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29 June 2005

U.S. Passport System Needs Improvement, Investigation Finds

Watchdog agency says problems open door to criminals, terrorists

Washington – The U.S. Government Accountability Office (GAO) finds that the U.S. passport system is open to fraud and that it facilitates other crimes such as drug trafficking, human smuggling and perhaps even terrorism.

The conclusions come from a report conducted by the GAO and submitted to the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee June 29. 

“Fraudulently obtained passports help enable criminals to hide their movement and activities,” the report says, “and concerns exist that fraudulently obtained passports could also be used to support terrorism.”

Two-thirds of passport fraud is conducted through identity theft -- when an imposter uses another person’s legitimate identification documents to obtain a passport. False claims about a damaged, stolen or lost passport account for the other one-third of passport fraud committed each year.  The State Department’s Diplomatic Security Service made about 500 arrests for passport fraud, with 300 convictions, in 2004. About 8.8 million passports were issued that year.

“U.S. passports also allow visa-free passage into many countries around the world, providing obvious benefits to criminals operating on an international scale,” the report says.

The GAO found several areas in which passport fraud detection falls short. The State Department is not receiving information from the consolidated federal database on terrorist suspects, nor are passport-issuing authorities getting routine information from state and federal government agencies about wanted criminal suspects.

In its investigation, the GAO ran the names of almost 70 state and federal fugitives into the State Department database for passport information. Fewer than half showed up in the passport system.

Another systemic gap allowing the commission of passport fraud, according to the report, is the lack of a comprehensive database to track information on electronic fraud, lost and stolen birth certificates, naturalization documents or counterfeit documents.

The report recommends the State Department take swift action to close these information gaps.  The GAO also says the Bureau of Consular Affairs should consider training personnel in fraud prevention and determining whether additional personnel or improved training could help to better detect illegal deception in the passport application process.

“In view of the global desirability of the U.S. passport, we have long recognized that people may attempt to obtain one fraudulently,” said Assistant Secretary of State and Chief Financial Officer Christopher B. Burnham in a prepared response to the GAO findings. “The Department has made significant technological and security enhancements throughout all aspects of our passport system to assist in preventing fraud.”

Regarding one of the principal criticisms about the need for State Department access to terrorist-screening data, Burhnam said negotiations with the FBI are under way. “Making the data exchange a reality at the earliest possible moment is among our highest priorities," he said.

The testimony presented at the Senate hearing is available on the committee’s Web site.

The full text of the report is available on the GAO Web site.

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