*EPF504 11/09/2001
Transcript: State's Boucher on Slowdown of Visa Processing
(Boucher cites U.S. security concerns) (1920)

Speaking with press representatives based at the State Department November 9, Spokesman Richard Boucher said that the process of issuing visas to "certain individuals" will be slowed over the next couple of months as new databases are put into place in order to enhance U.S. security.

"All applicants get checked against the databases that we have of information on people, and I think we have told you that, pursuant to the President's announcement of the new task force on terrorism, pursuant to the new legislation about sharing of databases, that we are going to be sharing more information, getting more information," Boucher said.

"For the several months it's going to take us to link these name-check databases together, or otherwise figure out the linkages of the database information, certain individuals in some countries, we're going to have to ask them to wait a little longer while we send information back and get it checked, and then get it back to the embassies," Boucher explained.

The spokesman did not provide a list of countries that will be affected by the slowdown. "We do look at people who have a certain background, certain age, certain origins," he said.

"The issue is the safety and security of the United States, and the reason that we are down here talking about this is because we are up front...as a nation, we have a right and a duty, in fact, to make sure that our borders are secure, and that people to whom we issue visas are qualified applicants," Boucher said.

Boucher underscored the new procedures are a slowdown; visas will be issued to qualified applicants from all parts of the world. "We certainly want to promote the process of travel and exchanges and people coming to spend money and go to school and visit their relatives. But we have to do that in a safe manner, and we have to do it in a manner that lets us check and make sure that we're not letting people in who might cause us harm," the spokesman said.

Following is the transcript of Boucher's remarks on visa processing:

(begin transcript)

MR. BOUCHER: The third thing to talk about, there are some stories in the newspapers today about visa processing. There is one story about visa processing, about slowing down visa processing because of security checks, and that is something that we're doing during an interim period. We have talked to you before about security opinions, how we check. Some applicants we check extensively, based on information from embassies. All applicants get checked against the databases that we have of information on people, and I think we have told you that, pursuant to the President's announcement of the new task force on terrorism, pursuant to the new legislation about sharing of databases, that we are going to be sharing more information, getting more information.

In fact, in the last month or two, we have actually gotten about three times as many names into our database from the law enforcement and intelligence agencies, as we have before. So that is always helpful to make sure we have a regular flow of information.

QUESTION: These are names of suspects -- people that you're going to --

MR. BOUCHER: People who may be ineligible for a visa because of security or law enforcement or other reasons.

QUESTION: And that number has tripled in the last month?

MR. BOUCHER: Yes. We're getting now three times as many a month as we had in the past.

QUESTION: Wait a minute. So three times -- you're getting three times as many, or it tripled?

MR. BOUCHER: We are getting three times as many every month. We got three times as many in October than we did in months earlier this year. And a lot of that has to do with the extensive intelligence and law enforcement effort that is under way to identify individuals.

Furthermore, there will be a period of visa processing when the various databases won't be linked up, we won't have all the information together. And that is going to mean that for some people in some countries it's going to slow down the processing. For the several months it's going to take us to link these name-check databases together, or otherwise figure out the linkages of the database information, certain individuals in some countries, we're going to have to ask them to wait a little longer while we send information back and get it checked, and then get it back to the embassies.

QUESTION: So it's not automatically 20 days? Or it's just however long it takes?

MR. BOUCHER: It won't be for every individual. It will be for certain individuals from certain countries, and it will take about 20 days to do that.

So visa processing, for a period of several months, will be slower for some individuals in some countries.

QUESTION: Have you picked the countries?

MR. BOUCHER: No, I can't give you a list of countries.

QUESTION: It's not a question of categories of people being slowed down; it's a question of individuals being slowed down? Are we talking about men of fighting age, for example, or are we talking about people whose names have cropped up in investigations formally?

MR. BOUCHER: Well, certainly anybody whose name has cropped up in an investigation who is already on a database would be looked into extensively before any question of visa issuance would arrive.

We will look at people of a certain age, of a certain background, and do careful checks against different databases with them. So I'm not going to go into complete detail on this. I'm sorry. We do our security checks on visas without doing that.

But --

QUESTION: Do these people ever consult --

MR. BOUCHER: Let me -- I'll finish the sentence.

QUESTION: Sure.

MR. BOUCHER: But yes, we do look at people who have a certain background, certain age, certain origins --

QUESTION: A certain gender?

MR. BOUCHER: -- and decide that they might need a more extensive check, and that will take somewhat longer for those people.

QUESTION: People like that, do they (inaudible)? Or do they ever consult lawyers? And if they consult lawyers, does -- wait a minute --

MR. BOUCHER: All the time.

QUESTION: -- are they consulting -- all the time, right. And law enforcement agencies now claim the right to listen in on these conversations. And I wondered if this taints the State Department's investigation on all sorts of constitutional --

MR. BOUCHER: I didn't read those articles thoroughly, but no.

QUESTION: Richard, I thought that -- I don't understand the --

MR. BOUCHER: These are visa applicants overseas, as far as I know.

QUESTION: People are going to make the argument -- and I'm not certainly making it now, although I might later -- that this is racial profiling. That what you're doing has been highly controversial when it's been done domestically, and people like the Attorney General, who is now partly in league with you guys on this --

MR. BOUCHER: We work very closely with the Immigration Service and Justice, yes.

QUESTION: -- have come out against racial profiling. What do you say to that argument?

MR. BOUCHER: I would say that, as a nation, we have a right and a duty, in fact, to make sure that our borders are secure, and that people to whom we issue visas are qualified applicants. We certainly want to promote the process of travel and exchanges and people coming to spend money and go to school and visit their relatives. But we have to do that in a safe manner, and we have to do it in a manner that lets us check and make sure that we're not letting people in who might cause us harm. And that requires, to some extent, some more extensive checks on various individuals, various categories of individuals, and we'll be doing those checks.

We've done that in the past for various categories; we'll do it in the future. This more extensive set of checks that could require this delay for a lot of people is going to be a temporary period, until we can get the database information knitted up, so that we can go back and know that when we do our regular database check, it will cover all the possible information.

QUESTION: And doesn't this clash with what you just got through doing over at the Foreign Press Center today? Trying to tell -- you're launching this big campaign to tell people, in the Muslim world particularly, that this is not a war on Islam; and the same day, that your pricey, new -- I don't know about pricey -- your new Madison Avenue ad woman launches this thing. You're basically telling these people to go to hell.

MR. BOUCHER: No, we're not. We are telling them come to the United States, but you might have to wait a little longer before we give you the visa. The issue is the safety and security of the United States, and the reason that we are down here talking about this is because we are up front, and we are trying to explain, as much as we can within our security procedures, to some applicants that they may have to wait a little longer, for an interim period of time. And then once we get the system back working the way it should, once we know that our standard database checks will cover all the possibilities, we will be able to get back in several months to the kind of speedy, efficient, courteous, careful and pleasant visa processing services that we offer now.

QUESTION: So you're acknowledging this is unpleasant?

MR. BOUCHER: No.

QUESTION: You won't, really? Even on background? I mean, isn't this kind of a -- isn't this kind of a -- it's nothing you -- something you want to do.

MR. BOUCHER: Nobody likes to wait. On the other hand, nobody likes to let in people who might not be qualified for US visas. And we have an obligation to our nation to make this a safe process for Americans, to make sure that we welcome people who want to come here, but don't welcome people who might mean to cause us harm.

QUESTION: Well, it's not the way -- I think it's being singled out because of your ethnic or racial orientation, like a black guy trying to get a cab in Washington, DC needs a white woman to get the cab for him. I mean, you know, you're focusing on especially people of --

MR. BOUCHER: I don't see any analogies that --

QUESTION: Well, you're focusing your suspicions on people because of their race, or because of their ethnic or national background. Or gender -- no, I don't think gender.

QUESTION: Gender, yes.

QUESTION: Well, gender, too.

MR. BOUCHER: Look, we have a lot of different security procedures for people of various backgrounds and origins. I'm not in a position, because of the way the systems work and the kind of information we have in the databases, to be able to go into too much detail. But we do security advisory opinions on certain kind of people already, people with certain affiliations or backgrounds, and this is another group of people that we're going to have to do a certain amount of checking on to make sure that we do check every piece of information we have. That's an obligation to the American people that we have to make our visa processing system as safe as we can.

(end transcript)

(Distributed by the Office of International Information Programs, U.S. Department of State. Web site: http://usinfo.state.gov)

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