MR. DENIG: Good afternoon, ladies and gentlemen, and welcome to the Washington Foreign Press Center. Welcome, also, to journalists assembled in our New York Foreign Press Center.
We had scheduled this briefing some time ago, but as you can see, the Foreign Press Center is always aware of what's coming down the pike, and now today's briefing has, I think, even additional meaning for you.
We're very pleased today to be able to welcome to our podium Asa Hutchinson, the Under Secretary for Border and Transportation Security at the U.S. Department of Homeland Security. He's going to brief today on the topic, "The U.S. Visit Program," which is the new entry-exit program.
Secretary Hutchinson will have an opening statement to make, and after that will be glad to take your questions.
Secretary Hutchinson.
UNDER SECRETARY HUTCHINSON: Thank you. I am pleased to be with you today and thank you during this holiday season for your interest and attention to this matter.
As you know, yesterday the Department of Homeland Security announced the raising of our national threat level. This was based upon increased threat reporting. Our standards are that the information has to have a level of credibility. It has to be specific enough in nature to justify a raising of the threat level, which we have not done in six months, but clearly the threat reporting, both in terms of volume and the specificity of the information, indicates that al-Qaida continue to seek opportunity for a large scale attack against the United States, and they believe that such an effort, they would hope, would rival or exceed that which they carried out on 9/11 of two years ago.
We have been coordinating our nation's response to this effort: increasing our inspections; coordinating with local law enforcement on our nation's response; looking at critical assets, infrastructure, as well as our transportation systems.
I want to express appreciation to our international partners for their support of the United States' effort in this regard. Obviously, from my standpoint, the borders are significant, and my communications with my counterparts in both Mexico and Canada have been very helpful in coordinating this response.
But as indicated, I did want to talk to you today about the U.S.-VISIT Program, as well, before I turn it open to questions. The United States, through the Department of Homeland Security is making a number of efforts to enhance our security. This is particularly relevant today. One of those efforts is the U.S. VISIT Program, but we have a dual mandate, and that is to enhance security, but also to do so in a way that does not impede the lawful flow of commerce.
And one message that I would have today is that the U.S.-VISIT Program is certainly designed to increase security, but it is also designed to facilitate travel. And as we implement a higher level of technology in our entry system in the United States, this will ultimately go to the benefit of those people who wish to travel to the United States.
We are very committed to expressing to our international partners that the United States wants to continue to be a welcoming nation. And whether it's our foreign students, whether it's our international business travelers, or whether it is our tourists, we want to be a destination that continues to welcome those international partners.
"U.S.-VISIT" is a part of that message. Yes, it will enhance security, and yes, it will increase the integrity of our immigration system. But it will also yield benefits to those who wish to travel to the United States.
The U.S.-VISIT system is a mandate from the United States Congress that requires us first, at our air and seaports, and then at our land ports, to develop a comprehensive system for those that will enter the United States, and then to register their departure, and thereby knowing whether we have any visa overstays -- those people who have not honored the terms of their visa and visit to the United States.
And so on January 5, we will roll out the first phase of "U.S.-VISIT" in 115 airports and an additional number of seaports in our country that handle international travelers. The first phase of U.S. Visit will apply to those international visitors with visas. And as they enter our airports on January 5, they will be greeted as customary by an inspector, and that inspector has, historically, checked the travel document, asked some questions, checked some databases and welcomed them to the United States.
On January 5, that system will be the same with two additional protective measures. One, there will be a digital finger scan, and there will be a photograph that will be taken. And for the first time in history, we will be able to biometrically confirm the identity of the visa traveler to the United States.
This is something that will be done in a very inoffensive manner; be done very quickly. And so on January 5, you will have a digital finger scan such as this that will be at the port of entry. It will be at the primary inspection booth. I saw this demonstrated in Atlanta. It will press a finger -- press an index finger. It will immediately flash into the system that will be biometrically compared to the finger scan that we received when the visa was granted at the embassy. It will also be checked against a database. And then, if there's not any connection that is inappropriate, they will be welcomed into the United States.
The next time that traveler comes to the United States, we will quickly confirm their identity. They traveled before. They honored the terms of the visa. And they will be facilitated in their travel as they continue to come to the United States. And so this capability will allow us to check terrorist watch lists through a biometric feature. It will allow us to confirm identity biometrically. It will also give us the capability to have the means to welcome frequent travelers to the United States and to facilitate that travel.
And so I believe that this system that we are implementing will be found by our foreign guests to be something that is inoffensive, that is easy, that is quick, but that will give them the confidence that our transportation systems will be safe, and that as they enter the United States they will not be entering with other people that might pose a danger. And so we hope that this will add security, but also continue the welcoming nature of our country.
Part of this benefit is the fact that a program that was instituted appropriately after the attack on America -- it was called The National Security Entry-Exit Registration System, some people call it NSEERS, in which certain individuals from countries that had a historic connection to terrorism were required to be specially registered at our port of entry, and then also, if they stayed 30 days or one year in the United States, they would have to be re-registered.
This capability allows us to do away with the re-registration program in the United States under NSEERS, and we have suspended that part of the program. This will go to the benefit of 80,000 foreign travelers to the United States over the next five months. It will also, over the course of time, allow us to change the rest of the NSEERS initiative as we continue to develop and implement the U.S.-VISIT Program. And so I hope that you can see that it adds security, but it also allows us to concentrate on individuals who might pose a risk, rather than simply broad categories of people.
With that, I'd be glad to take any questions.
MR. DENIG: Okay, let's go to New York for our first question. New York, do you have any questions?
MS. NISBET: I think we have about two questions for now if you have time.
MR. DENIG: All right. We can take one for now.
QUESTION: My name is Martin Mbugua from the East African Standard in Kenya, and I'm wondering, hypothetically speaking, how would this system have prevented any of the 19 hijackers on September 11th, in practical terms. And what would be the immediate benefits of this system, security-wise?
UNDER SECRETARY HUTCHINSON: Well, the immediate benefit is that if someone comes into our country under a false passport, they won't make it because we can biometrically confirm who they are, and it'll prevent us from having to rely upon what could be used as false documents.
Secondly, it allows us to check our terrorist databases. And so if our great forces overseas in Afghanistan or Iraq obtain fingerprints of terrorists, they are in a system. Our allies have supported this effort, and we can confirm, biometrically, that there's not a terrorist coming to our country through this means.
Thirdly, if someone comes into the country and two years ago they left after they dishonored their visa and overstayed it by two months, we would know about that, and so it gives us greater integrity in our immigration system.
The other part of the question: Would this have had any impact on the attack two years ago? Well, it's speculative. It's hard to know, but this is designed to minimize that possibility and to detect those people who might enter our country under false documents or who have dishonored our visa program in the past.
MR. DENIG: Okay, we can take questions only from the foreign media. Let me ask you to keep your questions short, use the microphone, identify yourself. Let's start up here in the front with Russia.
QUESTION: Pavel Vanichkin, TASS News Agency of Russia.
Sir, do you set for yourself any acceptable margin of errors? And if you do, could you tell us, please, the acceptable ratio of mistakes? Thank you.
UNDER SECRETARY HUTCHINSON: Thank you for the question. And the error rate is far less than 1 percent. It is very fractional.
And so we certainly one, believe that the possibility of error is very minute, but we have taken steps to accommodate and to mitigate any problems that might arise.
MR. DENIG: Okay, let's go to Khaled in the middle in the back there, Egypt.
QUESTION: Hi, my name is Khaled Abdel Kareem with Middle East News Agency of Egypt, and my question is -- my understanding that your reference to the countries which were subject to the old system, the C system, you said countries linked to terror, and roughly that's all the Arab and Muslim countries, in the first place. It didn't even include Cuba and North Korea. And my question is, the new system, will it be applicable to all countries, or will it be applicable basically to the same category, and how do you have any guarantees that, you know, an airport officer will not profile, you know, somebody from Middle Eastern countries with typical Middle Eastern features and skip someone who is typically white with blue eyes or something like that -- a European? Thank you.
UNDER SECRETARY HUTCHINSON: Thank you. And, yes, this system will apply to all visa holders from whatever country they come from. And so whether it's a visa holder from European, Asian, Middle Eastern [countries], it applies equally across the board to visa holders that come to the United States.
Secondly, it is designed to avoid the reliance upon broad categories because this way, we can confirm identity. I think it will reduce referrals to secondary inspection, and it will facilitate people traveling to the United States. So it should avoid the problems that you have addressed.
I would add that the previous system was designed for the countries that had an historic link to terrorism, although it has been applied to over 100 different countries through the discretion of people who came through our ports of entry.
MR. DENIG: Let's go to India in the first row, here.
QUESTION: Raghubir Goyal from India Globe & Asia Today. Sir, we never heard before homeland security in this country, even though India always had a, what they call Interior or the Home Ministry. It is the first time and also, before 9/11 everything was going like in gold platter or silver platter here whenever somebody visit this country. But because of few people or few in the name of religion, and everybody had to pay the price, and it will continue to pay the price. What my question is that on this new system, what is the reaction from the foreign governments, how they will treat the U.S. visitors in those countries, and also at the same time now, this terror alert is going on up and down now that we are today to orange. And how much fact we have now from those terrorists and where they come from and how you will deal with those terrorists because in the past, those terrorists came only from particular countries, and you have now labeling everybody in the same category?
UNDER SECRETARY HUTCHINSON: The question relates to the international response and first of all, as we move to a biometric capability in this country, we're not alone in this. The international standard for passports is going to incorporate a biometric feature.
We obviously are trying to move very aggressively in that direction because of the threat to terrorism here. But we are not trying to move in isolation. We're trying to move with our international partners, and I believe that you will see, and you've already seen, many other countries starting to look at the biometric capability.
We want to treat everyone fairly in this regard, be a welcoming nation, and I think that that will be reciprocated. It's an inconvenience to all of us, the fact that we have to focus on terrorism. I don't like taking my shoes off going through airports like anybody else. But we, you know, it's a part of the inconvenience we have to endure because of the security needs that we have.
MR. DENIG: Okay. Let's keep the questions short, please. The gentleman in the second row right here.
QUESTION: My name is Nayar Zaidi. I represent the Daily Jang, which is the largest newspaper in Pakistan, so this would be of great interest to our readers.
A couple of questions. Are you going to stop the flow of terrorists in the United States or the flow of so-called religious fundamentalists? And since your allies are cooperating with you, have you and them reached a consensus on a definition, what is a terrorist? Somebody who joins a blacklisted terrorist organization or somebody who just says, "Gee, I love Allah," so he's a terrorist?
UNDER SECRETARY HUTCHINSON: Obviously, we focus on those people who will pose a danger to the United States -- terrorists. And we are a diverse nation from a religious standpoint and we're not interested in the nuances of someone's religion. This system will be designed to protect us from terrorists and that is the purpose of it.
The people who go on the list are those that, in an international sense, the intelligence community believes have an association with terrorism, a connection that poses a risk. And everybody who might be identified as a risk factor; it may be simply a matter of questioning, verifying who they are, or question, and they can proceed on. Other times, they absolutely pose a danger and they would be excluded from coming into the country.
MR. DENIG: Okay, let's got to Japan.
QUESTION: Hi. I'm Hiro Aida with Kyodo News, Japan's Kyodo News. Could you just explain to us about how this relates to the visa waiver program, you know, Japan and other countries are under now? And, you know, I understand that you want to compare the fingerprint with the fingerprint at the time of the visa application. But many people are traveling without visas here.
UNDER SECRETARY HUTCHINSON: Correct. And so on January 5, if you come into the United States from a visa waiver country where you do not have a visa, then you will not be subject to the U.S.-VISIT Program. You will be processed just as ordinarily.
Now, obviously, you might say, "Well, that's a huge security breach," and you look at what we're doing. First of all, countries are given a visa waiver status because they have a higher level of integrity in their document control and in their visa compliance.
But we do believe that we need to move to, even in the visa waiver countries, to biometric machine-readable passports, and that deadline is October [2004]. It may or may not be extended, but that will be a security feature that will be applied to those visa waiver countries.
Finally, you might be a visa waiver country, but someone from Japan will still have a visa because they're going to be in here as a student, or a longer period of time, and they will be processed just like anyone else that will come in with a visa.
So if you have a visa, regardless of the country, you will be processed in this fashion.
QUESTION: Edith Grunwald, Austria Press Agency in Europe. So -- just for clarification to add to the question of the colleague before, so also journalists from visa waiver countries who come back from their Christmas holidays will have to give the fingerprints. Is this correct?
UNDER SECRETARY HUTCHINSON: On January 5th, if you have a visa, coming from a foreign country, you'll be processed --
QUESTION: A journalist visa. I speak about journalist visa, which correspondents in the United States have to have.
UNDER SECRETARY HUTCHINSON: I don't know of any exception by professional category. It applies to those with visas. There are certain diplomatic visas that are exempt. And so for certain categories of diplomats in a reciprocal arrangement, and in honor of international treaties, those would be exempt from it.
MR. DENIG: Front row, Turkey.
QUESTION: My name Umit Eginsoy with Turkey's NTV Television. I was preparing to ask you if, when Turkish Prime Minister Erdogan visits to the United States next month if he would subject -- if he would be subject to this application? You say no.
Then the question is, what percentage of foreign visitors do you expect will undergo this new application, if you consider all just visa waiver, no visa and visa countries? Thanks.
UNDER SECRETARY HUTCHINSON: I could not give you the percent, but I believe it's 26 million visa travelers come into the United States every year. And so our system in the first phase of it will be able to handle those 26 million visitors.
MR. DENIG: Okay, let's go to Mexico, next to the pillar.
QUESTION: Jose Carreno, with Newspaper Universal, Mexico City. Just two positions. One, could you please detail the kind of collaboration that you're finding with Mexico or with the Mexican authorities? And second, without being offensive to anybody, the -- some of the visa waiver countries have a huge Muslim population and some of them are from the Middle East. How are you planning to deal with that?
UNDER SECRETARY HUTCHINSON: And you expect me to answer that without being offensive? First, Mexico has been very cooperative. Secretary Ridge talked to Secretary [Santiago] Creel preceding the public announcement that we're going to an elevated alert level. I also talked to [Under Secretary] Eduardo "Ed" Mora, coordinating our efforts and Mexico has been responsive in terms of the work at the border, exchange of information, and we expect that to continue.
Again, in reference to the last part of your questions, you know, visa waiver countries -- does not mean that there's not any traveler that does not pose a risk. Our objective is to look at each individual one as to what risk they pose, make an evaluation and a determination from there.
MR. DENIG: Gentleman in the middle, there.
QUESTION: Thank you. Jay Chen. I'm with Central News Agency of Taiwan. Sir, I'm wondering whether you can elaborate on how the new program will facilitate travel to the United States since it seems to me every time an individual arrives at an entry point to the United States, he still -- or he or she will still have to have his fingerprint scanned. And also, could you talk about the photo that will be taken at the airport or seaport or whatever? Thank you.
UNDER SECRETARY HUTCHINSON: The photograph? Well, it's a very innocuous, small camera that just takes a picture just like a drivers license that immediately goes into the database that also allows you to compare it to the document that is presented.
How will it facilitate travel? First of all, someone who comes in with a confusing name that is somewhat similar to that which is on a watch list; this will allow us to have the capability to confirm identity. That way we won't have to refer them to secondary inspection if we can confirm identity that they're the same person, that it was actually [them that] the visa was issued to.
Secondly, for those who frequently travel, the fact that they were in six months ago, they left on time, their biometric is already in the system, we confirm it quickly and they move through the system without an inspector having to think, "Well, maybe I should refer them into secondary inspection, they should have more questions. Maybe we need to worry about this." The fact that we can confirm very quickly their identity allows them to move forward.
I actually saw this demonstrated in Atlanta. We have a pilot project that is set up there. And I was so pleased. Most of the visitors that came in -- it was on a voluntary basis at that point -- and the inspector would ask, "Would you mind if we were doing a pilot project, you know, taking the finger scan?" And they'd say, "Of course not." And they would do that and they would smile. And I would say, "Well, what do you think about this?" And they say, "Man, I'm impressed with the technology. This makes us feel safer." And I know that everybody wonders about change. But the impression I have is that, again, this is very inoffensive and the visitors understand the necessity for it.
MR. DENIG: Okay, last question. First row, gentleman in the middle.
QUESTION: Javier Garza, from El Heraldo, Mexico City. I wonder, sir, if this program will not take any more time, especially on land-crossings in Mexico, which is a pretty busy border as it is and takes a long time to cross. And while on the subject, what additional measures are being taken on the Mexico-U.S. border in this heightened alert?
UNDER SECRETARY HUTCHINSON: On the U.S.-Mexico border we are increasing our inspection. We are increasing the number of our inspectors that are working and, you know, we're doing additional targeting and patrols and work between the ports of entry as well.
In reference to the land borders, now let me emphasize that our first phase of U.S.-VISIT is at the 115 airports. Now -- so it won't have any impact immediately on our land borders, but we will, during the course of next year, look at expanding it to some of our busier land ports of entry. We are working on the technology. We are trying to develop the process, and no decisions have been made. But there is a commitment that we're going to do this in a way that does not clog the border.
And so we're working with our communities. We want to work with the government of Mexico to make sure that we respect the historic relationship, commerce between our countries, and not to discourage that in any way.
QUESTION: My name is Khaled Dawoud. I just was asking about the pilot project. How long does it take to process? And just a little thing. What difference does it make between the embassy matters? I mean, we already have a very hard time to get the visa here, you know, and we wait for three months and you check us with the FBI, with everything. So why, you know, why again do this at the airport if already we've been thoroughly checked in our homes before getting visas?
UNDER SECRETARY HUTCHINSON: Well, and the answer is that you're given a visa, but the only way we know that that visa has not been tampered with or given to someone else or is a fraudulent document, or that you're the same person that it was given the visa to is to confirm it biometrically. Photographs can be altered. And so this reduces document fraud, confirms identity, and it fits in with our system at the embassy. We're basically trying to do more work at the embassy and less at our ports of entry.
There was another part to your question.
MR. DENIG: "How many minutes...?"
UNDER SECRETARY HUTCHINSON: Of the minutes, first of all, this is done -- while the inspector has always asked questions, "What's the purpose of your visit to the United States," you know, "Where are you from," you know, those type of questions are asked. While those questions are asked, this is being processed. And so it does not add a significant amount of time. I believe for new inspectors, when you first implement this, it is less than a -- it's, you know, probably 30 seconds or more. But it depends upon the experience of the inspector and, you know, the language skills and those types of issues. And so we're monitoring that very carefully and we're going to implement this in a way that does not overly delay those visitors to the United States.
MR. DENIG: Thank you very much, Mr. Secretary, thank you, ladies and gentlemen.
UNDER SECRETARY HUTCHINSON: Thank you all.
