The Foreign Service Journal, September 2004

Some officers have to interview upwards of 200 people a day, with as little as two minutes to size up a prospective visitor. The Sept. 11, 2001, attacks ushered in perhaps the darkest period in the history of Consular Affairs, after it was revealed that the 19 hijackers had entered the country on State Department- issued visas. In 2002, Congress almost stripped the State Department of its non-immi- grant visa processing role, despite Secretary of State Colin Powell’s staunch opposition. While unsuccessful, the attempt was a crushing blow to State and to con- sular officers’ morale. In the end, the State Department held onto the visa processing function, for non-immigrants as well as immigrants. (Immigrant visa processing was not an issue in Congress: these visas are processed in coordi- nation with Homeland Security’s Bureau of Citizenship and Immigration Services, the new incar- nation of the now-defunct Immigration and Naturalization Service, which has always held final responsibility in this area.) Congress did shift author- ity over non-immigrant visa policy, including applica- tion requirements, to the new Department of Homeland Security and gave DHS a final veto over individual visas. Last September, State and DHS signed a memorandum of understanding that divides up responsibility for overseeing and carrying out visa processing, and the two agencies are working hard to streamline procedures and coordination. It is clear that the events of 9/11 and State’s new partnership with DHS have forever altered consular work. “Visa issuance has changed completely,” says Louise Crane, State Department vice president of the American Foreign Service Association. For the con- sular officer, it’s meant more training on the front end, more rigorous interviewing on the job, and enhanced capabilities to identify terrorists through biometrics and ever-larger databases. For State, it’s also meant far greater cooperation with, and in some cases reliance on, other government agencies. Most of all, it’s meant a rebal- ancing of priorities within the Bureau of Consular Affairs. Always under pressure from the business and travel industry, col- leges and universities, and foreign governments to move people through faster, CA has now made security paramount. And, thank- fully, after years in which consular work was underfunded and ignored, it now has the attention of Congress. “It’s a challenging time, but also a great time of opportunity. Everyone feels the work they are doing is more important than ever,” says Janice Jacobs, deputy assistant secretary of State for visa services. “Everyone has a healthy attitude.” An Uneasy Partnership An order for two distinct bureaucracies to work together efficiently on a complicated and sensitive mis- sion would invite difficulty even under optimal circum- stances. But the new partnership between CA and DHS was the result of a bruising battle over the non- immigrant visa function and, simultaneously, a whole- sale shakeup and reorganization of domestic security agencies into the new DHS entity. Still, both Assistant Secretary of State for Consular Affairs Maura Harty and Homeland Security Under Secretary for Border and Transportation Security Asa Hutchinson have praised each other’s leadership. Under the memorandum of understanding with State allocating responsibility for oversight and execu- tion of the visa process, DHS now establishes most non-immigrant visa application policies, such as docu- mentation requirements, conditions under which an applicant may apply for a visa outside his or her home country, and instances when CA can waive the inter- view requirement. And, as Hutchinson said at a hear- ing last year, Homeland Security now holds a “trump card” over nearly every decision to approve a visa. State retains full authority over granting diplomatic visas, as well as any visa case that may affect foreign policy. For example, State will continue to be respon- sible for determining who is allowed to travel to the United Nations headquarters in New York City. State will also identify legitimate exchange programs for visa F O C U S 24 F O R E I G N S E R V I C E J O U R N A L / S E P T E M B E R 2 0 0 4 Thankfully, after years in which consular work was underfunded and ignored, it now has the attention of Congress. Shawn Zeller is a staff reporter for Government Executive magazine.