Homeland Security

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MR. BOUCHER: Sir.

QUESTION: Do you have anything on the Saudis and the US being asked to register with the INS?

MR. BOUCHER: That's an Immigration Service matter and they're handling all the press inquiries on it, I think.

QUESTION: It doesn't go through State at all?

MR. BOUCHER: We're part of the process because we try to give out information overseas, we try to alert visa applicants to what to expect, we try to ensure compatibility between what we do and what the Immigration Service does and we share the information on applicants so that we can check whether people are telling us the same thing overseas as they tell us back here.

QUESTION: Has there --

MR. BOUCHER: Those are ongoing efforts, but in terms of actually deciding and administering this program, it's the Immigration Service that's doing it.

QUESTION: Has there been any diplomatic exchanges regarding the new requirement from Saudi sources?

MR. BOUCHER: I don't really know. We've had, I think, discussions with a variety of governments about the whole question of visas and how we can continue to welcome these people to the United States from various regions around the world and, at the same time, have the necessary protections and security for our nation.

As I think we've pointed out in many of our diplomatic discussions and some of our discussions here, having a registration system that keeps track of who is coming into the country and where they are is something that the United States has really lacked for many years, whereas in most countries in Europe, it's a common practice. We all know we turn in our passports and fill out registration forms every night in the hotels in some countries in Europe, so it's not unusual to have such a system, and as the United States puts it in place we want to make sure people understand that this is a normal part of knowing who's here and who came in and where they are, and that we'll be trying to do that in the most efficient possible manner.

Sir.

QUESTION: This morning, the Burmese Government announced that they had been told by the United States that the administration would not certify them as cooperating fully with international and US efforts to combat narcotics production. First of all, can you confirm it and maybe give us some details of where exactly the Burmese were judged to be deficient?

MR. BOUCHER: No, I can't give you that. The announcement, I would say, is premature at best. We're going to be looking at the decisions involved, make final determinations in the next several months. The question that some have raised of removing Burma from what's called the Majors List is not under discussion and it's not being recommended or looked at. Also, we're not considering any bilateral narcotics assistance for Burma.

The issue that has to be decided, because the law has changed and this list is being compiled and done differently than in previous years, is whether Burma has failed demonstrably, is the language of the law. Based on specific objectives given to Burma to make substantial efforts to adhere to international counternarcotics agreements and to take the counternarcotics measures specified in US law. And so that's an issue we'll be looking at with Burma and others over the next several months.

QUESTION: I mean, have you any idea why the Burmese have got the impression that they've been -- that they've kind of --

MR. BOUCHER: I don't know if we've had any conversations with them about it as we go forward with this process. We often do contact governments and try to understand what they've done or they haven't done. So they may have formed an impression from some conversations. But, as I said, we have a final determination to make over the next several months about whether or not they failed demonstrably to cooperate.

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