T5 B71 Misc Files Re Dos Visa Policy 1 Of 3 Fdr- Tipoff Letter Re Program 579

Colleagues and Friends, We felt that at this turning point for the TIPOFF program, we ought to take a moment to reflect. We are still small, comparatively speaking, although we have grown from two to twenty since 1987. In that time, we have made a lot ofphone calls, and sent a lot of reply cables; in fact, we have coordinated with our counterparts in law enforcement, the Intelligence Community, Consular Affairs and the Border Security Community over 70,000 times! The shoe box containing index cards has grown to a database containing over 130,000 names of known or suspected terrorists and members of Russian Organized Crime groups, contributed to by 104 agencies, organizations and other entities. On behalf of the Department of State, our tiny staff has engineered formal data sharing agreements with two countries-Canada and Australia—that have given an added layer of security to our nation. Our support to America's first line of defense, Consular officers, expanded in 1991 to include INS and Customs inspectors at over 300 ports of entry around and throughout the United States. No one else was getting names from our most classified information sources to our Customs and Immigration inspectors consistently and reliably, so TIPOFF took on that responsibility as well, resulting in over f170 intercepts of hijackers, bombers, assassins, hostage holders and other criminal felons at US borders, some even on the day this letter was written. For seventeen years, the TIPOFF staff coordinated CLASS "hits," when a visa applicant's name matches a name exported to CLASS from TIPOFF, and Port of Entry "hits," when a known or suspected terrorist watch listed in TIPOFF arrives at a US border crossing. In addition, the TIPOFF-Crime program has enabled the detection of over 400 contract killers, extortionists, money launders and other criminals either applying for visas or attempting to enter our homeland. Our moves to the Terrorist Threat Integration Center (TTIC) and the Terrorist Screening Center (TSC) are a sad occasion; a family is being split up. However, it is now time for change. With our partners in The Analysis Corporation, however, TIPOFF built the bridges that will facilitate the sharing of information between the newly created centers. As TIPOFF is assimilated, it will become the core information source for those two new institutions. With the moves, will come increased capabilities and the realization of several long sought goals: soon, cops on the beat will have access to names in TIPOFF and airline passengers throughout America will be safer because TIPOFF data will be used to screen and detect those who might terrorize our skies. Other missions will follow, and the legacy TIPOFFstaff with its combined 262 years of intelligence experience will be there in the forefront accepting the new challenges making sure no terrorists are left behind. We will miss the daily contact with our friends, and the camaraderie that has helped us do our job. We thank all those with whom we have worked, and hope this book brings back memories of a job well done. With warmest regards, The TIPOFF Staff

TIPOFF Section One: - Mission - Operational Flow - CLASS Stats - AlQaida Section Two: - IBIS Section Three: - TIPPIX Section Four: - Logos - TUSCAN - TACTICS Section Five: - TIPOFF Crime Section Six: - TIPOFF Viper Section Seven: - What Might Have Been - TLC - Logo - Mission