Eliminate long lines at Passport Agencies: At the Passport Agencies in Los Angeles, Miami, Chicago, Houston, San Francisco, and Stamford, appointment systems will allow customers to schedule a convenient time to apply for a passport; at other Passport Agencies, sophisticated numbering systems will inform customers when their number will be served, allowing them to choose whether to wait or return at the appropriate time.

We have completed installation of appointment systems and customer-numbering systems at the passport agencies where such installations were planned and at others where we felt they could enhance customer service. The automated appointment system installed at the New York Passport Agency in 1996 continues to be a significant customer service success. The long lines of customers circling the building waiting to be served at the Agency are history. In 1998-2000, we installed similar systems at our Passport Agencies in Boston, Chicago, Houston, Los Angeles, Miami, Philadelphia, San Francisco, Seattle, Stamford, and Washington, D.C. At these and the other passport agencies that accept applications from the public, we eliminated the requirement to stand in line while waiting for service by introducing customer-numbering systems. Customers receive a number upon entry and may sit until they are called, rather than standing in line. Their numbered ticket and overhead electronic messages show the estimated waiting time.

Eliminate long lines at Passport Agencies: New citizens will be able to apply for a passport in conjunction with the naturalization process.

In partnership with the Bureau of Citizenship and Immigration Services in the Department of Homeland Security (BCIS) and community-based organizations, Passport Services has created a one-stop-shopping opportunity for new U.S. citizens who participate in large naturalization ceremonies. At their last BCIS interview before naturalization, prospective citizens are given a passport application, enclosed in an instructional envelope. The envelope explains how they may apply for a passport at the naturalization site immediately following the naturalization ceremony. The Los Angeles Agency and its corresponding BCIS District Office piloted the program, which now is in effect in Los Angeles, San Francisco, Miami, and Washington, DC. In these cities, the newly naturalized are able to avoid the time and expense of a special trip to apply for a passport. This is a good example of how two federal agencies and the local community work together to streamline bureaucracies and improve service to our customers. This goal is complete in all of the cities where both the Department of State and the Bureau of Citizenship and Immigration Services in the Department of Homeland Security believed it would be beneficial.

This goal is complete; however, we strive for continual improvement in our web site and anticipate further enhancements. The Bureau of Consular Affairs web site (travel.state.gov) went on-line in 1996. Since then, the amount and variety of information on our site have grown enormously, along with its popularity. In 1998, there were 32 million hits. That number mushroomed to nearly 72 million in 1999, and 2000 will be another record year if the current pace of 7 million hits per month continues. Our strategy to provide up-to-date, useful information that loads fast for all users earned our web site a place on Government Executive magazine's list of the 16 "Best Feds on the Web", as well as other kudos.

We offer downloadable passport applications, nonimmigrant visa forms in English and seven other languages, and a sample entry form for the Diversity Visa Lottery in the months leading up to lottery. We have procedures to ensure that time-sensitive announcements or warnings on safety abroad are posted on the web site immediately upon approval. Since the civil unrest in Indonesia in May 1998, we have used the web site as tool in crisis management by creating special sections gathering all related information on a high-profile crisis or issue in one place. In July 1999, we institutionalized this crisis feature by creating a page on crisis awareness and preparedness that contains a section that will provide updated information on any crisis for which a State Department working group or task force is convened. In May 1999, we launched a special web site section for students as part of a cooperative effort with a consortium of colleges that are establishing a "one-stop shop" aimed at improving the awareness and safety of Americans studying abroad. We provide tips for students and links to other resources for persons interested in foreign study. In 2000, we added a visa reciprocity table and an interactive non-immigrant visa form.

More and more U.S. consular operations abroad use the Internet to communicate with customers. U.S. Foreign Service posts have found that using the Internet makes consular information available in forms convenient to the public yet within budget and operating constraints. Using the post web site is an effective means of conveying information vital to travelers and American citizens residing abroad. One of the best practices that we urge posts to adopt is on-line registration for Americans abroad. Registration creates a record of an American's presence in a foreign country that consular officers use to contact the person in the event of an emergency.

Legislation to make the Visa Waiver Program permanent has passed the House of Representatives and is awaiting Senate action. In August 1999, Portugal, Singapore, and Uruguay joined the program, bringing to 29 the number of countries participating.

Expand systems-integration and data-sharing partnerships with other agencies in areas of mutual concern and activity, particularly: improve coordination and customer service by providing electronic information on immigrant and non-immigrant visa issuances to BCIS inspectors at ports of entry.

The DataShare Program has been a success and we look forward to expanding its scope in coming years. Through it, data on immigrant visa applications is passed electronically between the Department of State and the Bureau of Citizenship and Immigration Services in the Department of Homeland Security. This has streamlined service for immigrants and increased efficiency. The National Visa Center receives BCIS petition data electronically and, in turn, electronically transfers cases to U.S. Embassies and Consulates. 15 consular posts, covering 60% of worldwide immigrant visa issuances, share data directly with 16 BCIS ports of entry. By the end of this year, all immigrant visa issuance data will be centralized in the Department and available for transmission to BCIS. We also have offered to share with BCIS information on non-immigrant visas (NIVs), including photographs. This information is stored in a central database in Washington for onward transmission to U.S. ports of entry once BCIS has linked into the system. Using this data, BCIS inspectors can better clear legitimate travelers and detect counterfeit visas.

Expand systems-integration and data-sharing partnerships with other agencies in areas of mutual concern and activity, particularly: work with BCIS to develop a Border Crossing Card with biometric identifiers and to issue an estimated 2-8 million new cards.

In cooperation with the Bureau of Citizenship and Immigration Services in the Department of Homeland Security, we met the first deadline of Section 104 of the Illegal Immigration and Immigrant Responsibility Act of 1996 requiring that border crossing cards (BCCs) issued after March 30, 1998, be machine readable and contain a biometric identifier (fingerprint) of the alien bearer of the card. The BCC program builds on the strengths of each agency. Our posts in Mexico assumed responsibility for all BCC adjudications, and the BCIS, which receives data electronically from our offices in Mexico, is responsible for producing the new travel document. BCIS will have issued more than 2 million of the new cards by the end of FY 2000. Congress extended the deadline for replacing all old-format BCCs to October 1, 2001.

To handle the demands of the BCC project, the Department undertook a massive infrastructure project in Mexico leading to a resumption of visa operations at Nuevo Laredo, the opening of a full-service consulate in Nogales, and temporary facilities to process the replacement workload in several border cities. The enhanced border security provided by the new card is the primary aim of the program. Nonetheless, we felt we had to minimize inconvenience to applicants, which could translate to reduced revenues for U.S. border towns that depend upon Mexican travelers for up to 60 percent of their local economic activity. To facilitate cross-border travel and commerce, roving consular officers provided visa services at Nogales, Agua Prieta, Reynoso, Ciudad Acuna and Piedras Negras. We developed portable data collection stations to record electronic fingerprints and photographs of applicants in areas far from our consulates. In an effort to increase the BCC issuance capacity, we will test producing the new-format BCCs at our posts in Mexico.

Expand systems-integration and data-sharing partnerships with other agencies in areas of mutual concern and activity, particularly: work with other agencies (FBI, DEA, etc.) to ensure that any adverse information on an alien is available to consular officers at the time of an alien's application for a visa.

The Bureau of Consular Affairs is a long-time proponent of data exchanges through the Border Agency Partnership, in which we participate with the Bureau of Citizenship and Immigration Services in the Department of Homeland Security, U.S. Customs Service, and the Department of Agriculture's Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service. In the early 1980s, we began exchanging lookout data that helps identify terrorists, drug traffickers, common criminals, and other mala fide applicants for admission to the United States. We have been successful in our efforts to expand data sharing beyond the Border Agency Partnership.

We pass lookouts entered into our Consular Lookout and Support System (CLASS) electronically to the Treasury Enforcement Communications System (TECS), the clearinghouse data collection system used by many law enforcement agencies. Lookout records from the Bureau of Citizenship and Immigration Services in the Department of Homeland Security are also passed electronically from TECS to CLASS.

CLASS includes the names of over 6 million aliens who may be excludable from the U.S. With data from the Department of Health and Human Services, the names of 1.8 million U.S. citizens who are more than $5000 in arrears on child support payments were entered in the passport section of CLASS pursuant to 1996 welfare reform legislation requiring the State Department to deny passports to such persons. We receive data for the CLASS-E database from the Border Agency Partnership on a daily basis, the Department of Health and Human Services on a weekly basis, and the Drug Enforcement Agency on a monthly basis.

We have requested access to information on criminal aliens available through NCIC-III (National Crime Information System - Interstate Identification Index). The FBI has agreed to share abstracts of NCIC-III data with the Department once Congress has passed enabling legislation. We have drafted legislation that would give the Department such access.

This goal has been met, but we plan periodic enhancements to the software used for services to American citizens. In preparation for the rollover to the year 2000, we installed the ACS (American Citizens Services) system in the Office of Overseas Citizens Services and all operating consular sections overseas, and we are replicating data to and from Washington. This shared system supports faster exchanges of information, quicker decision-making, and more effective management of programs. The new systems architecture has allowed us to develop a consular data warehouse containing case history records as well as management information systems.

Through one feature of ACS, U.S. Embassies and Consulates have access to passport issuance records previously available only to consular employees in the United States. This capability allows posts to verify previous passport issuances and process replacement passports more quickly for American victims of theft abroad. In the past year, we have revolutionized passport records management by providing clear, digital images of applications to the user's desktop in response to file requests. This benefits our customers because it can expedite issuance of a new passport in cases where a passport has been reported lost or stolen.

Over the past couple of years, the Consular Affairs internal web site has developed as a resource for the Bureau and consular officers and staff around the world. The Intranet site includes all of our "best practices" guidance, self-instructional training guides, on-line registration for courses, our daily compilation of newspaper and magazine articles on consular matters, and the monthly Fraud Digest, analyzing fraud trends and providing fraud prevention tips. There are links to the computer support help desk and discussion groups devoted to ACS issues, best practices, applications, and systems development. A section devoted to users of the ACS database includes answers to frequently asked questions, trouble-shooting for problems, and opportunities to suggest changes to the system. A recent addition provides consular personnel in the field with a new tool for crisis management called the Emergency Evacuation Database System that can be downloaded onto a laptop, stand-alone, or networked computer to track evacuations and protection of Americans during a crisis abroad. We designed the system to be both simple and user-friendly. Our Intranet site links to the Federal Voting Assistance Program web site to provide easy access to the information for our posts overseas and thereby improve dissemination of the information to U.S. citizens abroad who want to participate in U.S. elections.

On November 16, 1998, the State Department introduced a new U.S. passport featuring a digitized photograph and data page. This represents the most important improvement in passport technology in 17 years. This innovation vastly enhances the security of the passport. Having a computer-generated image of the bearer and biographic data embedded in the passport makes it much less vulnerable to photo-substitution. (Photo-substitution is an illegal technique used to replace the picture of the legitimate bearer with that of an impostor.) Identity fraud is considered one of the fastest-growing types of crimes perpetrated on innocent victims each year.

The new U.S. passport also contains a number of anti-counterfeiting features in the data page, including security film with a multi-colored multiple diffraction-grating image, similar to a hologram, to protect both the digital photo and the personal data. Microline printing (in the form of wavy lines) behind the photograph serves as another deterrent to counterfeiting.

So far, we have issued more than 4 million passports using the new system. Since the introduction of the new passport, there has not been a single credible report of successful fraud against the document, compared to some 2500 such reports annually against its predecessor document. The new technology also gives us the basis for transmitting passport applications electronically. We are issuing photodigitized passports at the National Passport Center, the newly opened Charleston Passport Center, and at the Passport Agencies in Houston, New Orleans, Philadelphia, and Seattle. These sites account for nearly 70% of our domestic passport production. We plan three more installations in 2000 and five in 2001.

We worked with the Bureau of Citizenship and Immigration Services in the Department of Homeland Security to develop a new version of the machine readable visa (MRV 2000) that incorporates multiple levels of security features to help U.S. officials more easily identify counterfeits and forgeries of this valuable document. MRV 2000 is now in use throughout the world.

Our joint project with the Bureau of Citizenship and Immigration Services in the Department of Homeland Security to issue a more secure Border Crossing Card has given us the opportunity to conduct important research on a potential biometric visa for the future. We are testing facial recognition software for the 2001 Diversity Visa program for which we accepted applications in 1999. We are working with BCIS to expand the pilot of the Coordinated Interagency Partnership Regulating International Students (CIPRIS) system to our posts overseas. This involves electronic datasharing between BCIS, State, and U.S. academic institutions to track the entry and exit of students and exchange visitors. To implement CIPRIS, we are considering a multifunctional stand-alone card that will serve as a travel document, student card, and Arrival/Departure Record (I-94), and for other purposes agreed to by BCIS. We are working with Olympic organizers and BCIS on a machine readable identification card for the 2002 Salt Lake City Winter Olympics that will serve as a visa and I-94 for entry and exit purposes.