re: "State Department reform: Much ado about nothing?"

Thomas M. Hill at The Brookings Institution ("a nonprofit public policy organization") is thinking about State Department's reorganization plan.

Money quote(s):

"A second rumored reform to fold State’s Bureau of Consular Affairs and Bureau of Population, Refugees, and Migration into the Department of Homeland Security came under attack from Senators Ben Cardin (D-Md.) and Chris Coons (D-Del.) as well as House Democrats. Senator Cardin stated, “I firmly believe the State Department should remain the face of America to the world and the entry point for foreigners traveling here, for consular activities and refugee resettlement.”"

It's fine for all options to be on the table and to give consideration to major changes.  It's not necessarily a bad thing to have to stop and consider why things are being done a certain way or why things are a certain way.  If nothing else, Sec. Tillerson and others now have a firmer grasp of why it makes sense for State to be the "front end" of the visa and other consular services, even where there are shared and even overlapping responsibilities with DHS.

"The opposition to these rumored reforms was so significant that Secretary Tillerson felt compelled to include a slide in the reorganization plan preview titled “what redesign is not” and saying, “there is no intention by State or USAID to undertake the following actions at this time: moving Consular Affairs to DHS… Dismantling State or USAID…”"

Glad that's settled then.

The Hill - Diminishing American diplomacy around the globe a dangerous prospect

Brett Bruen at The Hill ("It signals the important issues of the moment.") makes some nice arguments about the importance of U.S. diplomacy to real life Americans.

Money quote(s):

"You’re robbed on a trip overseas. It’s late on a Friday night. A short message at the American Embassy informs you that due to budget cuts they no longer provide afterhours service. No help will be available until Monday. Even then, you’ll face long lines and limited options. Can our citizens really do without diplomats?"

Most consular services are supported by fees.  Application fees for visas, processing fees for passports, notarial fees; you get the picture.

There are some instances where there's no fee charged; in death cases, in assisting victims of crime, in visiting U.S. citizens detained, arrested, or imprisoned abroad.  That comes out of overhead.  Embassies and consulates (and the Bureau of Consular Affairs which pays the salaries of consular staff) eat the cost; the paying customers subsidize the non-paying ones.

One of the concerns about (possibly) moving the visa and passport missions to DHS is the question of who then shoulders the burden of some of the most sensitive functions of consular work, assisting U.S. citizens abroad?  Along with that, who pays for it?  Would State retain those responsibilities?  Would DHS assume them?  If the fees ($2 billion annually) were to move along with the visa and passport function to DHS, is Congress then going to begin appropriating a budget (which it hasn't had to do in decades) to pay for those non-fee generating services?

"In defending diplomacy, we too often talk in bold and broad terms. World peace. International trade. America’s standing on the global stage. These goals seem detached from the kinds of things that impact people every day. Less heralded are the concessions achieved by our negotiators that make the world a fairer place to do business. Few will connect the fact Americans need a visa to so few countries with the work of diplomacy. There are no parades for the war that didn’t happen."

Americans may travel to so many countries around the world needing to get a visa beforehand that some are honestly surprised when they encounter a situation where they do.  Naturally, that tends to happen (since nowadays nobody books trips through travel agencies which might have warned them) when they try to board a flight for their dream vacation destination and are denied boarding.  Even more naturally, that will happen as they try to change plans at an airport overseas and on a weekend in a city where they don't understand the language, they have no hotel reservations, and there is no U.S. consulate.

"There are those in the West Wing who doubt diplomats’ support for Trump’s foreign policies. Yet, every senior diplomat in Foggy Bottom served under Republican and Democratic administrations. They did so because they are guided by a belief in American principles, not party."

It's true our diplomats genuinely put country before party.  Nonetheless, it's also true that the last eight years really muddied those waters, especially in the minds of those who watched from the other side of the aisle.

Politico - State Department's No. 2 tries to buck up staff morale ahead of reorganization

Nahal Toosi at Politico ("We reach the most influential people in the country") spoke with two unnamed sources about a town-hall meeting held by the new deputy secstate.

Money quote(s):

"Sullivan also urged diplomats and other employees to take media reports on the department's woes with a grain of salt."

Ain't that the truth!  That might even have been one of CAA's very points on his own input to the employee survey, but with the point that the new management shouldn't believe everything it reads in the media about the Department and the people in it.

"When asked how seriously the Trump administration is taking a proposal that the State Department's consular services be transferred to the Department of Homeland Security,Sullivan indicated that the leadership at State intends to keep the division under its umbrella. He acknowledged, however, that all options remain on the table."

Well, he pretty much has to say that.  What would be the point of all the working groups and their recommendations if major decisions like these have already been made by top management?

re: "Darwinian Tourism Still Thrives In Egypt"

DMartyr at The Jawa Report ("Sand people: get it?") accounted for two American tourists who went missing in Egypt.

Money quote(s):

"Many parts of the world are not a safe place for foreigners. We, living in America, tend to take security for granted. Travel the world, enjoy your life. Just use a little common sense."

Many places in the world are no more dangerous than your home town. The dangers in those places, however, will often take forms different from the hazards you routinely avoid in your everyday life.

Of course, some places are way more dangerous than your home town.

Americans planning overseas travel would do well always and everywhere to take a lot at the Country Specific Information that the State Department's Bureau of Consular Affairs takes such pains to compile and update.

2/3

re: "Two American Tourists Kidnapped In Egypt"

Ace at Aces of Spades HQ noted the misadventure that can befall tourists in dangerous places.

Money quote(s):

"I hate to cast any aspersions on any victims of barbarity, but please, Americans, do not travel to politically unstable parts of the world." (Emphasis in original text. - CAA.)

Any American who's not a regular, experienced international traveler (and those who are, as well) would do well always and often by visiting, and reading, about their destinations before booking their reservations.

You see, the State Department and its minions abroad take great pains to prepare these exhaustive compilations of Country Specific Information for every country in the world. (And then they make sure to update them at least once a year!)

So do yourself a favor. An informed traveler is less likely to be one of our emergency customers abroad.

"2010 was a record year for tourism in Egypt. This year it's down half. And this incident won't help."

2/3

re: "State Department: America’s Increasingly Irrelevant Concierge"

Peter Van Buren at We Meant Well ("How I Helped Lose the Battle for the Hearts and Minds of the Iraqi People") leveled a criticism of the Department of State (which reminds me of Amb. Bolton's joke about the UN*).

Money quote(s):

"A Government Accountability Office (GAO) report released July 16 shows that overall more than one fourth of all State Department Foreign Service positions are either unfilled or are filled with below-grade employees. What should be staggering news pointing out a crisis in government is in fact barely worth a media mention in that State’s lack of personnel is silently tracking its increasing irrelevance to the United States, sliding into the role of America’s Concierge abroad."

&

"At the senior levels, the alleged leaders of America’s diplomacy, the number is 36 percent vacant or filled with “stretch” assignments, people of lower rank and experience pressed into service. At the crucial midranks, the number is 26 percent. Entry level jobs are at 28 percent, though it is unclear how some of those can be filled with stretch assignments since they are already at the bottom."

CAA had always assumed that the midranks (or midgrades) were where the shortages were the worst, and that the Senior Foreign Service was relatively flush.

I stand corrected.

"In fact though, it is much worse. Within State’s Foreign Service ranks, there exists the Consular Bureau and everyone else. Consular stands quite separate from the other Foreign Service Officers in that Consular employees have very specific worker bee jobs processing passports and visas and are not involved in the “traditional” diplomatic tasks we know and love such as maintaining inter-government relations, writing reports, negotiating treaties, rebuilding Afghanistan and all that. Many of these jobs are filled because they have to be, cash cow that issuing visas is for increasingly foreign tourism dependent third world America. That means broken down by function, it is likely that there are even larger gaps in vacancies in traditional diplomatic roles than even the sad percentages suggest."

The Bureau of Consular Affairs (CA) is unusual within the Department of State for several reasons.

First, CA is the only functional bureau with effective control of the assignments of an entire "cone" (or "career track" in current parlance) within the Foreign Service.

(A quick primer: The Foreign Service comprises FS generalist officers who are commissioned officers of the U.S. Foreign Service as well as a number of cadres of Foreign Service Specialists who have specific skill sets such as couriers, diplomatic security special agents, physicians, nurses, engineers, office managers, &tc. Within the generalist corps, there are five "cones" or "career tracks" by which each FSO is designated: Political, Economic, Management, Public Diplomacy, and Consular.)

So CA controls which FSOs get those FS jobs, domestic and overseas, which are designated as being Consular. Most of those will go to FSO whose "cone" is Consular, but some will go to FSOs seeking to work outside their own "cone" for whatever reason. Since every FSO spends at least a year (usually more like 2-3) doing consular work during their first two overseas assignments, it's not like they're coming to it cold even if it's not their official career track.

There isn't any other bureau within State which manages to do this for any of the remaining four career tracks, no matter what that bureau's name or responsibilities would suggest.

Second, is money. Mr. Van Buren's suggestion that consular work is a "cash cow" is not without merit. Some years ago a deal was struck whereby much of the money collected in consular fees (such as passport and visa fees) would stay with the Department of State rather than going directly to the Treasury Department's general revenue coffers.

By law, visa and other consular fees are adjusted on a regular basis to reflect the actual costs of providing those services, to the best of State's ability to account for them. But that includes a lot of salaries and other costs that would otherwise have to be included in budget requests and congressional appropriations. Maintaining the Department's ability to keep bringing in those dollars is not an insignificant issue.

"GAO says in its report that “Although the State Department is attempting to compensate by hiring retirees and placing current civil service employees in Foreign Service jobs, it ‘lacks a strategy to fill those gaps.’”

(State has 10,490 Civil Service employees and was only able to convert four employees to the Foreign Service. That’s a 0.03813 percent conversion rate to help bridge the gap, so much for that idea. Want another perspective? Here’s why some Civil Servants might pass on the chance to become FSOs.)."

Linking to The Skeptical Bureaucrat is always a good idea. More web logs should follow suit.

"State’s somnolent response to what should be a crisis call (anyone wish to speculate on what the response might be to a report that the military is understaffed by 36 percent at the senior levels?) tells the tale. It really doesn’t matter, and even State itself knows.

What vibrant it-really-matters institution could persist with staffing gaps over time as gaping as State’s? Seriously friends, if your organization can continue to mumble along with over one out of four slots un/underfilled, that kinda shows that you don’t matter much."

To put this into a more longterm perspective, staffing gaps this significant, if not larger, have existed since at least the end of the Cold War and the Clinton Administration, which bade us all to do more with less. The "Peace Dividend" as it was called.

As I heard K.T. McFarland say on the radio one morning, "you don't do more with less, you do less with less."

State had to come up with the staffing for all those new embassies within the Newly Independent States (NIS) of the Former Soviet Union (FSU). And they had to do it without adding a single new position.

State not only didn't add a single new position, for some years it failed to even hire enough new FSOs to make up for attrition.

So it attrited.

In some years, the Department didn't even administer the Foreign Service Written Examination (FSWE) since it had so many qualified candidates already sitting on their Register, waiting for "The Call."

That started to turn around when Colin Powell was secstate and he got Congress to provide funding for the Diplomatic Readiness Initiative (DRI). The DRI was supposed to hire above attrition, to make up for the years of not-particularly-benign neglect.

It was also intended to establish sufficient numbers of FSO above the number of positions needed to be filled that FSOs would be able to complete necessary training (like learning foreign languages) to do their jobs when they got there, without leaving the job positions vacant for too long.

This is known as a "training float."

Of course, 9/11 and the personnel staffing needs of wartime wiped out all that progress, and of the Diplomacy 2.0 follow-on to the DRI.

We're now in "Diplomacy 3.o" and there's no sign that we're all that closer to solving the problem.

"The most obvious sign of State’s irrelevance is the militarization of foreign policy. There really are more military band members than State Department Foreign Service Officers. The whole of the Foreign Service is smaller than the complement aboard one aircraft carrier. Despite the role that foreign affairs has always played in America’s drunken intercourse abroad, the State Department remains a very small part of the pageant. The Transportation Security Administration has about 58,000 employees; the State Department has about 22,000. The Department of Defense (DOD) has nearly 450,000 employees stationed overseas, with 2.5 million more in the US.

At the same time, Congress continues to hack away at State’s budget. The most recent round of bloodletting saw State lose some $8 billion while DOD gained another $5 billion. The found fiver at DOD will hardly be noticed in their overall budget of $671 billion. The $8 billion loss from State’s total of $47 billion will further cripple the organization. The pattern is familiar and has dogged State-DOD throughout the war of terror years. No more taxi vouchers and office supplies for you! What you do get for your money is the militarization of foreign policy." (Bold typeface added for emphasis. - CAA.)

&

"(T)he combatant commands are already the putative epicenters for security, diplomatic, humanitarian and commercial affairs in their regions. Local leaders receive them as powerful heads of state, with motorcades, honor guards and ceremonial feats. Their radiance obscures everything in its midst, including the authority of US ambassadors."

Combatant commanders (who used to be called "commanders-in-chief" until a stop was put to it; there can be only one CINC, after all) have a lot more money, people, and other resources than any single U.S. ambassador is likely, ever, to have on tap.

That matters.

Officially, a U.S. ambassador is the personal representative of the president and, in the country to which he (or she) is accredited ranks as the equivalent of a four-star general (or admiral).

Of course, the combatant commanders, who are four-star generals (and admirals) have that rank no matter where they may go.

"The increasing role of the military in America’s foreign relations sidelines State. The most likely American for a foreigner to encounter in most parts of the world now, for better or worse, carries a weapon and drives a tank."

That's why he's called the "strategic corporal."

"Lop off a quarter or so of the Foreign Service for Consular work, which hums by more or less independent of the rest of the State Department.

That leaves for the understaffed Department of State pretty much only the role of concierge. America’s VIPs and wanna be VIPs need their hands held, their security arranged, their motorcades organized and their Congressional visits’ hotels and receptions handled, all tasks that falls squarely on the Department of State and its embassies abroad. “Supporting” CODELS (Congressional Delegations’ visits to foreign lands) is a right of passage for State Department employees, and every Foreign Service Officer has his/her war stories to tell."

Consular work is one of the State Department's core missions, looking after the interests of our U.S. citizens abroad. So it's not something one needs to be apologizing after.

And CAA could tell you about the gang of drunken congressmen who poured off of their VIP flight..... but he won't.

_____

* Amb. Bolton's joke: "The Secretariat building in New York has 38 stories. If it lost ten stories, it wouldn't make a bit of difference"

7/18

re: "Crawford @Telegraph (Again): Non-MTS"

Charles Crawford at Blogoir ("A digital hybrid of blog and memoir presented on a daily basis, or not.") shared some of his other writing.

Money quote(s):

"From good if over-optimistic or even naive intentions you can end up in a hopeless place, where no good move is available. This is why the eurozone problem is so difficult for our top policy-makers."

Bonus quote:

"(A) Scary Thought about FCO consular work: what would HMG do if Greece's money system crashed during peak holiday season, leaving a million Brits stranded there with cash machines not working?

The FCO mind boggles."

CAA earnestly hopes someone or several someones back in the (U.S.) Bureau of Consular Affairs (i.e., the CA "mother ship") is "thinking the unthinkable" about the Eurozone and doing a little bit of contingency planning.

11/4

re: "Visa Adjudicators Needed? We Have the Best Suggestion Ever - Unmarried FSOs Pay Attention, Please"

Thanks to Domani Spero at Diplopundit ("Just one obsessive observer, diplomatic watcher, opinionator and noodle newsmaker monitoring the goings on at Foggy Bottom and the worldwide available universe.") for the link, quote, and the mention.

What she said:

"(A)fter I posted this, I got the best suggestion ever from Consul-at-Arms that I felt darn compelled to pass along"

What I said:

"Obviously, the thing to do is require unmarried FSOs to chose
English-fluent spouses from one of the BRIC countries until further
notice."

Her response:

"Oh, yeah! I am so looking forward to a BRIC-dating service sponsored by the Consular Affairs Bureau ...

Well, aren't you?

Didn't you know that these four countries, combined, currently account for more than a quarter of the world's land area and more than 40% of the world's population? Apparently, Goldman Sachs has argued that, since the four BRIC countries are developing rapidly, by 2050 their combined economies could eclipse the combined economies of the current richest countries of the world.

So, if Goldman Sachs is right on this, a BRIC-matching/dating service now, would be an excellent investment for the future of consular affairs!"

re: "Why diplo-spouses can't get real love at the State Department - they are headaches, especially when they are heard and seen"

Domani Spero at Diplopundit ("Just one obsessive observer, diplomatic watcher, opinionator and noodle newsmaker monitoring the goings on at Foggy Bottom and the worldwide available universe.") expands on the problems related to FS family-member employment.

Money quote(s):

"(T)he screener probably thought you were a foreign born spouse who speaks English learned from Sesame Street."

The old joke is that you can tell where a (male) FSO had his first assignment by the nationality of his wife.

This is true just often enough that it remains funny today. For values of "funny."

"Some years ago, we were at a dinner hosted by one of the Rising Stars in the Consular Bureau, who by the way, is now an ambassador over there. Anyway, one of the guests was an FSO with a spouse who was formerly an FSN with considerable experience in consular work. Now the FSO wanted to know if his English-speaking, embassy veteran wife, may be allowed to take the ConGen course. The Rising Star then also insinuated that most EFMs can't pass the basic English skills tests and that most EFMs at ConGen quit or flunk the course. In not so many words, the answer was like ... don't bother dude, find her a hobby instead.

It was most shocking to the FSN-EFM who had worked for a consular section for some dozen years, shocking to her husband who had at that time, far less experience in consular work than the wife, and shocking to us the poor audience, who had the misfortune of observing firsthand a bureaucracy that saw numbers rather than individuals."

Not being a "rising star," and having both worked side-by-side (as a junior officer) with EFM consular associates and as a supervisor of EFM consular staff later in my career, what I take from the perceived scarcity of English-language proficiency among EFMs that not that they should be discounted. Rather, my lesson-learned is that where they exist they should be exploited!

(But then, I'm not a "rising star.")

"The better paying jobs at the embassy are in the Consular Section, of course. Unlike most sections in the mission, the consular folks actually has (sic) money they can tap to request and pay for additional employees. And sometimes, you do get lucky when you have real leaders in the captain's chair. Other times, you get lemons, too, although CA hates to advertise that. But ConGen has always been a tad "complicated." I mean, management often wants the EFMs because they are cheaper, but they really would rather have junior officers if they have a choice. They want EFMs to fill in an empty slot, but they won't pay for you to go back to DC and take the course. Also some well-qualified EFMs can't get consular gigs because managers worry that they'd get bored over repetitive mindless work, go on leave during the peak visa season, take off to take care of kids or school issues, demand their Highest Previous Rate (if previously held a higher pay grade than advertised) and yada, yada, yada."

The Consular Section has (some) money because Congress insists that fees be charged for services provided, both visa- and citizenship-related. Said fees must reflect the actual cost to the State Department for providing said services. Every year or so a "cost of services" survey is conducted by experts in this sort of thing to figure out just what the true costs are. Every time they do this they get a little bit better at ferretting out "hidden" costs and overhead/support expenditures that make it possible to provide consular services. Also, every time they do this, some previously "free" service gets a fee attached to it. Annoucements of updated fee schedules are routinely greeted by howls of indignation from those who depend on these services.

However, since there are not congressmen or senators elected by our citizens-abroad-at-large, after a little bit of chest-thumping and pronouncing, the new fee schedule goes into effect.

"The bottom line I'm told -- there is a need for MANY more low-level visa adjudicators in the so -called BRIC countries (Brazil, Russia, China and India). Some can be filled by EFMs, but not all, even if all EFMs wanted to do so. They have to be filled by language-qualified applicants, they have to be filled full time, and filling them cannot depend on the availability of EFMs. The word out there is that EFM employment opportunities will not be reduced. Where language-qualified EFMs are available, they will be used."

Obviously, the thing to do is require unmarried FSOs to chose English-fluent spouses from one of the BRIC countries until further notice.

re: "You've Been Asked To Assist With an Evacuation. Now What?"

Paul Mayer at DipNote ("U.S. Department of State official blog") tells us what it's like to "answer the call."

Money quote(s):

"What do you do when you when you're a State Department consular officer and you're asked to travel halfway around the world, on very short notice, to assist with a crisis the breadth of which is still unknown?

First, you ask permission. When I was asked on Sunday, January 30 whether I would be willing to fly to assist in the evacuation of U.S. citizens from Egypt, the first person I asked was my wife."

Damn skippy you do!

"After having endured separation when I traveled to Haiti in January 2010, my wife asked if I really wanted to go.

I did. I wanted to go because the duty to assist U.S. citizens in a crisis is one of the State Department's core responsibilities. Colleagues in the Bureau of Consular Affairs and the Operations Center's Crisis Management and Support office work and plan diligently for this sort of thing. They run exercises at embassies and consulates worldwide. They help you get prepared in advance, help you think how many people will need to travel, where they'll need to go, and how long they'll stay. They help us get the airplane tickets and they tell us where we'll be sleeping (even if it's on the floor of the embassy). They have our backs every step of the way."

Read the whole thing.

CTV - Ten countries experts say are too dangerous to visit

From my archive of press clippings:

CTV.ca

Ten countries experts say are too dangerous to visit

Updated Sun. May. 10 2009 7:46 AM ET

Lauren Sherman, Forbes.com

Though many travelers have crossed Mexico off their summer wish lists, it's not the only region with a travel alert.

Read the whole article here.

Snippet(s):

"In April alone, the U.S. government warned against travel in Yemen, Georgia, Sudan and the Central African Republic. Terrorism, crime and civil unrest are among the reasons the State Department's Bureau of Consular Affairs warns Americans to avoid these countries."

re: "The Importance of Making a Good First Impression"

NoDoubleStandards at Calling a Spade a Spade ("Rants of a Foreign Service Officer on the things that matter to you -- and matter to you not at all") had some great suggestions for first-line consular managers.

Money quote(s):

"As the wave of anticipation which began with the first day of A-100 crests with the arrival of Flag Day, for those who did not choose consular as their cone, one of the greatest hopes among junior officers about to be assigned to their first posts is this: will I luck out and avoid a consular tour my first time out?"

If anything, not getting consular assignment the first time out puts an entry-level officer at a major disadvantage the first time they are the embassy's duty officer at their first post, having had minimal preparation for dealing with late night calls from distressed American travelers, &tc.

Consular experience will stand every FSO in good stead throughout their careers for just that reason.

".... the reputation consular work still has as salt mine labor, where only sadomasochists spend the bulk of their careers. For everyone else, it's a purgatory one must endure before entering the "promised land" of work in your chosen cone.Think about what a challenge a consular manager faces when she receives a first-tour officer at post full of disappointment that he didn't at least score a rotational job: unhappy, unmotivated, perhaps, and looking to make this a relatively painless two years that will fly by quickly."

The challenge these new FSO's bosses have is to turn the "fly by quickly" and "relatively painless" expectation into something closer to "how do I make the most of this experience."

"(P)eople choose cones based on their own personal interests, their motivations and their personalities. A consular manager can't be expected to convert all his FAST officers into clones of Maura Harty. That said, if a consular officer doesn't appreciate with appropriate gravity the formative role he fills in the careers of the State Department's future leaders, he does us all a great disservice."

"The political section won't want to hear this, but ACS is hands down the most important work done overseas. How many congressionals do you get over botched or insufficient political reporting? And visas? These officers are the first line of defense in protecting our borders. The work consular officers do directly impacts American lives and the security of our nation in tangible -- not theoretical -- ways."

&

"(T)he accolades I treasure most are those I've received doing work that was extremely challenging for me -- jobs where I really felt like a fish out of water.

As officers who recognize the importance if the work CA does, we need to appreciate that the stint of every FAST officer who does consular work matters. Not one should leave their obligatory consular tours vowing never to have a thing to do with consular again. We need to be forward-thinking, understanding that those first two tours often set the tone for an entire career and leave lasting impressions of consular managers and consular work."

I agree about the accolades. When an experienced PD officer (one of the old-timers who came over from USIA) whom I'd worked with as a control officer encouraged me to bid on Public Diplomacy jobs because he thought I handled PD well, that made my month.

re: "Ms. Nancy Redeems Herself ... Just a Little Bit"

The Consul's Files ("Where U.S. consular officers can ...
... ask questions, answer questions, question answers, express frustrations, tell their favorite consular stories, uncensored and anonymous.") has a good memory for legislative inconsistency.

Money quote(s):

"I'm fairly certain that it was Ms. Pelosi who berated CA for attempting to collect payment from Beirut evacuees in 2006; people who had moved to and lived in a place we'd been warning them for years to stay away from. As it was the same Ms. Pelosi who had earlier voted against earmarking funds for Amcit emergency evacuations."

re: "Bulgaria in the Visa Waiver Program?"

Thanks to Bureaucrat at Adventures in Bureaucracy for the mention and the link.

Money quote(s):

"My guess is that the Bulgarians signed on to the MOU, which would make them formal candidates for VWP status. The 72-hour Internet thing sounds a lot like ESTA, and that's only for approved member countries. Unless of course Consular Affairs in the State Department has changed their visa-issuing guidelines -- it's not like I would get that memo -- but somehow I doubt that any consular section is going to guarantee a decision on a visa application in 72 hours. The all-important question now is what the denial rate is in Sofia. If it's anywhere north of ten per cent, I doubt that they will get in within the next few months."

TFT-U - Passports in a flash? How can this be?

The Florida Times-Union


Passports in a flash? How can this be?

Submitted by Ed Stansel on Mon, 01/05/2009 - 17:26.

"Efficient" and "bureaucracy" normally aren't words I string together.
But I was floored by how quickly the State Department processed passport applications for my two sons recently.

Read the whole article here.

Snippet(s):

"We opted not to fork over an extra $60 a head for expedited service because we figured $100 each was extortion enough.

So we were surprised when, eight days later, four official U.S. government envelopes showed up in our mailbox"

"According to the State Department passport Web site, the current turnaround time is about three weeks; two weeks for expedited service.

But eight days? During the holidays? Wow!

So here's to you, U.S. Department of State Bureau of Consular Affairs. Keep up the good work."

&

"You guys set the new standard for efficient bureaucracies."

MSNBC.COM - Passport options: New docs about to debut

From my archive of press clippings:

MSNBC.COM

Passport options: New docs about to debut

Alternative IDs and one odd exemption

By Rob Lovitt

Travel writer

updated 7:39 a.m. CT, Tues., June. 3, 2008

UpdateTimeStamp('633480971987500000');

Have passport, will travel.

Don’t have a passport? Depending on where you’re going and how you plan to get there, you may be OK. Between several new forms of alternative ID and one seldom-publicized loophole, many travelers will be able to cross the border for years to come without that little blue book.

Read the whole article here.

Snippet(s):

"Flashback to this time last year and new rules mandated by the government’s Western Hemisphere Travel Initiative (WHTI).

Faced with regulations requiring a passport for anyone entering the U.S. by land or sea, millions of Americans sent in applications prior to their summer travels.

The flood of paperwork completely swamped the Passport Office, pushing processing times from a few weeks to three months or more.

That, in turn, led to a flurry of frantic calls to Congressional representatives, desperate dashes to the closest passport agency and a slew of stopgap measures designed to deal with the backlog.

In light of the uproar, the government eventually rolled back the requirement to June 1, 2009."

LAT - ACLU seeks release of ex-Hawthorne resident being held in the United Arab Emirates

From my archive of press clippings:

Los Angeles Times

ACLU seeks release of ex-Hawthorne resident being held in the United Arab Emirates

Naji Hamdan, a U.S. citizen, was arrested three months ago on the United States' behalf, the group's lawsuit alleges.

By Raja Abdulrahim

November 20, 2008

The American Civil Liberties Union petitioned the U.S. government Wednesday for the release of a U.S. citizen who, the group alleges, has been under FBI scrutiny for years and has been imprisoned without charge in the United Arab Emirates for three months.

Read the whole article here.

Snippet(s):

"Naji Hamdan, 42, a former Hawthorne resident, was arrested Aug. 29 by Emirates state police at the request of the U.S. government, effectively putting Hamdan in U.S. custody, says the writ of habeas corpus filed by the ACLU in federal court in Washington, D.C., on Wednesday."

&

"A State Department Bureau of Consular Affairs spokeswoman, citing privacy concerns, would not say whether the U.S. government was involved in Hamdan's current detention or whether officials were seeking his release.

The spokeswoman would confirm only that a U.S. citizen was in custody in the Emirates. She said a consular officer had met with the citizen on Oct. 19.

Richard Olson, U.S. ambassador to the Emirates, and the U.S. consulate sent letters to Rep. Maxine Waters (D-Los Angeles) and Hamdan's wife, Mona Mallouk, confirming that a U.S. consul met with Hamdan while he was in custody and planned to meet with him again, according to court documents.

"There have not been any charges filed against Mr. Hamdan at this time," Consul R. Sean Cooper wrote to Waters' office on Nov. 5. "This extended detention, while very unusual from our American perspective, does not run counter to the laws of the United Arab Emirates." "

NYT - A New Web Site for Students Abroad

From my archive of press clippings:

New York Times

June 1, 2008

Comings and Goings

A New Web Site for Students Abroad

By HILARY HOWARD

Exchange students and young United States citizens now have a Web site to use as a resource for international travel. Created and maintained by the State Department’s Bureau of Consular Affairs, the site, studentsabroad.state.gov, is part of a larger campaign to promote smart, safe travel by students.

Read the whole article here.