Transcripts For CSPAN2 Hearing Focuses On Visa Security 20170504

Next the House Homeland Security committee holds its first open meeting to examine these up security procedures and what can be done to strengthen prevention of a terrorist entering the us. We hear testimony from several federal agencies including customs and Border Protection and the state department. This is an hour and a half. The Committee Tax course on denying terrorist entering the eye states will come to order. The test for submitting to examine a visa process and the Visa Waiver Program. I recognize myself for an Opening Statement. I welcome back our expert witnesses to the capital and thank you for being here and doing double duty. I look forward to following up on some of the broader themes for the briefing. In order to inform the American People of the security of the visa process and Visa Waiver Program. I want to thank chairman mccall for prioritizing this task force in its commission. Last congress on combating terrorist and foreign fighter travel was not only successful in producing legislative change but also eyeopening in what it revealed. The work done by members and staff on both sides of the aisle under chairman raise awareness about gaps in screening and information sharing both at home and with our foreign partners. This led to positive reforms for protecting our homeland against terrorists and foreign fighters. This of course includes the Visa Waiver Program improvement and terrorist travel prevention act that enacted major dwp laws in 2015. I hope this test course will be as successful in its investigation and in its final recommendation. I also look forward to working with ms. Watson coleman from new jersey and all members on both sides to ensure that it is a success. I thank you for the time you spent and im looking forward to it. This is a critical time for nation security. Previous task force rightly focused on the tens of thousands jihad fighters traveling from the west to fight on the ground in syria. Now, however, we see that number dropping as fighter seek to expand their actions beyond iraq in syria. While Coalition Forces advance and squeeze ices territory the threat against the west continues to rise. The socalled. [inaudible] as director comay said through the fingers of that cross are going to come hundreds of very, very dangerous people. There will be a terrorist ds for a in the next two to three years that weve never seen before. Those chilling words should serve as a wakeup call. Last week it was reported that two british nationals and a us citizen were detained by Turkish Border police after spending two years in ices territory. With hundreds of americans fighters and thousands of fighters returning to their home Countries Armed with visas, we must be able to run them from gaining air entry into the United States by abusing our immigration system. The 2015 attacks in paris and the 2016 attacks in brussels, and east and berlin. These attackers were european citizens with valid passports. Its easy to imagine anyone of them gaining access to the country for a valid visa or through the Visa Waiver Program. A secretary kelly recently said that us is the prime target especially since so many of these fighters are citizens of the wp countries. That is why we are here today. We want to ensure our defenses are strong and protect our homeland as it continues to be targeted. There are numerous benefits to our country that stem from our welcoming immigration system, like tourism, trade and business , we should never cease to examine through the lens of a terrace in certain potential gaps. We must always strive to stay one step ahead. That is why we learned in the wake of september 11, where all the attackers entered through legal means. This of course prompted a overhaul of our immigration and Transportation System as well as the creation of the department of Homeland Security. Our work is not yet done. We still have a lot to learn and a lot to adapt to. Despite the reforms undertaken in the forms wake of 911, there are still gaps in our system. One of the attackers that killed 14 people in San Bernardino legally entered the country on a k1 fiancee visa. This raise questions about the level of scrutiny giving to visa applicants. The remaining gaps in vetting and screening of dwp applicants and the information sharing with other countries that are both vital in the fight against terrorists. I look forward to hearing from our expert witnesses about what we can do to ensure that dwp applicants are receiving sufficient screening in vetting before they enter the country. I think the witnesses again for being here and there service. I also think the men who serve our country in vhs and the state department. I recognize the gentle lady from to new jersey, ms. Watson coleman. I am delighted to be here and share this very important task with you. I am pleased to join in holding todays hearing on denying terrorist entry into the United States. I welcome the opportunity to work with you and our colleagues on the task force to examine how the federal government can continue to strengthen our National Security and do so in a way that upholds our american values. Since the terrorist attack of september 11th 2001, congress has established a department of Homeland Security and directed the invitation of significant and wide range new programs and policies to help prevent terrorist travel in this country for example, Us Immigration and Customs Enforcement has deployed visa Security Units to our embassies, supporting the state department in vetting visa applicants, u. S. Customs and Border Protection now utilizes the Electronic System for travel authorization to screen Visa Waiver Programs before they are permitted to board a plane into the us. These agencies now also conducted torrent vetting of all visa and folders to check against any new derogatory information. These are just two examples of the security initiatives that have been limited in the aftermath of 911 on an ongoing basis of other potential vulnerability have been identified. Of course, more work remains to be done to ensure that we can continue to stay ahead of those who might seek to do us harm. That work must be done on a bipartisan basis. In the interest of all americans and in keeping with our principles as a nation of immigrants. Using rhetoric that divides and alienates our foreign partners is counterproductive to the security of the United States. Banning certain groups of people from entering this country based on their faith whether explicitly or implicitly is unconstitutional. Preying on peoples fears and prejudices for political gain is downright unamerican. As a country we can do better and i hope that on this test course we will do better. America is at its strongest when we stand together in support of our common good and shared values. I appreciated hearing from our government witnesses yesterday in the classified setting about the good work the department of Homeland Security and state are doing to further enhance our security. I hope to hear from these Witnesses Today about what more can be done to identify attempted terrorist travel on an individualized basis and how congress can support their efforts. I also hope to hear from our Government Accountability office witness about what their work on these issues tells us about the past that we must go for it. I look forward to a very productive hearing today and to working alongside our colleagues from the task force and with you mr. Chairman as we go for. Again, thank you for holding todays hearing and i think the witnesses for joining us. I yield back. The chair recognizes the gentleman from texas, mr. Mccall thank you. Its june 2000, 3 of the hijackers of 911 flew to new York International and were admitted into the United States. Their names were mohammed, marwan and xia, sadly we know the rest of the story. In the years following the 911 attacks, the United States government went to Great Lengths to identify gaps in art vetting systems in and how our agencies share intelligence. The department of Homeland Security was created by the Bush Administration and congress to help protect america from terrorists by connecting the dots. Now we face a new and growing threat to the homeland. In his speech on april the 18 th, secretary kelly described us as a nation under attack facing the highest Terror Threat level in years. Due to our brave servicemen and women isis and al qaeda have incurred great losses in syria and iraq. Yet as territory under their control strength, we are seen in exodus of foreign fighters returning to their homelands. 10000 of which are in europe. Our committee is taking a serious look at foreign fighters last congress we put together a Bipartisan Task force to examine the threat posed to the United States by foreign fighters especially, those traveling in and out of europe. Through this extensive sixmonth review the task force produced more than 50 actual recommendations to safeguard the homeland and this committee and the house passed legislation to address those recommendations. Those which became law, include the foreign fighter travel review act which requires the president to review all americans who traveled to iraq in syria to join a Foreign Terrorist Organization and the National Strategy to combat terrorist travel act which reprise demonstration to develop a substance strategy to combat the threat posed by extremists and prevent them from entering our country undetected. Significantly, the Visa Waiver Program improvement in terrorist travel prevention act of 2015 ramped up the security of the Visa Waiver Program by improved intelligence information sharing through hs pd six agreements and keep terrace from entering the United States undetected. It also includes major provisions that will make it harder for terror suspects to cross borders, including enhanced counterterrorism screening of travelers and measures to correct on on passport fraud. This new task force will pick up where the last one left off. We will address the readiness of the homeland in light of the foreign fighter exodus. I was pleased to name congressman Mike Gallagher of wisconsin as chair of this initiative. As a former combo veteran and middle east expert, he will tackle these urgent issues with seriousness and dedication. Together with the other Seven Members of the Bipartisan Task force i know this will be equally productive and essential for americas security. I look forward to hearing from our witnesses on the important work performed by the department and the state department to prevent terrorists from gaining access to our homeland. I yield back. Thank you, mr. Chairman. Other members are reminded that they opening payment may be submitted for the record. We are joined by a distinguished panel of witnesses. Acting assistant border immigration of the office of policy, determine of Homeland Security, mr. John wagner, mr. Clark settled assistant director for the National Security and immigration and Customs Enforcement at the department of Homeland Security, mr. Edward rem at husky, Deputy Assistant for Visa Services at the department of state and ms. Rebecca gambler, on. Thank you for being here today. The full statements will appear in the record. We recognize mr. Doherty for an Opening Statement. Chairman gallagher, Ranking Member and distinguish committee members, thank you for the opportunity to beer before you. The Visa Waiver Program or the beat wp was created by congress in 1986 to allow citizens of qualified country to enter the United States for business or pleasure without having to secure a visa but only after a necessary security clearances were performed. In addition to promoting and easing travel to United States the beat wp relieved the department of state from interviewing lowrisk applicants from Program Countries that are consulates oversee. The v wp having legislated modified five different times. Today the program improperly viewed not just as means of easing travel to the United States but to improve our security posture. Were increasing information sharing within our government and with foreign partners. As the committee is aware, secretary kelly has emphasized that blocking terrace and serious criminals from entering the nine states is a top priority of our department and were committed to working closely with congress and our interagency and foreign partners to protect our homeland. Currently, 38 countries are approved to participate in the vwp which allows their nationals to travel to nine states for up to 90 days. Travelers are required to complete an online application in advance of travel that is known as the Electronic System for travel or s. Dot. Looking at the start applications, vwp uses. [inaudible] or could pose a risk to the United States or to the public at large. To participate in the vwp countries must share information on terrace and serious criminals , timely report lost and stolen passport have robust border in travel documents, and engage in in effect under effective screening. Looking at the criteria for lost and stolen passport for example, vwp countries have to report that loss or theft no later than 24 hours after they become aware and vwp countries have contributed over 50 million such records to interpol which accounts for 70 of the interpol holdings. Rigorous National Level assessments of Program Countries are conducted by the department of Homeland Security to ensure they meet the Security Standards required for continued participation in the program. The bottom line is that to join or to continue in the vwp a country cannot represent a threat to United States and must be working as a partner to prevent terrorist travel. The committee has strengthened the Visa Waiver Program through its leadership in developing the vwp improvement in terrorist travel prevention act of 2015. Id like to take a moment to highlight several important changes that have resulted from dhs implementation of the act. Weve increased the sharing of terrorist and criminal identity t information, several countries have increased the frequency of lost and stolen passwords to interpol, several countries have agreed to adopt new technologies for betting asylum or refugee immigration applicants. All vwp countries are issuing and using it for travel to the United States fraud resistant electronic passports that meet or exceed International Standards and dhs is enhanceds restrictions under the vwp for people who have traveled to certain countries of concern since march 11 or are dual nationals of a particular country. Dhs manages the ongoing statutory requirement and regular assessment process to ensure the v wp countries are consistently Meeting Program requirements. These assessments are performed in consultation with the component agencies, the state department and other interagency partners as well as the Intelligence Community and the governments of vwp countries themselves. Be assured that the apartment engages in regular monitoring of all vwp countries to identify emerging threats and vulnerabilities and to take appropriate action. A secretary kelly recently indicated we have to ensure the vwp will counter the effects of foreign fighters returning from the battlefield of syria and iraq. Under his leadership, dhs will continue to look at ways to work with this committee to strengthen the security of the program. Thank you again for the opportunity to appear before you today. I will look forward to answering any of your questions. Thank you. Chairman gallagher, Ranking Member, and distinct members of the committee. Thank you for the opportunity speak today about u. S. Customs and Border Protection role in securing international travel. Our agency works roundtheclock to achieve us bound travel and we develop mechanisms to address National Security risk and other questions. Adam provide a sense of scale, we inspected 390 million arriving International Travels about hundred and 19 million flew into our efforts. Thats 327,000 International Air passengers each day and thats just inbound. Visitors make up about 50 of these arrival numbers. Generally they split into two categories visa and visa waiver. Visitors from country that need a visa to go to the us embassy oversees and work with the department of state to get a visa. My colleague from the state department will to describe that process in more detail in a few minutes. For the Visa Waiver Program travelers cdp has developed an online application process known as the Electronic System for travel authority or s stuff for short. These travelers must have improved estimate to board the plane oversees and we built a verification system with the airlines to support this. Cdp tunicates against a series of Law Enforcement intelligent databases. The first half of this fiscal year weve approved 6. 9 million applicants and denied over 35600 of these denials about 1050 were due to National Security concerns. Following the enactment of the v wp improvement act in 2015 cdp took several steps to apply the new restrictions for individuals who travel to the seven countries and individuals who are dual nationals. So far the fiscal year weve denied us to entry to 13000 people do the travel restrictions and nearly 3000 for the dual nationality. Once a visa is issued cdps National Targeting continues to bet against a host of Law Enforcement intelligent databases to ensure travelers remain eligible. If any issues arise, cdp may revoke or and work with the department to have the visa revoked. The first half of this fiscal year over 1800 visas were revoked as a result of this. 450 of these were due to National Security concerns. Whats the travel is booked, cdp does predeparture betting on all International Travelers coming to the us. By law, airlines provide cdp with advance manifests and in access to their reservation systems. We review the data and intelligence imports to identify any potential risk factor. When risk fasteners are identified we built several mechanisms to address those questions while the traveler is still overseas. Preclearance operations, Immigration Advisory Program in our regional carrier liaison groups. Lets start with preclearance. We have 15 preclearance air locations in six countries. Uniformed cdp officers have legal authorities to complete the same immigration and customs in agriculture is travelers as at a domestic airport. This is our highest level of capability overseas. If found ineligible to travel to United States at a preclearance location cdp has the authority to deny entry on foreign soil. Fiscal year 16 cdp offered this process 18. 3 million travelers entry into the United States without preclearance locations. 15 of our us bound travelers. Of this total cdp prevented 6400 inadmissible travelers reporting us bound flights. Secondly, the Immigration Advisory Program and the joint Security Program. This is where we have plane closed cdp art at gates in mexico, asia and the central east. Advance information from our National Targeting Center iap officers work in partnership with those government and the airlines to address any National Security risk and immigration issues. If any concerns remain, if the interview of the passenger can issue a no board recommendation to the carrier and refer the traveler back to the us embassy for a more thorough review of their status. Last year we recommended 4500 no boards to the airlines. For foreign locations not covered by preclearance, or the iap officers we have regional carrier liaison groups to work directly with the airlines to issue no board recommendations where theres cases of clearance concerns or immigration questions. Once passages arrived in the United States, all people are infected by cdp officers. The experience and the intuition of each individual officer is invaluable and provides the final piece to the pre arrival vetting and all the background checks. Cdp officers review travel documents, review the results of the pre arrival vetting, collect biometrics required and interview all travelers to determine the purpose and intent of travel. Theres any questions about their admissibility, customs declaration, agriculture concerns or National Security issues the person is referred to secondary inspection for a more thorough examination. We continually strive to close any security vulnerabilities and we remain closely engaged and coordinated with our government counterparts, Foreign Governments in our private sector stakeholders. Thank you again for the opportunity. Ill answer any of your questions. Thank you. Youre recognized for five minutes. Chairman gallagher, Ranking Member, and distinguish committee members. Thank you for the opportunity to discuss the efforts of Us Immigrations and Customs Enforcement to enhance us visa security to prevent the travel of terrorists and other collectors. Visa security is an essential component of our responsibility to protect the homeland. Shared by both the department of state and the department of Homeland Security which includes the offices of Homeland Security investigations hsi. At hsi we strive to uphold our responsibility by confronting dangerous challenges on a global stage with particular focus on those emanating from beyond americas physical borders. I am honored to highlight our Security Programs to protect the United States against an ever revolving diverse threat. Sigh special agents and investigate transnational crime by conducting a wide range of criminal investigation and coordination with our foreign and domestic partnering agencies we target the Illegal Movement of people, merchandise, monetary instruments, into and within and out of the United States. The agency has extremely Broad Authority and jurisdiction over the investigation of crimes within the access to the borders of the United States and entry. Our priorities are border, Public Safety and National Security. In an effort to augment and expand visa security operations, hsi is honored to manage the basis for the program in partnership with cdp, the department of state, the Intelligence Community and other dhs department. Our primary purpose is to identify terrorists, criminals and other individuals who pose a threat or are ineligible for a visa at the earliest possible point in the visa application process. Thereby we push the us borders out as far as we possibly can. Visa Security Programs operations are currently conducted at. [inaudible] in 25 countries. The program is scheduled to expand to two visa issuing posts in the fiscal year, in 2017 and plan to expand as resources allowed every year after. We understand that one of the most important priorities is to detect and prevent threats before they reach our nations borders. To achieve this objective hsis International Operations in parallel with the visa program also deploy highly Trained Personnel to offices in 49 countries. The hsi special agents deploy to the 30 visa issuing points utilizes investigative resources in person interviews and collaboration between the us agencies and Foreign Government counterparts to investigate, disrupt the travel of suspects individuals during the visa application process. Experience has shown that the department that there is no technological tool available that can substitute for having highly trained and experienced investigators deployed overseas to docs informed interviews, enhance the information we have of terrorists and other criminal networks, and share that information with our foreign partners. Hsis Visa Security Program is supported by the pre dictated recognition and intelligent Operation Team patriot. Patriot is an interagency endeavor with cdps National Targeting system, through patriot system we conduct automated screaming of these applicants information against dh holdings as well as holdings of us agencies. Prior to the applicants and dedication. Information discovered during automated screen is vetted by domestic. [inaudible] utilizing Law Enforcement, open sources, and classified systems. Patriot analyst provide deployed age with the most enhanced Information Available wellin advance of the interview. Following this enhance analysis, derogatory information, collaboration with foreign partners and participation in the in person visa applicant interview, hsi deployed special agents provide a unified dhs. We submitted 1669 watchlist nominations for counterterrorism s. We also facilitated the legitimate trade of 442 applicants. Honored members, if i may, id like to recognize this month we celebrate a time to honor all Law Enforcement officers who lost their lives in their line of duty. This includes a fellow hsi brother, special agent jeremy scott mcguire, who lost his life in the line of duty last year and whose name we will be honoring and adding to the national Law Enforcement memorial. I just want to say rest in peace scott. Thank you for your opportunity to be here before you today and for your continued support of our Law Enforcement mission. I would be pleased to answer any questions. Thank you. Thank you. Am i getting your name right . Mr. Ram makowski. Thank you, mr. Gallagher, interesting was members of the committee. I am pleased to ensure you that the department of state takes our commitment to protect americas borders and citizens very seriously. Toward this end, we constantly analyze and update our screening and clearance procedures. Mr. Chairman, the us visa system is a layered interagency effort focused first and foremost on National Security. Beginning with the petition to vhs, visa application submitted to a section abroad, during the interview, prior to travel, upon arrival of the United States, and while the traveler is in the United States the department of state works together with our national Law Enforcement and intelligence partners to protect our borders. The vast majority of these applicants and all immigrants are interviewed in person by an officer. Each counselor officer competes a Extensive Training Program which has a strong emphasis on border security, Fraud Prevention, interagency coordination, and interviewing techniques. In addition to that, 122 assistant Regional Security officer investigators and 107 diplomatic post worldwide work with counselor officers to bring additional Law Enforcement and Anti Terrorism expertise to the visa process. All of these applicants are vetted against databases which contain millions of records of individuals found ineligible for visas in the past or regarding whom potentially derogatory information exists on terrorists , criminal or other grounds. We collect ten fingerprint scans from nearly all visa applicants and screen them against the dhs and fbi databases of known and suspected terrorists. , wanted persons, immigration violators, and criminals. All theseapplicants are screened against photos of known or suspected terrorists, and prior these applicants. When an interview raises any concerns that the applicant may be a threat to National Security or the interagency screening process shows potentially derogatory information that counselor officers to send the process and submits a request for a washington based interagency security advisory opinion review. This is conducted by federal Law Enforcement and intelligence agencies as well as the department of state. As my colleague noted, the department of Homeland Security patriot system and the Visa Security Program provide additional protection at overseas post. Dhs Immigration Enforcement special agents assigned to 29 embassies in complex, either locations provide on site vetting of these applications as well as other Law Enforcement support and training to officers. But security reviews do not stop when the visa is issued. The department and Partner Agencies continually match new threat information with our records of existing visas and we use our authority to revoke those visas when warranted. We refuse more than 2 million visa applications each year. Since 2001, the department has revoked more than 160,000 visas based on information which surfaced after the instruments of the visa. This includes nearly 11000 visas potentially revoked after information emerged the vaccine suspecting lines to terrorism. Executive order 13780 protecting the nation from terrorist attacks by foreign nationals signed by the president on marce president ial memorandum on heightened screening articulate the administrations commitment to regularly upgrade and refine our screening and vetting process to keep this country safe. These actions range from all interagency to harmonize standardize vetting, the focusing on ways to improve our ability to report criminal aliens, additionally, the department recently instructed post worldwide to develop criteria for identifying these application that warrant increase screening. We have likewise heightened vetting for any visa applicant who is ever present in any ice is controlled territory. Mr. Chairman and distinguished members of the committee, the department of states eye as priority is the safety of our fellow citizens at home and overseas. Every visa decision is a National Security decision. We appreciate the support of the congress as we constantly work to strengthen our system. I would encourage you to visit our counselor sections when you are abroad, to see how we do this on a daily basis. I look forward to your questions thank you. We look forward to doing just that. Youre recognized for five minutes. Good afternoon mr. Chairman gallagher, Ranking Member and members of the task force. I appreciate the opportunity to testify at todays hearing to discuss gaos work remain dhs effort to and screen and inspect travelers. Each year millions of visitors legally enter the United States. Some of them enter with a nonimmigrant visa while others enter the country under the Visa Waiver Program. Under this Program National from 38 countries can apply for admission to the United States as temporary visitors for business or pleasure for up to 90 days without obtaining a visa gao has a body of work addressing dhs and other agencies efforts to screen travelers and manage and oversee the visa process and the Visa Waiver Program. My remarks today look at our findings and recommendations related to these programs and efforts. With regard to cdp screening efforts, cdp screens travelers coming tonight dates and seeks to identify potentially high risk travelers at the earliest point in the travel cycle. Cdp also operates predeparture programs to help identify and interject high risk travelers before they board us bound flights. These three programs are preclearance, the immigration advisory Security Program and the regional carrier liaison group. Preclearance locations operate at foreign airports and serve at points of entry. The officers at the location inspect travelers and make admissibility determination prior to an individual boarding a plane to the United States. Under the immigration advisory and joint Security Program cdp officers posted at foreign airports, partner with air carriers and host country government officials to help prevent terrorists and other high risk individuals from boarding us bound flights. Regional carrier liaison groups are located and operate at domestic or plates airports and among other things, assist air carriers with questions regarding us admissibility requirements and travel documents. Cdp data indicated that since 2015 these programs identified and interjected 22000 high risk air travelers. However, we found that while cdp has the data and statistics on these programs the agency has not evaluated the effectiveness of these programs as a whole including Performance Measures and baselines to assess whether the programs are achieving their stated goals. We recommended that cdp develop and implement such measures and baselines to better measure the effective of these predeparture programs and vhs concurred. Second, with regard to the Visa Security Program, we reported our efforts to expand the program and address challenges in its operations. Under this program we deployed personnel to certain us embassies and consulates to assist the department of state counselor officers with security reviews of these applications among other things. In our 2011 report on this program, we identified various management and oversight challenges such as limited guidance regarding interactions betweenice officials and officers, lack of comprehensive data. Performance measures to accurately recalibrate the program and a variation from post to post in the training of counselor officers by ice agents we found that ice did not track information on the time they spent on non visa activities. We have ongoing work reviewing the Security Program and visa security efforts more broadly we plan to report on the results of our work later this year. Third, with regard to the Visa Waiver Program, last year we reported on dhs oversight of the program. In particular, we reported that all 38 countries had entered into three agreements required by the program to one report lost soul at passports, too, their identity information about known or suspected terrorists, and three, criminal history information. However, not all countries had shared such information. In august 2016, dhs established a new requirement for Visa Waiver Program countries to implement the letter to agreements. However, dhs did not establish timeframe for instituting these requirements. We recommended that dhs specified timeframe for working with and many countries to adjust Additional Program including the requirement to fully implement these agreements and dhs concurred with our recommendation. In closing, our work on dhs effort to screen travelers and manage the Visa Security Program in the Visa Waiver Program has identified the findings and recommendations to help strengthen the management oversight of these programs and efforts. Dhs has actions planned or underway to address a number of our recommendations and we will continue to monitor dhs efforts. This concludes my oral statement and im pleased to answer any questions members have. Thank you. Going off one of the less points you made. Mr. Doherty would you agree with the assessment that one third of vw peak countries are not in compliance with their obligation what happens when dhs realizes that theyre not fulfilling their obligations mark. Our points at this point in time is that the countries that are in the Visa Waiver Program are in compliance. There are many ways that dhs could engage those Program Countries to get further compliance. We engage them in many ways. Our assessments are ordinarily take place by going to those countries and looking for them to make enhancements that we know they can make. The department is very interested in making sure that all countries are current and that is our position right now. The countries within the program are compliant with both hdp six and other agreements how soon are they conducted . Ordinarily, every two years. We can accelerate we feel they are not up to speed and can engage in dialogue. If they are noncompliant or up to speed, is there a formal process for addressing that or is it more informal, hey, this is a problem . Technically, we are engaged at various levels in different governments from the top down over to Law Enforcement. We can have an informal munication with them. We can also. [inaudible] them if we wish. The process would come through dh as headquarters eventually, if things were getting serious in that we would have to tell them were getting to a point where we need to engage in some type of activity such as limiting the time nationals could come to United States to get compliance from their countries. So i understand, is it gaos position is that theyre not meeting the to your timeline for compliance review . If so, what are the obstacles to adhering to the timeline . In the report we issued last year, we did find that dhs was not consistently submitting to congress those to your reports within a timely fashion. We havent made recommendations to the department to take steps to ensure that those reports are submitted in a timely way. Based on our work following up on those recommendations, dhs is taking steps to address that recommendation but it remains open at this point. Thank you. Your written testimony states that the vast majority of these applicants are interviewed by a counselor officer. Who wouldnt be . Would not be included in the vast majority chris mark how does that process work . In the on ina there are statutory exemptions which include diplomats and officials, children under the age of 14 and individuals over the age of 79 and individuals renewing a visa that has expired less than 12 months previously. But even with those exceptions, if there is any kind of indication in our screening and vetting process that that applicant might present a flag, we can undo conduct interviews. What comes to the screening process was give me a sense of your assessment of the overall workload of your counselor officers who are doing a very important job and also what their training that they get in the questioning process, is it a checklist for smart what is that look like. In terms of workload, we handle about 14 million visa cases of all types each year. We refuse over 2 million an issue about 11 and a half million. The volume varies, of course, by country, by region, and we limit our officers to 120 interviews. Day. The training that they get begins when they do join the department of state. They take the basic counselor officer Training Course in our Training Center out in arlington theyre trained in the immigration law, interviewing techniques and Law Enforcement Partner Agencies speak to these groups and have helped us develop our training material. They are trained in a culture and language of the country, region, which where theyre going and once they have arrived at their embassy or consulate duty station, they continue to inservice training. Most of our posts have a Fraud Prevention unit that is focused exclusively on detecting, deterring, defeating fraud of all types, criminal activity. The personnel in that unit work with the line officers were conducting interviews to ensure that the line officers are aware of any recent scams, antifraud trends, things of that sort. As officers progressed through their careers, they will get enhanced midlevel training, management training, leader ship training. Its a comprehensive process. Thank you. 120 seems like a lot. As a former military interrogator, thats a lot. We recognize Ranking Member for five minutes for questions. Thank you. First of all, i like the consent that the gentleman from massachusetts what happened to the gentleman from massachusetts . Without objection. Secondly, ill yield my time at this moment to represent american who has a time issue. Thank you. I represent the los angeles port which is what we call the american sport, one of the largest ports and i had a chance to visit with cdp down at the port and see what they do, the work they do so excellent at making sure to secure our ports. According to the numbers in march, cdp was almost 1400 officer short of it stabbing target and thousands of officers below what the staffing model is optimal for security and facilitation at our ports of entry. While men and women of cdp office are doing their best under the circumstances, at some Point Security and facilitation sufferer. Attrition is a problem in hiring and flow. Meanwhile, the president has proposed hiring 5000 Additional Border patrol agents with zero new cdp officers for our nation s port of entry. What needs to be done to address cdp staffing needs for points of entry . You are correct. Were about 1400 officer short. We have not fulfilled the original 2000 that congress provided for us about three years ago. Thankfully our attrition is fairly low, were about 3. 4 . Year in the cdp officer ranks. 752800 officers. Year. Youre correct. Hiring has been slow and were barely keeping pace with the attrition. We continue to go through the entire hiring process from the written exam to the polygraph to some of the other requirements. How do we do a better job at recruiting chris mark how do we get the right people to this occupation . And theyll take the jobs we need them. Where having a pretty extensive review of that with our office of Human Resources and looking at ways to shorten the process and get better applicants in. Like we can do with the military , and veterans that are coming out of service, how do we make it a lot easier for them to take these occupations . As far as additional officers, we manually submit a work lord staffing model report which articulates our needs, its based on the workload and data of how long it takes to perform each function that we have at the ports of entry and youre correct. Theyre still a couple thousand in that that we submit that report annually to the hell. In the meantime, we look at balancing those vacancies with the use of overtime and the use of technology to help us do that. So that we are not vulnerable and close low security gaps. Thank you. Where. [inaudible] secretary tilson has in these cables secretary tillerson has directed us consulates and embassies to specifically identify population risks that warrant quote increased scrutiny and to implement proper screening procedures for the particular group of people. Applicants who fall into one of the tougher screenings, identify all population groups would be subject to a higher level of security screening. Have you worked to develop a uniform system to identifying populations who pose a Security Threat . We are actually engaged in that process now with our Partner Agencies. Some of which are represented here and others that are not to do exactly that. The department and state works and tries to take a whole government approach to analyzing and detecting potential threats against our country. We are in the process of doing that. The secretary did direct embassies and consulates to begin that process to focus on areas and groups that might present a higher degree of risk and to ensure that those groups get effective screening. Are we doing something to make sure that its a uniform process was marked that theres a uniform standard . There is definitely a uniform standard. Theres a Standard Base to our vetting process which i outlined in my initial comments. Every visa applicant, or most, are given electronic report your prints, every applicant is checked through our facial recognition system through a series of sophisticated biographic. If i could interrupt, my understanding is that the instruction was for them to identify groups that could be higher risk. My question is more of how do you identify those populations of having a uniform standard. The degree of risk is going to vary with each particular region and country. Thats why were asking our folks in the field to meet with their other agency counterparts to identify potential groups that present a higher risk. Certain regions, certain areas, certainly, do present a higher risk than others. For example, to respond back to the chairmans question regarding 120 interviews. Thats a maximum. We will take all the time we need to drill down and get to the bottom of an individual case in order to ensure ourselves that that applicant does not present a threat. Thats what were trying to do to identify and focus our resources on areas of present a greater risk. Thank you. I yelled back. Thank you. We recognize the gentleman from new york for five minutes for questions. Thank you. Before asked my questions i want to commend you and miss Watson Coleman and others on this task force, having on the last term looking into what youre doing is critical to the security of our country and recognizing the diffusion of isis from strictly in a syria and its metastasizing as you will two areas of the world. Its clear that you want to infiltrate the west. They want to get into the United States and these things that youre looking to are very important to help keep our country sicker. I thank you for that. I think the whole panel for what you do to keep our country safe and secure. I appreciate that very much. Wagner, i was troubled, not by what you said but the statistics that you talked about. About 1400 the are down from the authorization you had. I know you talked about briefly. To expand on what youre fighting for the reasons for the delays and what we can help you do to expedite the process. The numbers are about a thousand from the original 2000 and due to some of our reimbursable agreements that weve entered into, the numbers been bumped up. Its about 1400 officers right now between what level were funded from from appropriations and from the reimbursable agreements that we have. We try to balance that. We try to balance that in places where wecan absorb that understaffing, using overtime and other means to be able to do that. What this also means is sometimes we have to say no to additional requests for service. Were getting a lot of requests for service, a lot of airports, asking us to be able to process more flights and more people. We try to find creative ways to be able to do that. At a process itself, weve made some progress in shortening the length of time it takes to hire people. Weve done work with what we called consolidated hiring hubs weve put some procedures together working with the military to do this. Still, when we look at the different steps in the process, you know, when people that apply for the job about half of them dont even bother to show up for the written exam. Only about 38 pass the written exam and then the other steps of the process, the interview, the medical screen, the physical fitness screening, the polygraph and we work some exemptions to that, i understand. Basically, the process you have set up substantially weeds out a ton of the people . It does. We have to get more sophisticated in the recruiting. Their great jobs and we want to put the right people in them without also reducing our criteria for doing which will hurt us down the road to do that its very strict. The background has to be very strict but the very good federal jobs and we have to find the right people that are willing to take them in the locations where we have those vacancies. Most of the vacancies on the southwest border. I want to switch gears here. We spoke previously about the use of biometrics and the importance of biometrics Going Forward and the enforcement of our laws and keeping our country safe on immigration standpoint as well. Could you talk about some of the advances that have taken place with biometrics and any problems you see in gaining biometric data from various agencies and pursues the Visa Waiver Program. I can talk about that generally. If its okay, i like to make a correction to my record and a statement. I added a zero to the number. I actually meant to say 8599 recommended refusals from our bsp. Hsi doesnt play as large a role , were more of a consumer of that information. We do have a program that is underway that were working with dod that i would have to share anymore classified setting. Which we would love to but id yield to my other esteemed colleagues at the state department and cdp to talk a little bit more about the biometric. With some like to take that . Yes, thank you. The department of state shares all the information we collect through the visa process with our interagency partners and that includes the electronically collected fingerprints which go into the dhs ident database and accessible to all our partners as well as fbi. We send this fingerprint for screening to the fbi criminal fingerprint database. And other agencies as well. Other biometrics to the photograph which we get from all applicants and thats screened against our facial recognition system which includes among other things beyond 60000 terrorist photographs that have been collected by Intelligence Community and if theres a facial recognition match, that would of course, cynical and officer to halt action on the case. We continue to share all of our data and develop our Capabilities Even further. Thank you. Im out of time. Thank the chairman, i asked i encourage all of you in the space to look at the advance he made in the biometric field and make sure you apply them on the front lines to the extent that you need help, will be there for a period thank you all very much i yielded back. The chair recognizes ms. Jackson lee for questions. Think the chair very much. I think the witnesses for their testimony. I will pursue a line of questioning. First of all, let me say the task force is asking an important question and i hope we can work on these matters in a bipartisan manner and expand to look at a number of other issues to protect the security of americans. I do want to indicate that we have on this Committee Great respect for all of the personnel that are in the service of our country of which domestic security National Security. And everyone was scrambling. Many members of congress were trying to help their constituents and the awkwardness of what has been normally good relationships with evidence so i hope that Going Forward, i hope we dont have that order in place but Going Forward that vote dispatched in local offices can recognize that we are on their team seeking information. I had a 16yearold jordanian status young man traveling on his own saying he could not see him and i could not see him and he was shipped off to chicago and went to Houston Texas but anyhow what i wanted to ask was the question of reports that we received on the implementing of the rules and when that ban was in place. That conflict and implementation guidance resulting in different forests such as taking a status jordanian currently. What is the issue to see bpos operating implementation of the travel ban . What is the status of the travel ban with respect to your officers throughout the country . I believe they are subject to litigation and we are following what the court orders so we have put that information out to the frontline personnel to comply with all of the courts instructions. Meaning there is no travel ban, there is no muslim ban. You are not operating under a muslim ban right now . No, we are not. That may further ask and i know we are in an open setting. I had a bill dealing with foreign fighters. What can you tell me about your procedures for individuals who come through a Visa Waiver Program from a country in may have gone to the dash to fight and are now coming through a Visa Waiver Program . What procedures are your officers using with perspective that population . A couple of different ways we would look at it. First is the granting of the approval to even travel. They have to fill out an on line application with us including their place of earth and all their passport information. We run it through a series of Law Enforcement databases and balance that against certain data fields in the Intelligence Community. Preventing them from getting travel documents as well. Correct so that would prevent them from traveling under the Visa Waiver Program if there are any concerns identified there. Once they get approval we do look at the Airline Reservation data. We look at what the trip consists of. We look at all the different parts of the data pieces within that preservation as well as the airline manifest information which is basically the passport details. We run it through a series of what we call rule sets and we take all of that reservation data data and the take intelligence reports and we translate that into rules. All of these passports with this country, traveling from this country or this route and we start with a list and further call it down on the basis of and narrow that down so people we need to question mark talk to about this or we link it against other pieces of information. Again known pieces of information that we can connect a person too. More than likely we would deny that travel under that program or cause them to go through additional scrutiny or inspections or oversight when they arrived. Thank you so much ms. Gambler in your sitting on a panel of the implementations of rules for security. What is the gaos perception of the layered approach in the Visa Waiver Program and do you think its structured enough or is there more we need to do . Based on our work looking at not just the Visa Waiver Program but through the other programs that we talked about today i think we have seen progress in implementation in terms of dhs oversight of the program. One of the key areas that we have talked about as it relates to some of the visa departure programs that i mentioned in my oral statement in the four dhs and cbps to develop a science to help them assess the visa program so thats a key recommendation that we made to dhs related to sum up their training and predeparture efforts that we think is important for them to implement Going Forward. The chairman and the Ranking Member thank you for your indulgence into all of the witnesses thank you for your service to the nation. I yield back. The. The chair recognizes the sheriff, now congressman weatherford for five minutes. Thank you mr. Chairman. I would like to start off first of all by thanking all of you for your great service. As ive had an opportunity to travel around the country and observe some of your agents and employees and actions its been refreshing so i thank you for that. You have a lot of dedicated members out there. I want to touch base with something that mr. Settles said. You corrected the number, the 8500 interventions. Gao reports that we identified 22,000 highrisk travelers in 2015 and so these 85, werent they in that 22,000 . Yes, these are the numbers for the 30 issue issuing a visa issuing post that we have strategically placed. That includes the bsu contract . That is the Visa Security Program. We call them the unit program so that is for those 30 posts. Okay and so does that mean about half of these are little more than half are being determined to be highrisk and being allowed to come in . Is that a correct assessment or not . No, because the number starts at 2. 2 million for those 30 posts and we will it down and we add derogatory information on about 74,000 utilizing automated vetting as i talked about yesterday in a classified statement, information is as good as what is in their and like a mentioned director comey said when the cows come home but if the information is in the system we amplify that information with analysts here in the u. S. And we have a derogatory hit we send it to our agents that are solely their to do that to cobb foreign Liaison Partnership and also to increase the information so we have more in the system for the future. That 8500 is part of that process and then from there we go down to where we have watchlisted 1600 and 69. Okay and i know that mr. Wagner the cbp is in fact following up on the gaos recommendation about the baseline. Can you talk a little bit about where you are at our most measures . Im curious, of the 8500 particularly or any of them, do we know of any that are actually subject to the Visa Security Program and then allowed in and committed a terrorist act here or not allowed in and committed a terrorist act in france or germany or anywhere else . I dont have the information i dont know when incident but what i can tell you is of the ones that we watchlisted obviously they didnt come into the country. Whether or not, its kind of complicated with the reporting as far as our port partners to share that with us but we share what we can obviously back out of this whole process to our foreign partners and that it provided a classified setting a pretty good example i think of what happens every time we go through that process. And thank you for that as well. The Visa Security Program is incredibly successful in providing increased information and recommendations to the consular offices regarding these applications. Can you talk a little bit mr. Settles about how the embassies and consulates when they dont have the bsu, how do you assist with the security and the vetting of these applications . In the 66 countries, im sorry the 66th post and 49 countries our agents are there to do a lot more than just the Visa Security Program. They are there to help with transnational criminal networks, the kind of broader perspective of what security investigations does. It was more of a request by the state department and the Consular Affairs department. They see something during their routine process they come over to us and ask for help and thats kind of the difference. We have provide training and any recent trends are and how we have but its more of a casebycase dating. Again they think all of my time is running out but i sincerely appreciate all of your service to our country. Mr. Chairman i yield back. Thank you. I want to thank each and everyone of you for what you represent here today and it just seems to me that collectively we are doing a heck of a job interacting with one another or a quick question mr. Wagner was asked if he needs more help. Do you need, do you have greater requests that you are able to address with the things that you are doing in Foreign Countries . Yes, maam. We have an aggressive we are doing as much as they can aggressively with the resources we have. At some point be glad to have information specifically about what additional things or whatever staff you need to do what you are doing. I believe everyone of you are doing important things. Last month the secretary kelly stated that we need to start looking very hard at the Visa Waiver Program and do you know what he meant by that and has dhs began a review of the vwp and what security enhancements are being considered . Thank you. Secretary kelly when he was making remarks about the vwp was basically iterating i think the term that we all have that warfighters may be coming out of the avant and they have secretary kellys intention and the intention of everyone representative by dhs here is to look at additional things that the department can do to make visafree travel to the United States more secure than it is now. Can you discuss what kind of additional things you are doing, what kind of enhancements are under consideration . I would like to have that conversation with the view offline if we could and i know the committee is very versed on opportunities that the department can take. We have some of our own but i think we are at a point maam where we are looking at several things. I would prefer to discuss that in a private setting. One last question to mr. Mr. Wagner. In the wake that the attempted attack on northwest flight to 53 in 2009 visa process is a completely revamped and strengthen obviously. It includes screening against biometrics capture in interviews. Tell me how can this individualized threat assessment be strengthened and what do you need from us to support your efforts . The underwear bomber, the christmas they bomber was the genesis behind their predeparture program and we looked at a very close call in that situation. We looked at the opportunities we missed. We have officers overseas at the airport when that guy came through we werent necessarily having them focus on that particular threat so we adjusted that. We put the predeparture process and the no board recommendation process with a strong focus on the size of the immigration issues, the National Security focus and to err on the side caution. If there any concerns about an individual we asked the airline not to fly them and refer them back to the u. S. Embassy where across government we have more time to assess this person and look at them. That was really the genesis of that program. As far as i think we look for support and what we request and our appropriations request as far as the capabilities at our National Targeting Center and the systems we build to continue to conduct the analysis and the vetting of this information across government against as many sources as we possibly can to make sure we are not missing any gaps. We dont want to wait for another incident to sit down and figure out what gaps we missed or what information wasnt available at the right time to prevent that person from moving into the next step of the process. We have been focused on it since then and we have built a strong capability in the National Security focus since then. I think we have put it in the appropriations request and there is money for a National Target center to support and congress has been very generous and very supportive building out an entirely new facility in northern virginia. We had two National Targeting Centers. We consolidated them into one location. I invite any of you to come out and see the work that goes on and in the partnerships across government that we have established. The chair recognizes mr. Fitzpatrick for five minutes. Thank you mr. Chairman and i want to echo to my colleagues think you for your service that i come from the fbi so i consider you all family. You have a very tough job keeping us all safe. I do want to use talk about for one second the hypothetical of terminating the Visa Waiver Program. Obviously the world in 2017 is much different than i was back in 1986 with that law implemented and obviously the countries are very different throughout. There are obviously a lot of those 30 countries as chairman mccaul said in his Opening Statement several of the 9 11 hijackers came in through europe with no vetting whatsoever. Hypothetically if that program were to terminate would dhs have the bandwidth and the capacity to deal with that new world if we were ever at that point were we did go there . I would really differ. In terminating the program and assuming all those travelers would have to apply for these the through the department of state so its in our bandwidth and the capacity to handle 18 million esa applications per year but globally right now we are doing 14 million. It would take quite a bit of time and resources to ramp up to be able to handle that caseload if the entire program was suddenly eliminated. What do you see that looking like . Could the embassies handle it are we at the point now where wouldnt be possible without volume of the current physical plan in the staffing that we have. Not in any reasonable length of time. Resources that were used to handle these applications when the program started in the mid1980s have since been reallocated both officer positions to other countries were the visa demand was greater. We can just keep the officers in europe with nothing to do. The volume is about 19. 5 million travelers last year. The volume is substantial. I think if you look at comparison of the visa versus Visa Waiver Programs if of all the programs collect similar Biographical Data the vetting inquiries that are run and the analysis is fairly similar in the two programs. The take distinction is the point in time when that traveler meets with a u. S. Government official and for a traveler with a visa to meet with the consular officer to give their fingerprints and have their photo taken and be interviewed at the u. S. Embassy while still overseas. The Visa Waiver Program we allow that traveler in a prescreening in their first interaction with the u. S. Government official and the cbp officer at the port of entry where theyve been interviewed, collect the same fingerprints and also have their photo taken. What do you allow that person to get on a plane to travel here to collect the same kind of information to go through a similar type of interview, the background checks and the Biographical Data for the platform for the two are fairly similar. Its also looking at it from asylum claims and some of the admissibility issues. Do you allow the risk of the person getting on the plane the same level of information once they get here or do you do it overseas . I would also add the information sharing that is so important to populating a watch list in these countries might be endangered also if the program were to be suddenly terminated. A number of our partner countries use the membership Visa Waiver Program to enhance information sharing with the United States that benefits both sides. Thats a factor to consider as well. Is it fair to say the Visa Waiver Program presupposes we have confidence in the security protocols in these other countries and is that warranted today . Sir if i can answer that i think that its the strongest its ever been. The assessment set up by the department of Homeland Security are very granular so we look at for example how do you train your people . Do you have a legal system that we would recognize as putting criminals away or terrorists away . Do you have security processes that we recognize as essential to making sure you dont have a lawless population or group of terrorists in your midst who then can become part of the Visa Waiver Program . I havent physically sat down and counted everything that we have considered in the assessment. Theres a significant number of security features that are involved in those assessments and they are very difficult. Thank you. The chair recognizes mr. Higgins for five minutes. We should be good with five minutes and some were to be dan. Thank you mr. Chairman. I move that Deputy Commissioner wagner, thank you for your service. I recognize and respect your badge. In 25 years have you, have you managed to be able to recognize a good cop would you see one and when you interview one . Absolutely. Thank you. The applicants that try to come to work for your agency are not many of them experienced in recognize and decorated officers and deputies from other agencies . Yes, some of them are. Was the failure rate or the polygraph tests for those deputies and Police Officers . I dont know that we have the data by their previous occupation. Europe best guesstimate on that . No visibility. Im getting at the 1400 agents that you need and there seems to be a builtin resistance in the system by my own experience recognized as a Police Officer for 14 years. Sometimes officers choose to advance their career and go to another department and they cant pass a polygraph. Its a rather bizarre circumstance. Are you running into that . Theres no psychological exam for a cbp officer. The polygraph has a very high failure rate. Would you say the failure rate is . Upwards of 60 to 70 . Thank you. I would like the committee to recognize that this is a common circumstance across the country when experienced and highly decorated and capable Police Officers apply for jobs in federal agencies and cant get hired. When the ranking officer is that an interview and sometimes no but they are turning away a good cop for the job. Mr. Ramotowski we have come it seems to me there is a tendency in our nation to give a certain pedigree to a visa. That the set comes with a certain expectation that individual has been properly vetted and cleared and whatnot. I would like to address that for a moment. The beginning process of applying for a visa, the person applying for the visa has to present what is referred to as proper certificates to proper government authorities like for certificates and marriage licenses. Is that correct . Depending on the type of visa, yes thats correct. And those documents are frequently coming from, we are familiar with certain levels of security measures on our own identifications here in america, bar codes, magnetic scans etc. But it burst into the kit and a marriage license coming from a rural area in some of these nations that the citizens are seeking access to our country, given the very advanced state of the ability to forge documents it would seem to me that would need a very weak link in the chain and thats where the chain begins. These documents are presented in some rural community. I have arrested men with many excellent i. D. S, drivers licenses, american drivers licenses that pass muster that innate cop would look at it and say thats her real drivers license. The whole thing is fake. The only thing real audit is the picture and that can happen with an american drivers license what are they doing with marriage licenses and burst into the gifts in this vetting procedure . You are quite right sir and thats why we never depend exclusively on the documents were granting immigration benefits because in many countries they could be and are fraudulent. We have fraud or mention officer said all of our large and mediumsized embassies and an officer is designated as the Fraud Prevention officer and they are focused on reviewing and investigating any suspicious documents. Our officers have a network of contacts throughout the country in the civil registrars government passport offices, courthouses and so forth to verify documents when necessary. Also the value of the interview is ascertaining whether it matches the document that he or she is presenting and does the story makes sense . If a marriage is claimed that the two parties dont know anything about each other than there may be a problem they are. If i can ask you sir in the interest of time mr. Chairman i have further questions i will submit in writing and i yield back. We now have to go vote as one does in congress from time to time. I want to thank the witnesses for their time and for their testimony both yesterday and today. A great way to start the work of the task force with serious thought conversation. I think the members of the task force on both sides of the aisle for being here. Im very excited about where this is headed. We have an incredible range of experiences, local Law Enforcement, federal Law Enforcement military diverse backgrounds and my hope is we are able to harness the outside expertise that you bring and come up with recommendations that are serious and will ultimately make the homeland more secure and waking up everyday in pursuit of that noble object to. I cant tank of an objective more noble than that you want to thank each and everyone of you so with that pursuant to can Committee Rule 17 the hearing record will be called open for 10 days. The Homeland Security Task Force Committee stands adjourned. [inaudible conversations]