Analysis: Visa security is critical to preventing terrorist attacks

Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab's failed attempt to bomb Northwest Airlines Flight 253 on Christmas Day is another reminder that a visa is priceless to a terrorist. It is the golden key that allows easy passage to the United States. If the intelligence on Abdulmutallab had been properly analyzed, his visa would have been quickly revoked and he would have been denied access to Flight 253.

We must go back to basics and strengthen the role of the Homeland Security Department in visa issuance, review and security.

Certainly, we must continue to improve methods and technologies for screening and detecting explosives carried by airline passengers, but our highest priority is to remember the lesson of the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks and the attempted Christmas Day bombing: Our first line of defense against terrorism is intelligence and visa security.

Yes, visa security. It's not an easy, 30-second sound bite and it takes a little more explaining, but it might be our best defense. Without a valid visa, America's enemies will not be able to lawfully enter the United States at all.

This does not mean we should in any way diminish America's role as a gateway to visitors from around the world. Common-sense security measures and an open and welcoming culture are not mutually exclusive. Revoking Abdulmutallab's visa would have done nothing to interfere with the travel plans of any other passenger boarding a flight to America.

When it was initially revealed that the United States granted visas to the Sept. 11 terrorists, Congress wisely directed the new Homeland Security Department to take a larger role in visa security. Prior to that, the State Department had exercised a historically lax approach to visa security.

As DHS' first undersecretary for border and transportation security, it was my responsibility to fulfill the congressional mandate to establish a visa security office, deploy visa security agents to priority and at-risk embassies, and identify visa seekers who might pose a risk to the United States.

Before DHS was created, visa security checks were limited. Consular officers would interview visa applicants at U.S. embassies worldwide, they would conduct automated name checks against watch lists of known terrorists, and they would obtain the applicants' fingerprints and a digital photograph. Now a visa security agent complements the State Department's efforts, applying a keen law enforcement perspective to further check applicants who are either "not yet known" or flagged, to stop them from reaching the United States.

The DHS visa security office's deployment of agents to embassies has been limited due to resistance from the State Department and a lack of funding. State contends its employees do the job adequately and that visa security agents can do their work remotely in Washington. Clearly the former is inaccurate; the Christmas Day bombing attempt is a case in point. But what of the latter assertion?

The DHS inspector general has found that the successful vetting of visas requires a hands-on presence at the embassy. On the ground, visa security agents can better connect local intelligence (such as that given by Abdulmutallab's father to the U.S. embassy in Nigeria). They also can re-interview applicants if necessary, applying trained law enforcement and security perspectives the State Department simply does not offer.

In one instance cited by the IG in a July 2008 report, an applicant applied for a student visa at an overseas embassy. Based on available information, the consular officer initially approved the application. The visa security agent further vetted the applicant and produced information revealing that the applicant's uncle was the subject of a terrorism investigation. Because of the agent's work, additional information was provided to the FBI about the uncle and, based on the agent's recommendation, the consular officer denied the student visa.

In 2007 alone, DHS visa agents recommended denials due to security concerns for more than 700 visa applicants. Regrettably, agents are posted in fewer than 15 embassies, which is less than 10 percent of all U.S. embassies and consulates. This needs to change immediately.

Logic suggests that if hundreds in high-risk areas have been denied visas, other locations might also require a close look. What is more, America's enemies are smart and resourceful. Soon they will figure out where their chances of obtaining a U.S. visa are greatest, if they haven't done so already.

There is another advantage to the role of Homeland Security deploying visa security agents, and that is another avenue of redress in the event an error is made and a legitimate traveler is wrongly denied a visa. A visa security agent can review the intelligence and provide checks and balances for an imperfect human system.

Congress must place a priority on funding these critical visa security positions. The Obama administration needs to make sure the State and Homeland Security departments are working together on this important mission because, as it is, nearly a decade after the Sept. 11 attacks, terrorists still are arriving on planes.

As President Obama said, this is "totally unacceptable."

Asa Hutchinson, president and chief executive officer of Hutchinson Group consulting in Little Rock, Ark., is former undersecretary for border and transportation security at DHS.