T5 B65 Gao Visa Docs 5 Of 6 Fdr- 8-15-02 Gao Interview W Fbi Namecheck Staff 809

Prepared by: Kate Brentzel Date Prepared: 8/15/02 Reviewed by: Type reviewer name here

Index: Type bundle index here DOC Number. 156846 DOC Library: Type library name here Job Code: 320087

Record of Interview Interview ^ft FBI

Namecheck staff Purpose

To determine whether FBI's namecheck staff were doing the 20-day and 30day background security checks for visa applicants

Contact Method

In person interview

Contact Place

FBI headquarters

Contact Date

April 15, 2002

Participants

GAP: Judy McCloskey, Jody Woods, Kate Brentzel, Gabrielle Anderson EBI:| 9/11 Law Enforcement Privacy

HQISDU or ISDU = Headquarters Information Services Division HMD = Records Management Division ACSU = Automated Case System

Comments/Remarks

We met with several FBI staff responsible for conducting namechecks for State Department visa security clearances. These officials described the namecheck procedures they use for SAOs (security advisory opinion) namechecks. They said that the cables come into the Communication Center electronically. They print out the cables and send them to their namecheck division. They then check the names against the FBI's universal indices. We inquired as to whether FBI was doing namechecks for visa applicants that fell into the 20-day hold category. They said that the namecheck divisions at FBI headquarters were not doing these checks because the only way they do namechecks for State is if they receive a cable. The 20day hold does not generate a cable for each application - the names are collected on an Excel spreadsheet and put onto a CD-Rom instead. The FBI officials said that putting the names on a CD-Rom does not constitute proper communication with the FBI; the FBI wants to receive the information on a cable. They said that they were upset that the State Department was telling "the whole world" that FBI was failing to meet the

Pagel

Record of Interview

Prepared by: Kate Brentzel Date Prepared: 8/15/02 Reviewed by: Type reviewer name here

Index: Type bundle index here DOC Number: 156846 DOC Library: Type library name here Job Code: 320087

namecheck requirement when they saw the problem as being a result of State sending the 20-day names to FBI on a CD-Rom, which does not get the information into the FBI's namecheck division. During the meeting, the FBI officials discussed among themselves the procedures they were putting into place to ensure that the FBI was checking Visas Condor cables. They explained that in the past, the cables were being directed to analysts in the operations and terrorism divisions, who did not necessarily do namechecks. Instead, the analysts may have been filing them for their own background/analytical purposes. The officials said they hoped to have their internal Visas Condor namecheck procedures worked out in the near future. The officials couldn't tell us how many Condor namechecks, if any, the FBI had done since late January, since their data on namechecks was not broken out that way. They said that the cables are simply termed "State teletype." Starting April 1, they had started keeping separate records for the various types of State namechecks and had "very few" Visas Condor namechecks completed. The FBI officials said that they thought the 20-day names were being sent to the National Infrastructure Protection Center (NIPC), and that NIPC was running the 20-day names against the Pentbomb files. We asked for a contact name at NIPC and| jtold us to call] I When we called} [a few days later, he referred us back toj |

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Record of Interview