The Foreign Service Journal, June 2010

and Border Protection inspectors at U.S. ports of entry can see the in- formation submitted at the consular window by visa applicants. A new Web-based visa applica- tion system will soon eliminate the old paper application form, and en- able the adjudicating consular offi- cer to review the data before the applicant physically appears for the interview. Consular officers abroad now also have electronic access to the department’s digitized passport records, virtually eliminating many previously successful fraudulent schemes for obtaining U.S. travel documents. American citizen registration lists and welfare-and- whereabouts records, now also digitized, make it possible for CA and its overseas posts to better coordinate assis- tance to Americans abroad, particularly in emergencies. In addition, automated programs that track fee collec- tions, and controlled items like pass- ports and visa blanks, have brought about better accountability and a de- gree of labor-saving that the harried accountable consular officer of the 1970s could hardly have imagined. Not all the innovations of the last quarter-century have brought about greater efficiencies, to be sure. For example, the current requirement that almost all visa applicants ap- pear in person and submit to finger- scanning has created real workload and space problems for many posts. Nor have the basic qualities of a good consular officer — integrity and sound judgment — changed in generations. But the tools that support the decision-making process now assure a far higher level of security for America’s borders and citizens than even the most imaginative consular officer could have foreseen in 1980. ■ 20 F O R E I G N S E R V I C E J O U R N A L / J U N E 2 0 1 0 F O C U S Automation advances and interagency information- sharing agreements now ensure that much more information is available to consular officers.