“The Oversight of the Department of Homeland Security” Release Date: April 25, 2012

[Gast14969]

Sehr aktueller Bericht, der gute Einblicke ueber die Ziele, Aktivitaeten und Ergebnisse von Komeland Security liefert.

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Written testimony of Department of Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano for a Senate Committee on the Judiciary hearing titled “The Oversight of the Department of Homeland Security”

Release Date: April 25, 2012

http://www.dhs.gov/ynews/testimony/2...sight-sjc.shtm
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Alles ist SEHR lesenswert!

Hier nur mal ein KLEINER Auszug, der sich auf das VWP (Visa Waiver Program) bezieht.

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Visa Waiver Program
With our partners overseas, we also have acted to strengthen the Visa Waiver Program (VWP), which allows eligible nationals of 36 countries to travel to the United States without a visa and remain in our country for up to 90 days for tourist or business purposes. Since its inception in the mid-1980s, the VWP has become an essential tool for increasing security standards, advancing information sharing, strengthening international relationships, and promoting legitimate travel to the United States.
Over the last several years, DHS has focused on bringing VWP countries into compliance with information sharing agreement requirements of The Implementing Recommendations of the 9/11 Commission Act of 2007 (9/11 Act), Pub. L. No.110-53. As of January 2012, all VWP countries have completed an exchange of diplomatic notes or an equivalent mechanism for the requirement to enter into an agreement to share information on lost and stolen passports with the United States through INTERPOL or other designated means.
DHS also has signed Preventing and Combating Serious Crime (PCSC) agreements with 22 VWP countries which facilitate the sharing of information about terrorists and criminals. Negotiations on four additional PCSC Agreements with VWP countries have been completed, and we have an equivalent agreement already in force with the United Kingdom.
Additionally, DHS developed the Electronic System for Travel Authorization (ESTA) as a proactive online system to determine whether an individual is eligible to travel to the United States under the VWP, and whether such travel poses any law enforcement or national security risks. The system was created in response to a requirement in the 9/11 Act, which mandated that all citizens of VWP eligible countries who plan to travel to the United States under the VWP, must obtain an electronic travel authorization prior to boarding a U.S.-bound commercial flight or cruise ship.
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Ein weiterer Auszug bezueglich der Ueberwachung von Overstays:

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Overstays and Exit Capabilities
Over the past year, we also have worked to better detect and deter those who overstay their lawful period of admission. The ability to identify and sanction overstays derives from the ability to determine who has arrived and departed from the United States. By matching arrival and departure records and using additional data collected by DHS, we can better determine who has overstayed their lawful period of admission.
In May 2011, DHS began a coordinated effort to vet all potential overstay records against Intelligence Community and DHS holdings for national security and public safety concerns. In total, using those parameters, we reviewed the backlog of 1.6 million overstay leads within the U.S. Visitor and Immigrant Status Indicator Technology (US-VISIT) program and referred leads based on national security and public safety priorities to ICE for further investigation.
A beneficial by-product of this vetting effort has been the identification of efficiencies gained through automation, as well as other enhancements. Through a new automated system, we will be able to enhance automated matching, eliminate gaps in travel history, and aggregate information from multiple systems.
In October 2011, I proposed a strategy to Congress to utilize DHS funds to implement an automated vetting and enhanced biographic exit capability. This strategy will allow the Department to significantly enhance our existing capability to identify and target for enforcement action those who have overstayed their authorized period of admission, and who represent a public safety and/or national security threat by incorporating data contained within law enforcement, military, and intelligence repositories.
This strategy also will enhance our ability to identify individual overstays and determine overstay percentages by country; provide the State Department with information to support visa revocation, prohibit Visa Waiver Program travel, and place “lookouts” for individuals, in accordance with existing Federal laws; establish greater efficiencies to our Visa Security Program; and enhance the core components of an entry-exit and overstay program.
I have directed the Science and Technology Directorate (S&T) to establish criteria and promote research for emerging technologies that would provide the ability to capture biometrics at a significantly lower operational cost. S&T is working closely with the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) on this initiative, and S&T expects to have a report shortly detailing potential next steps and a road map for the next several years concerning potential capabilities for a future biometric air exit system, including how anticipated technology enhancements can fit within the DHS operational environment.
Following this analysis, we anticipate beginning controlled and scenario-based lab testing within the year and operational testing in less than three years. Overall, if the evaluated approach is determined to be cost effective, the Department will be able to consider deployment of a biometric exit capability within four years.
In addition, we are working toward a system to create an exit program on the United States northern land border to facilitate the exchange of U.S. and Canadian entry records, so that an entry to one country becomes an exit from another.
We support carefully managed expansion of the VWP to countries that meet the statutory requirements, and are willing and able to enter into a close security relationship with the United States. To this end, we support current bi-partisan efforts by the Congress to expand VWP participation and also to promote international travel and tourism to the United States while maintaining our strong commitment to security.

[Choufleur]

"In addition, we are working toward a system to create an exit program on the United States northern land border to facilitate the exchange of U.S. and Canadian entry records, so that an entry to one country becomes an exit from another."

Klingt, als ob sie die Tatsache, dass bisher ein Ausreisen nach Kanada nicht ausreicht, um die 90 Tage Periode (VWP) abzuschliessen/neu beginnen zu lassen, selbst als verbesserungswürdig ansehen.

[Gast14969]

"In addition, we are working toward a system to create an exit program on the United States northern land border to facilitate the exchange of U.S. and Canadian entry records, so that an entry to one country becomes an exit from another."

Klingt, als ob sie die Tatsache, dass bisher ein Ausreisen nach Kanada nicht ausreicht, um die 90 Tage Periode (VWP) abzuschliessen/neu beginnen zu lassen, selbst als verbesserungswürdig ansehen.

Das reicht heute auch schon. Nur es funktioniert nicht automatisch. Somit zusätzlich problematisch bei VWP, wo es ja keinen I-94 Abschnitt mehr gibt, auf den man selbst achten könnte.
Bei Visa Holders ist das jedenfalls heute schon kein Problem, so sie denn ihr I-94 ordnungsgemäß loswerden.
Unter der Automatisierungsbestrebung jedoch ist da Einiges vebesserungswürdig.