordinating intelligence with foreign governments on this issue.
• Real-time DHS-State information sharing integrates data created by different agencies for different systems and different purposes. State Department officers now have access to information that may help detect ineligible aliens, find fraud and improve the efficiency and security of visa cases. Similarly, near real-time data on every visa issued is sent directly to CBP officers at ports of entry so that they can compare electronic files of every traveler entering the United States.

These improvements open the way for "paperless" visa processing. Electronic collection of visa information will further strengthen screening systems. State will pilot a fully electronic visa application by December 2006, to expand the collection and use of information. Going even further, State and DHS will conduct a joint pilot project to test a "paperless" visa system in which DHS officers will have electronic access to visas, passports, and biometric information.

Once able to share data, the two agencies must then coordinate what they will do with it. Part of the joint vision is to harmonize screening information. DHS and State, working with other key agencies, will standardize screening criteria by the end of 2006 for consistency at every screening location and create a virtual clearinghouse by the end of 2007 to unify data that screeners now get from many different systems.

"One Stop" Redress for Travelers. Sometimes mistakes are made. Travelers need simpler ways to fix them. Therefore, DHS and State will accelerate efforts to establish a government-wide traveler screening redress process to resolve questions if travelers are incorrectly selected for additional screening.

Pool data with like-minded foreign governments. As the United States’ systems and data improve, State and DHS must make these initiatives global. We will continue diplomatic efforts for the comprehensive exchange of watch lists, biometrics, and lost and stolen passport information with other governments as well as building capacity to effectively use this information. A central topic in this diplomacy is development of a common approach to protecting the privacy of the data both in the way it is collected and the way it is shared.

The United States is a welcoming country, encouraging citizens from all over the world to visit, study, and do business. While security remains paramount, we will ensure that the experience of travelers reflects this welcoming spirit – and shows that the United States is open to business travelers, tourists and students – while ensuring that our homeland is secure. DB