U.S.

Department of Justice
Immigration and Naturalization Service

HQOPS 50/10

Office of the Commissioner -125 I Street A H '

Washington. DC 20536

JAN - 4 2002

MEMORANDUM FOR LARRY D. THOMPSON

DEPUTY ATTORNEY GENERAL

FROM: JanfcsW. Ziglar

Commissioner
Immigration and Naturalization Service

SUBJECT: Prevention of Acts Threatening Public Safety and National Security

The Immigration and Naturalization Service (INS) core border security mission directly
supports the proactive prevention and disruption which form the central thrust of the Attorney
General's campaign against terror. Many INS border security initiatives target terrorists directly,
while others broadly improve control over those who cross our borders. In addition, information
collected during the course of INS activities can be of tremendous assistance to other agencies in
their pursuit of terrorists and information needed to prevent terrorist operations. The attached
listing reflects many of the new or accelerated programs structured to meet the need to prevent
terrorist acts both by directly improving border security and by sharing of information with other
governments, other Federal agencies and local law enforcement authorities whose missions
contribute to other aspects of the prevention of terrorism.

Attachment
 Immigration and Naturalization Service
Initiative:; in support of the prevention of terrorist acts

1. Information Sharing.

• Information technology. The counter terrorism supplemental includes funding for the
following projects which support INS data management and sharing:

• $39.1 million for information technology, including improvements in:

• Connectivity. Wide area network reengineering and optimization to provide faster
circuits and upgrade the network operations center;
• Enterprise Information. Better integration of data to allow retrieval from multiple
INS data systems using basic identifying information;
• Information Assurance. Data encryption to ensure confidentiality of law enforcement
data being stored and transmitted both internally and externally, and network and
host-based vulnerability scanning to monitor security,
• $5.0 million for Enforce Detention and Removals modules to increase the ability to track
the status of aliens who are or have been in the custody of INS;
• $36.8 million for Student and Exchange Visitor Information System (SEVIS), to allow
INS to better monitor school and exchange program compliance with regulations;
• $5.885 million for the integration of the INS Enforce database with the secure interagency
ADNET system;
• $5.904 million for the Investigation and Intelligence modules of the INS Enforce system.

• Consolidated Consular Database. In October, INS Commissioner Ziglar and Assistant

Secretary of State Mary Ryan agreed to deploy, within 90 days, the Department of State
Consolidated Consular Database, which includes visa information and a photograph of the
alien. This information will be available in the secondary inspection area for use as an
additional tool and will assist inspectors in determining if an alien is engaged in fraudulent
conduct or is otherwise making a valid and legal application for admission.

• Foreign Terrorist Tracking Task Force. INS is a member of the Foreign Terrorist
Tracking Task Force, a multi-agency group formed by the President under Presidential
Directive 2. Other agencies participating in the task force include the FBI, the Intelligence
Community, DoD, U.S. Customs, FAA, and the Social Security Administration. INS has
taken a leadership role in the Task Force, providing the Task Force's Deputy Director and
intelligence analyst staff; physical space for the task force; and budgetary pass through
facilities. The task force will significantly improve INS' ability to identify and deport
terrorists and the people who support them.

• Data on visitors. ENS has provided to the FBI and other federal agencies involved in the
Joint Terrorism Task Force (JTTF) a significant amount of data in both hardcopy and
automated format, from the ENS' Non-Immigrant Information System (NIIS) which has been
 analyzed to produce new investigative leads and opportunities to prevent and disrupt terrorist
acts.

• Data on Students. INS has provided to the FBI and other JTTF agencies data in both
hardcopy and automated format, from the INS' Students / Schools system (STSC), which has
been data mined and correlated against known or suspected terrorists and sympathizers to
provide an opportunity for further enforcement actions. (STSC is being replaced by the
SEVIS system.)

• Federal Fugitives. INS, working in close coordination with the United States Marshal
Service and the Federal Bureau of Investigations entered fingerprints of 8,600 federal
fugitives into the IDENT database on August 15, 2001. To date the INS has apprehended and
turned over 55 of these Fugitives to the United States Marshal Service.

• FBI Wants and Warrants. INS, working with the FBI, through the Department of Justice,
has begun the entry of the Wants and Warrants fingerprint records from the National Crime
Information Center (NCIC). INS began the entry of these records on December 27* by
entering 27,000 of the 81,000 records into the INS' biometric system, IDENT. INS has
identified 4 Wanted persons within the first week of the records being entered. INS will
continue to work with the FBI to complete the entry of the remaining records.

• Data sharing with Canada. In 1999, Citizenship and Immigration Canada (CIC) and INS
signed a Statement of Mutual Understanding (SMU) on Information Sharing. The SMU is an
example of the close cooperation of the immigration services of both Canada and the United
States. This SMU facilitates information sharing between the two countries not only on
individual malafide travelers, but also on trends in illegal migration and alien smuggling.
This tool is critical to permit even greater sharing of information - information that secures
and protects both countries. Building upon this initial success, the following information
sharing initiatives will be pursued:

• Review refugee/asylum practices to ensure that applicants are thoroughly screened for
security risks.
• Share Advance Passenger Information and agreed-to Passenger Name Records on flights
between Canada and the United States, including in-transit flights.
• Develop a joint automated database, such as Canada's Support System for Intelligence, as
a platform for information exchange and enhance sharing of intelligence and trend
analysis.
• Increase the number of Canadian and US immigration officers at airports overseas and
enhance; the joint training of airline and foreign law enforcement personnel.
• Establish joint teams to analyze and disseminate information and intelligence, and
produce in partnership threat and intelligence assessments. Initiate discussions regarding
a Canadian presence on the US Foreign Terrorist Tracking Task Force.

• Integration of Enforcement Efforts. The INS is expanding the Integrated Border

Enforcement Teams (IBET) and Integrated Maritime Enforcement Teams (IMET). These
 teams bring different law enforcement agencies together to share intelligence, technology,
and equipment in order to coordinate activities, minimize duplication of effort, and maximize
the enforcement impact along specific geographic sections of the border. Agencies involved
include the U.S. Border Patrol, the U.S. Customs Service, and the Royal Canadian Mounted
Police.

• Classified Collaboration Capability. INS met with the FBI, Department of State and other
agencies in December to begin development of a Classified Collaboration Capability to
improve sharing of classified information on terrorist operations. The Department of State
has the lead on the establishment of a this capability for all agencies overseas. This effort has
been on going since July 2001. The events of September 11 have accelerated the Department
of State's schedule to field this capability.

• Sharing of United States Passport Information. The Department of State Passport Office
has agreed to share pictorial and biographic data on United States citizens to the inspection
agencies in order to allow the inspection agencies to manage the passenger traffic at air and
sea ports of entry. INS and U.S. Customs plan to pilot such a program in the near future,
with a focus on using biometric identifiers to assist in the inspections process. Working
cooperatively with the Airline industry, this initiative has the potential to greatly enhance the
ability of INS and Customs to focus on the unknown, and therefore, higher risk traffic
coming through the ports-of-entry.

• Prevent Departure Notices: Within hours of the terrorist attacks, INS started working with
the FBI to alert airlines to persons of possible interest to the investigation and to provide a
mechanism to prevent their departure from the United States.

2. Information Analysis

• Passenger Analysis Units. INS has had Passenger Analysis Units (PAUs) at key airports and
seaports for a number of years. Using data provided by airlines through the Advance
Passenger Information System (APIS), these units analyze information on U.S. bound
passengers before the flights arrive at the airport. The FY 2002 budget authorized a total of
80 additional immigration inspector positions to support the expansion of PAUs at airports
and seaports. A small National PAU also will be developed in FY 2002 to coordinate and
support activities among this strengthened field structure and to coordinate nationally with
other law enforcement agencies, most particularly the United States Customs Service (USCS)
and other agencies dealing with border security issues.

• Intelligence Research Specialists. The INS National Security Unit has begun the hiring
process for additional Intelligence Research Specialist (analyst) positions. These analyst
positions will be dedicated fulltime to the task of national security with particular emphasis
on countering the terrorist threat in the immigration context.

• "Absconders." There are currently over 314,000 aliens in the United States for whom a final
order of removal has been issued but the INS cannot locate and remove them (often termed
 "absconders"). Given the large number, there is a probability that there are a number of
individuals within this population with terrorism connections. The current initiative to enter
the names and data for these absconders into the National Crime Information Center fNCIC)
will result in an increased opportunity for bringing absconders back into federal custody.
This initiative will result in the inclusion of the names of absconders in a database checked
by a wide variety of law enforcement officials, including local and state police, on a regular
basis.

3. Coordination.

• Improved Security of Overseas Refugee Processing. Following a review by DOS, DOJ,

FBI, INS, CIA and NSC in the wake of September 11th, the United States refugee admissions
program is addressing security concerns about the processing of refugee applicants overseas.
New initiatives include enhanced intelligence and identification of refugees that have been
integrated into standard refugee processing procedures.

• Joint Investigative Leads. Working cooperatively with the FBI and other participants in
Joint Terrorism Task Forces, including State Department Diplomatic Security and Customs
Investigations Division, INS special agents have pursued thousands of leads in the September
11th attacks, resulting in the arrest of over 500 aliens for a variety of administrative and
criminal offenses.

• Posting Immigration Control Officers at Key Overseas Locations. INS will assign
additional officers overseas to disrupt and interdict unlawful migration, and to work with
transit and host countries and transportation lines to develop effective cooperation and
coordination. Immigration Control Officers will conduct training, foster best practices,
advocate effective anti-smuggling and anti-trafficking legislation, gather intelligence relating
to human smuggling vessels and stowaways, and disseminate intelligence to the Coast Guard,
Customs arid other appropriate agencies.

• Improving Container Inspection and Tracking. The Coast Guard, Customs, INS, the
Department of Energy and the Department of Defense have been coordinating the
development of chemical, biological, radiological and nuclear detection devices to increase
inter-modal container inspection capability. Customs and the Coast Guard will work to
develop shared dockside inspection facilities (Federal Inspection Stations) with INS and the
Department of Agriculture to eliminate multiple inspections of the same container,
accommodate non-intrusive inspection technology and allow for adequate space to conduct
physical examinations of containers and commodities. Customs and the Coast Guard will
seek international cooperation in conducting better point of origin inspections of container
shipments bound for the US.-

• Voluntary Interviews. Under the auspices of U.S. Attorneys offices nationwide, INS
special agents have participated with other federal, state and local law enforcement officers in
the interview of thousands of nonimmigrant individuals identified as possibly having
information of importance to U.S. antiterrorism efforts.
• Terrorism Fund-Raising. INS special agents have been working with agents and attorneys
from the Treasury Department's Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) to identify and
freeze the assets of terrorist organizations. Working with OFAC and Customs, INS has also
identified and arrested aliens involved in these fronts as board members or directors who are
amenable to removal from the United States.

• Airport Protection and Security. Special agents from INS, the Federal Aviation
Administration, the FBI, and the Customs Service, working cooperatively with state and local
police authorities, have been verifying the identities of aliens with airport IDs badges
permitting them access to secure areas. Aliens determined to be out of status or in possession
of fraudulent identification have been arrested and placed into proceedings or criminally
prosecuted.

• Foreign Student Tracking and monitoring. INS special agents, working with the Offices
of Inspector General at the Department of Energy and Social Security Administration, have
been conducting investigations into the practices of certain vocational and training schools
which are authorized to enroll nonimmigrant alien students, to weed out fraud and corruption
and to rescind authority to enroll such students where mis* or malfeasance is found.

• Training for State and Local Officers. Under the auspices of the Executive Office for U.S.
Attorneys, the INS Investigations Program is working with other federal agencies to produce
counter terrorism training videos for state and local enforcement officers, each tailored to the
agencies producing them. When completed, this training will be made available to state and
local police organizations nationwide through the closed circuit "COP TV" channel.

• Joint INS / Customs Terrorism Training Initiative. Under the auspices of the Border
Coordination Initiative between the Customs and INS, the two agencies have implemented a
series of joint terrorism training courses, sponsored by the CIA, tailored specifically to the
border enforcement mission.

• Operation Safe Passage. This operation involved coordinating efforts with the Federal
Aviation Administration, U.S. Marshals Service, U.S. Secret Service, and many state and
local law enforcement agencies to deploy 317 Border Patrol Agents to 9 airports within 24
hours. It was the ongoing liaison work with these agencies that made this operation possible.

• Northern Border Detail (Operation Northern Passage). The Border Patrol detailed 110
agents from Western and Central Regions to Ports of Entry and Border Patrol Sectors on
Northern Border. The detai 1 assisted in reducing wait times and augmenting port security.

• 2002 Winter Olympics. The INS has committed more than 300 personnel to assist the U.S.
Secret Service in its mission of providing counter terrorism security for the 2002 Winter
Olympics in Salt Lake City, Utah.
• INS, Coast Guard, and Customs Developed a Comprehensive National Border Security
Strategy. Following the events of September 11, INS, Coast Guard and Customs initiated a
cooperative effort to develop a joint strategic plan to prevent terrorists and the implements of
terrorism from penetrating U.S. borders. The proposed plan leverages the competencies,
capabilities, responsibilities and authorities of each agency to provide the American people
with the security they deserve. It is based on the premise that securing the border cannot
begin at the nation's physical borders but rather in the country of origin. The process of
developing this strategic plan laid a foundation on which to build future cooperative
initiatives and to ensure a global approach to protecting the nation's borders. The three
agencies have a commitment to identify, create, expand and implement opportunities to
enhance interagency coordination and information sharing at all levels. Through Operation
Sentinel, which began in November 2001, the U.S. Border Patrol and the Coast Guard began
to increase the safety and security of the Great Lakes Region through joint missions,
intelligence sharing, mutual aid relationships and other initiatives.

• Harden Low-Volume Ports-of-Entry. Customs has proposed that rapid, mobile response
teams (MRTs) be deployed at strategic intervals along or near the border. Customs and INS
have agreed to pilot the MRT concept at a few locations and expand to additional locations
based on the success of the pilot program. The pilots will be comprised of at least Customs
and INS personnel equipped by combining existing Border Patrol and Customs aircraft,
helicopters and other resources. As part of this strategy, INS and Customs will report this
month whether the existing U.S. and Canadian facilities at low-volume ports-of-entry should
be consolidated into joint facilities. This could be accomplished at appropriate locations
either by constructing new joint facilities or by locating both U.S. and Canadian operations
into the best existing facility

• Anti-Terrorism Training. INS and Customs are developing training designed to assist
inspectors in identifying possible terrorists through questioning, observation, and targeting.
This training is also being designed to allow inspectors to detect possible implements of
terrorism through education, technology, and targeting.

• Native American Border Security Conference. In January 2002, the Border Patrol will
host the Native American Border Security Conference. Native American participants in this
conference come from tribes with land that falls directly on either the northern or southern
border. This conference is intended to strengthen working relationships and cooperation
between Border Patrol and Native American law enforcement personnel and discuss issues of
mutual concern, such as increasing border safety and national security on tribal lands.

• Northern Border Security. In order to respond to the immediate needs of the northern
border areas, the Border Patrol has explored numerous options to fill voids until permanent
resources could be acquired and deployed. The INS/Border Patrol is currently working with
the Department of Defense/National Guard Bureau on a plan to provide limited air
observation and intelligence analysis support to the Border Patrol to assist in monitoring
potential illegal activity along the northern border. The specifics of this plan are still being
negotiated between the INS and DoD.
• Operation Northern Vigilance 2002. This operation will deploy 100 Border Patrol Agents
to Border Patrol sectors along the northern border to increase detection, deterrence and
prevention efforts between hind border Ports-of-Entry. These agents will augment existing
staffing levels and allow northern border sectors to expand their current enforcement
operations.

• Northern Border Strategy. The events of 9/11 gave increased emphasis to the Border
Patrol's National Strategy, especially as it relates to the northern border. The USBP
formulated a plan to accelerate implementation of the northern border portion of the National
Strategy in order to provide additional resources (personnel and technology) to the northern
sectors.

• Presidential Directive on Tracking Foreign Students. INS worked closely with the State
Department, Department of Education, and seven other federal agencies to respond to the
November 1, 2001, Presidential Directive on abuse of foreign student visas, including the
tracking of foreign students.

• Inter-Agency Working Group on Foreign Students. INS, State Department, and other
federal agencies, are working together with the White House Office of Science and
Technology Policy to implement more secure policies on foreign students.

• Foreign Student Monitoring. INS special agents, working with the Offices of Inspector
General at the Department of Energy and Social Security Administration, have been
conducting investigations into the practices of certain vocational and training schools which
are authorized to enroll nonimmigrant alien students, to weed out fraud and corruption and to
rescind authority to enroll such students where mis- or malfeasance is found.

• Solicitation of Increased European Union Cooperation on Border Security. The State

Department and INS developed a list of prospective areas of EU - U.S. cooperation on border
security. On October 25, INS and State representatives presented this list to officials of the
European Union Ministry of Justice and Home Affairs, and to the EU Strategic Committee
on Immigration, Frontiers, and Asylum (SCIFA) on October 26. The EU agreed to host
further discussions following internal consultation.

• Entry and Exit System. INS and the Department of Justice are working with a number of
agencies, including the State Department, Customs, the Office of Homeland Security, the
White House Office of Science and Technology, and OMB to develop a comprehensive
entry-exit system. Congress addresses the entry-exit issue in several pieces of legislation,
including the USA PATRIOT ACT of 2001, which emphasizes the need for INS to expedite
implementation; the Visa Waiver Permanent Program Act of 2000 requires INS to create an
automated system to track non-immigrants, who enter and leave the country through the Visa
Waiver Program at air and sea ports of entry; the Data Management Improvement Act of
2000 requires the development of an integrated entry and exit data system that would use
available data to record alien arrivals and departures in an electronic format; and the Illegal
Immigration Reform and Immigrant Responsibility Act of 1996. Section 110, which directs
the development of an automated entry and exit control system to collect records of arrival
and departure from every alien entering and leaving the United States. This inter-agency
group is attempting to expedite implementation of the system.

U.N. Security Council Resolution: INS worked with DOS and other DOJ components to
prepare the immigration-related portions of a comprehensive submission to the UN, setting
out measures the U.S. has taJcen to comply with UN Security Council Resolution 1373.

Facilities. INS coordinated with GSA and U.S. Customs Service for the identification of the
urgent Counter-Terrorism facilities requirements at the Land Ports of Entry. Utilized jointly
developed requirements assessments to estimate over $600 million in construction
requirements.