International Tracking of Sex Offenders Working Group 

White Paper 

An interim report of the collaborative effort to develop a system for tracking registered sex 

offenders as they depart and enter the United States, as required by 42 U.S.C. §16928 

This proposed system has been developed by representatives of the Department of Justice, 

Department of Homeland Security, Department of State, and Department of Defense 

December 2010 
WHITE PAPER 

The Registered Sex Offender International Tracking System 

I. Legislative Mandate 

The specific mandate regarding establishing a system for tracking registered sex offenders 

travelling internationally is found in 42 U.S.C. § 16928: 

§ 16928. Registration of sex offenders entering the United States 

The Attorney General, in consultation with the Secretary of State and the 

Secretary of Homeland Security, shall establish and maintain a system for 

informing the relevant jurisdictions about persons entering the United States who 

are required to register under this title. The Secretary of State and the Secretary of 

Homeland Security shall provide such information and carry out such functions as 

the Attorney General may direct in the operation of the system. 

The Final Sex Offender Registration and Notification Act (SORNA) Guidelines, issued on 

July 1, 2008, discuss this particular section and expand upon the statutory language as follows: 

Relevant provisions include SORNA § 128, which directs the Attorney 

General to establish a system for informing domestic jurisdictions about persons 

entering the United States who are required to register under SORNA, and 18 

U.S.C. 2250(a)(2)(B), which makes it a federal crime for a sex offender to travel 

in foreign commerce and knowingly fail to register or update a registration as 

required by SORNA. To carry out its responsibilities under these provisions, the 

Department of Justice needs to know if sex offenders registered in U.S. 

jurisdictions are leaving the country, since such offenders will be required to 

resume registration if they later return to the United States to live, work, or attend 

school while still within their registration periods. Also, both for sex offenders 

who are convicted in the United States and then go abroad, and for sex offenders 

who are initially convicted in other countries, identifying such sex offenders when 

they enter or reenter the United States will require cooperative efforts between 

the Department of Justice (including the United States Marshals Service) and 

agencies of foreign countries. As a necessary part of such cooperative activities, 

foreign authorities may expect U.S. authorities to inform them about sex 

offenders coming to their jurisdictions from the United States, in return for their 

advising the United States about sex offenders coming to the United States from 

their jurisdictions. For this reason as well, federal authorities in the United States 

will need information about sex offenders leaving domestic jurisdictions to go 

abroad in order to effectively carry out the requirements of SORNA § 128 and 

enforce 18 U.S.C. 2250(a)(2)(B). [emphasis added] 

To this end, the International Tracking of Sex Offenders Working Group (IWG) was 

convened by the Office of Sex Offender Sentencing, Monitoring, Apprehending, 

Registering, and Tracking (SMART) in 2008 and has met regularly since that time. The 

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Working Group is comprised of multiple components of the Departments of Justice, 

Homeland Security, State and Defense. 

II. Goals of the Tracking System 

Our goal in developing this international tracking system for registered sex offenders is to 

assist law enforcement in protecting public safety domestically and abroad by accurately 

identifying any registered sex offender who enters or departs the United States and immediately 

relaying that information to appropriate law enforcement agencies for any additional action that 

might be warranted. 

III. Foundations of the Tracking System 

The Registered Sex Offender International Tracking System (RSOITS) will be developed 

utilizing the existing resources and infrastructure of various components of the Department of 

Justice (DOJ), Department of Homeland Security (DHS), and State Department (State). The 

foundation of RSOITS is the ability of these components to utilize federal criminal history 

databases and communication networks in a way that effectively transmits relevant, timely 

information to law enforcement. 

It is important to note at the outset that many federally-recognized Indian Tribes do not have 

meaningful access to the criminal history databases described throughout this White Paper. The 

recently passed Tribal Law and Order Act of 2010 will facilitate access to some of these 

databases. There are 565 federally recognized tribes. Approximately 192 of 212 eligible tribes 

elected to be SORNA registration jurisdictions and any tracking system which is developed must 

include solutions for effective communication with all SORNA registration jurisdictions, 

including tribes. 

The Office of Sex Offender Sentencing, Monitoring, Apprehending, Registering, and 

Tracking (SMART), located in the Office of Justice Programs of the Department of Justice, has 

spearheaded the effort to develop RSOITS. 

A. Federal Databases 

One of the most widely recognized issues among federal law enforcement, particularly after 

the passage of the USA PATRIOT Act in 2001, is the existence of multiple, often duplicative, 

criminal justice databases. The work of consolidating these databases, improving interagency 

access, and improving interoperability is ongoing. RSOITS relies most heavily on four federal 

databases: 

1) CLASS: The Consular Lookout and Support System (CLASS) is the database 

operated and used by the State Department to vet individuals applying for nonimmigrant and immigrant visas in order to travel to the United States. All applicants 

for a U.S. passport are also checked against the CLASS database. CLASS is a name 

checking system that uses a series of algorithms to compare names and other 

biographical information in a loose matching fashion and provides possible matches 

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back for review by Consular Officers, Visa Officers, or Passport Specialists. CLASS 

contains biographical information from a wide range of sources including but not 

limited to: limited extracts of NCIC data regarding Federal and some State/Local 

Felony Warrants; information provided by the U.S. Marshals Service; information 

provided by HHS regarding individuals who are in arrears for child support; 

information about individuals who have attempted to commit passport or visa fraud; 

and information about individuals who have previously been denied passports or 

visas. 

2) TECS: TECS is operated by U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) and utilized 

by CBP and U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), to conduct 

enforcement checks on individuals seeking to enter or depart the United States. 

TECS is owned by CBP and includes the biographics from databases of over 20 

federal agencies, permitting a real-time check of the National Crime Information 

Center’s National Sex Offender Registry subfolder (NCIC/NSOR) and NCIC’s 

Wanted subfolder (NCIC/Wanted). 

3) NCIC: The National Crime Information Center (NCIC) is operated by DOJ’s Federal 

Bureau of Investigation (FBI). It contains multiple subfolders, including wanted 

persons information (NCIC/Wanted) and the National Sex Offender Registry 

(NSOR). Generally speaking, NCIC is capable of generating automatic notifications 

to different users upon a query and/or ‘hit’ on a particular individual. 

4) NSOR: The National Sex Offender Registry is a subfolder of NCIC and contains 

specific biographic data on registered sex offenders across the country, as entered by 

state and local registry officials. It is a law-enforcement only database and the 

completeness and accuracy of what it contains is the sole responsibility of the 

entering agency. 

SMART is working with the FBI to develop an automatic notification system 

whereby notice will be sent both to DOJ’s United States Marshals Service (USMS) 

and the local sex offender registration agency (SORA) that registered an offender to 

advise them that the United States registered sex offender (USRSO) has been the 

subject of any live query by immigration and border security officials, including CBP 

officers or ICE Special Agents, against NCIC/NSOR. The FBI has indicated that this 

system could be operational within 6-12 months for notification to the USMS. There 

must be 12 months’ notice of any changes to the SORA regarding notification, so that 

process will take longer, up to 18-24 months. 

B. Information Sharing 

RSOITS is based on the immediate transfer of accurate, timely information to appropriate 

law enforcement agencies. The two primary agencies involved in this information exchange are 

USMS and the SORA which is responsible for submitting a USRSO’s record to NSOR. 

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1) USMS 

In the fall of 2009 the USMS opened its National Sex Offender Targeting Center (NSOTC). 

NSOTC assists law enforcement agencies by supplementing and coordinating efforts to identify, 

prioritize, and investigate noncompliant sex offenders for appropriate action. It is comprised of 

USMS personnel and representatives from other participating agencies and organizations. 

NSOTC personnel have real-time access to NCIC. 

2) SORA

When a SORA submits information about a USRSO to NSOR, that information is 

immediately made available via NCIC. If a criminal justice agency queries NCIC and an 

individual has a record in NSOR, a notice of that fact—along with detailed information about the 

offender and contact information for the SORA which submitted the record—is included in the 

return which they receive. 

 

IV. Tracking Registered Sex Offenders Departing the United States 

There are fewer restrictions, depending on the mode of travel, on individuals seeking to 

depart the United States than there are on those seeking to enter the United States. This makes 

the implementation of RSOITS more difficult in these cases. However, there are steps that can 

and are being taken to ensure that as many USRSOs departing the United States as possible are 

tracked by RSOITS. 

A. Prior to Departure 

For most forms of international travel, a U.S. Citizen is required to obtain a U.S. Passport. In 

addition, USRSOs are subject to certain requirements regarding the provision of prior notice of 

international travel to their SORA. 

1) Passport Issuance

U.S. Passports are issued by the Passport Services Directorate of the State Department 

Bureau of Consular Affairs (CA). When a person applies for a passport, a name check is run 

through CLASS. As discussed above, the CLASS system does not facilitate a real-time query of 

NCIC/Wanted. Nevertheless, these database checks will result in the detection of any wanted 

sex offender whose data was extracted in a timely manner to CLASS. 

It should be noted that CA’s Visa Services Directorate is currently able to run checks of visa 

applicants against data from NCIC III using the fingerprints collected from nearly all applicants 

for U.S. visas. A parallel sharing of NCIC III data does not exist with CA’s Passport Services 

Directorate. If Passport Services received the same level of data sharing with NCIC III that Visa 

Services does, then passport applicants could be checked at the beginning of the application 

process to determine if they are sex offenders. Passport Services’ checks against NCIC III data 

would need to be name-based rather than fingerprint-based, since fingerprints are not collected 

from passport applicants. 

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Non-fugitive USRSOs are not detected via a search of CLASS. 

 

There are a number of steps that will be taken to help close this identification and notification 

gap. 

First, The Working Group will explore its options, consistent with current legal authorities, 

for developing a process by which SORAs can have a USRSO’s name placed in CLASS and be 

notified prior to a passport being issued. The Working Group has also developed guidance for 

SORAs on how to request that CA deny a passport application due to the presence of a condition 

of probation, parole, or other criminal court order prohibiting international travel. SMART has 

distributed this fact sheet to SORAs. 

Second, we will work with CA and the FBI to determine if there could be any further 

facilitation of NCIC/NSOR information sharing with CLASS such that there could be extracts of 

information to CLASS from NCIC/NSOR or, preferably, a live connection for CA to 

NCIC/NSOR. 

2) Notice by USRSOs to SOR Agencies

SORNA does not currently require reporting of information about travel to foreign countries 

by USRSO’s, unless it involves lodging for a week or more away from the place of residence, or 

going to a foreign country for purposes of residence, employment, or school attendance. Until 

recently it has been left to the discretion of individual SORNA registration jurisdictions whether 

additional conditions relating to international travel will be imposed, such as consistently 

requiring that USRSOs notify the SORA of their intent to leave the country prior to such travel 

taking place. However, proposed Supplemental Guidelines for SORNA, issued in May 2010, 

would generally require registration jurisdictions to have USRSOs report intended travel to a 

foreign country at least twenty-one days in advance. 

SORNA does require that a warrant be issued for the arrest of any fugitive sex offender (if 

the legal requirements are met). The SORA is then required to enter that warrant data into 

NCIC/Wanted. 

In addition, SORNA requires that when a USRSO plans on relocating to a foreign country, 

they must notify their SORA of that fact, and the SORA must update that information on 

NCIC/NSOR and notify the USMS that the USRSO intends to relocate to a foreign country. 

a) Notice to INTERPOL-USNCB

As the world’s largest police organization, the mission of the International Criminal Police 

Organization (INTERPOL) is to assist law enforcement agencies in each of its 188 member 

countries to combat all forms of transnational crime. Through INTERPOL’s secure 

communications network, DOJ’s INTERPOL Washington, United States National Central 

Bureau (USNCB), can notify police authorities in foreign countries that a person of interest (e.g., 

a USRSO) is planning on traveling to their country. USNCB is working in conjunction with 

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other agencies in an ongoing effort to prevent child sex tourism and to provide notification to 

foreign countries, where appropriate. 

We are streamlining the communications process between SORAs and USNCB so that such 

USRSO international travel notification requests can be made by SORAs in a timely and 

efficient manner. USNCB is working closely with NSOTC to streamline communication 

between the two agencies. In fact, an USMS analyst from NSOTC will be stationed at USNCB 

in the near future. 

b) Notice to Foreign Countries

A notification message sent by the USNCB via INTERPOL will serve to effectively notify 

law enforcement in that foreign country that a USRSO intends to travel there. In addition, there 

are approximately eight foreign countries that operate their own sex offender registries, and 

SMART will work with the State Department, DHS, USMS, USNCB, and any other necessary 

federal components to develop systems so that appropriate information can be shared in a secure 

and timely way between domestic SORAs and those foreign sex offender registries. 

3) Summary

Prior to an attempt to depart the United States by a USRSO, the following procedures 

either are already in place, or will be developed. 

a) Passport Issuance 

i. Wanted (Fugitive) Sex Offenders are entered by local law enforcement into 

NCIC/Wanted (an extract of which is queried by CLASS) and/or WIN. 

SMART will work with CA to determine how to provide notification to the 

appropriate law enforcement agencies when a wanted USRSO applies for a 

U.S. passport. 

Once this portion of RSOITS is complete, the law enforcement agency 

that issued the warrant of arrest will be promptly notified of a USRSO’s 

application for a passport, and provided any necessary information so as to 

effect an immediate apprehension, where appropriate. 

ii. Non-Fugitive Sex Offenders generally are not detected in the existing standard 

review process. SMART will work with CA to explore options for how 

notification might be provided to a SORA when a non-fugitive USRSO 

applies for a passport. 

Once this portion of RSOITS is complete, the SORA for a non-fugitive 

USRSO could, where appropriate, be notified that an application for a 

passport has been made, and can take any action it deems appropriate (e.g., 

registering the passport number on receipt, inquiring as to intended travel, 

increasing probation supervision). 

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iii. Proactive Law Enforcement. There currently exists a mechanism by which 

law enforcement, in specified circumstances, can request the denial of a 

passport. SMART, in consultation with Passport Services, has created a fact 

sheet on this topic and will continue to publicize this mechanism to our law 

enforcement and SORA contacts across the country.

This portion of RSOITS enables law enforcement to proactively prevent 

international travel, when circumstances warrant. 

b) Notice to SORA

Once the Proposed SORNA Supplemental Guidelines are adopted, the SORNA standards 

will generally require registration jurisdictions to have their sex offenders provide at least 

twenty-one days’ notice prior to their engaging in international travel. Those notices will be 

provided to the appropriate SORA, and those SORAs will transmit that information to NSOR. 

Working in conjunction with FBI’s Criminal Justice Information Services (FBI/CJIS) the 

International Working Group will develop an automatic notification system whereby any 

offender providing such a notice will have their information transmitted to NSOTC, which will 

in turn provide notification to USNCB and any other appropriate agency to provide notification 

to foreign countries where it might be warranted. 

SORAs remain able to directly notify USNCB if they wish to make a specific request for 

notification to foreign authorities of international travel by a particular individual. 

B. At the Border 

The type and frequency of outbound screening of individuals is dependent, in part, upon the 

manner in which an individual is traveling. 

1) Air and Sea Travel

The Advance Passenger Information System (APIS) is a system operated by CBP. 

Commercial and private aircraft, as well as commercial vessels, are required to deliver their 

passenger/crew manifests to CBP at certain time frames prior to departure from the United 

States. CBP screens this information against numerous databases, including TECS, which 

results in a real-time search of biographics included in NCIC/Wanted and NCIC/NSOR. 

 These biographic background searches at the border for air and sea travelers will result in the 

following: 

i. Wanted (Fugitive) Sex Offenders will have their warrant information entered 

by local law enforcement into NCIC/Wanted and that information will be 

available through TECS to CBP at the time CBP conducts screening of APIS 

data. The International Working Group will work to develop an automatic 

notification process through NCIC/NSOR whereby the issuing law 

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enforcement agency will be made immediately aware that the RSO has made 

an attempt to depart the United States. 

ii. Non-fugitive sex offenders will have their NCIC/NSOR entry queried as part 

of the APIS check. The International Working Group will develop an 

automatic notification system whereby the NSOTC and SORA are 

immediately notified of a USRSO who is departing the country. 

2) Land Travel

At the present time, U.S. officials do not consistently screen individuals who are exiting the 

United States through the land border into Mexico or Canada. CBP indicates that they are 

moving towards conducting outbound checks for all land travelers, but those changes will take 

years to incorporate. Therefore, there is presently no reliable capacity to track USRSOs 

departing the United States via a land route. 

V. Tracking Registered Sex Offenders Entering the United States 

A. Prior to Entry 

1) Foreign Country Notification

Approximately eight foreign countries currently have sex offender registries. The 

International Working Group will seek to develop mutual arrangements where all countries 

registering sex offenders can share accurate information in a timely manner with one another. In 

addition, USNCB currently receives notifications from foreign countries about their sex 

offenders who intend to travel to the United States. 

2) Visa Issuance

The Visa Services Office in the Bureau of Consular Affairs (CA) of the State Department 

handles the issuance of visas for foreign nationals travelling to the United States. Part of the 

process for issuing visas involves a query to a number of different databases. The CLASS 

database is queried, and with limited exceptions (generally diplomatic or official representatives 

of foreign governments and family members, applicants under age 14 or over age 79) all visa 

applicants are fingerprinted, with those prints submitted to the Integrated Automated Fingerprint 

Identification System (IAFIS). In addition, the records in NSOR which contain an FBI number 

(about 95% of the records) are available in IAFIS for fingerprint searches. This may provide an 

additional resource for detecting aliens who are USRSOs who intend to travel to the United 

States. 

If an individual applies for a nonimmigrant visa and has been previously convicted of a sex 

offense, that individual will generally need to apply for a waiver of ineligibility from the 

Admissibility Review Office (ARO) within CBP. As part of the adjudication process, CBP/ARO 

will search NCIC. 

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3) Visa Waiver Countries

There are presently 36 countries participating in the Visa Waiver Program (VWP). To be 

admitted to the United States under the VWP, an individual must apply for travel authorization in 

advance of travel. In order to facilitate that application process, CBP created the Electronic 

System for Travel Authorization (ESTA), which can deny an individual authorization to travel to 

the United States under the VWP. An authorization to travel to the United States is not a 

determination that a traveler is admissible to the United States. That determination is made by a 

CBP Officer at the port of entry. 

VWP travelers are required to have an approved ESTA authorization prior to travel to the 

United States. Visa holders and VWP travelers are screened by CBP at a U.S. port of entry and 

are enrolled in DHS’s US-VISIT program. US-VISIT is the primary source provider of 

biometric identity verification and analysis services for all components and programs within 

DHS. The NSOR records in IAFIS are accessible to authorized DHS components through the 

established biometric interoperability between FBI/CJIS Division’s IAFIS and US-VISIT’s 

IDENT. 

4) LPR Determinations

Immigrant visa (Lawful Permanent Resident or LPR) petitions are processed and adjudicated 

by U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS), an agency within DHS. When an 

individual applies for LPR status, a real-time biographic search of NCIC/Wanted and 

NCIC/NSOR is conducted. 

In addition, ICE is pursuing a policy of requiring a similar NCIC/Wanted and NCIC/NSOR 

biographic check of any individual sponsoring an alien for LPR status. This check on the 

sponsor can be performed by USCIS when the petition is first received. 

The working group will continue to develop the specific processes which are appropriate to 

further the tracking of registered sex offenders travelling abroad and detecting registered sex 

offenders who seek to sponsor an alien for LPR status. 

5) APIS

APIS, described above regarding individuals departing the United States, is also screened for 

all commercial and private air and commercial vessel travelers who intend to enter the United 

States, and all relevant information is transmitted prior to the aircraft or vessel departing for the 

United States. 

6) Summary

Prior to an attempt to enter the United States by a USRSO, the following procedures are 

already in place, or will be developed: 

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i. Wanted (Fugitive) Sex Offenders are entered into NCIC/Wanted by law 

enforcement. CA queries CLASS as part of the visa issuance process and 

submits fingerprints to IAFIS. CLASS contains an extract of the 

NCIC/Wanted file. NSOR records with an FBI number are retrievable in 

IAFIS. CBP’s Admissibility Review Office (CBP/ARO) queries NCIC as part 

of the waiver of ineligibility adjudication process. SMART will work with 

CA to determine how to provide notification to the appropriate law 

enforcement agencies when a USRSO appearing in the NCIC/Wanted 

database applies for a visa or waiver. 

As part of the VWP process, individuals must submit an ESTA 

application. We are still determining which databases are specifically 

searched as part of that process. 

Once this portion of RSOITS is complete, USNCB, the law enforcement 

agency that issued the warrant of arrest, and any other appropriate agency will 

be promptly notified of a wanted USRSO’s application for a visa, and 

provided any necessary information so as to affect an immediate 

apprehension, where appropriate. 

ii. Non-Fugitive Sex Offenders may not be detected in the existing standard 

review process. SMART will work with CA to consider options for detecting 

such USRSOs and providing notification to the SORA when a non-fugitive 

USRSO applies for a visa. 

As part of the VWP ESTA application process, CBP conducts 

enforcement queries. Assuming that these queries are expanded to include 

real-time check of NCIC/NSOR, SMART will develop an automatic 

notification system whereby the SORA is immediately notified of a USRSO 

who is applying for authorization to travel to the United States in anticipation 

of applying for admission under the VWP. 

Once this portion of RSOITS is complete, the SORA for a non-fugitive 

USRSO will be immediately notified that an application for a visa or travel 

under the VWP has been made, or that a waiver of ineligibility has been 

sought, and can take any action it deems appropriate at that time (e.g., 

registering the visa number on receipt, inquiring as to intended travel, 

notifying USNCB, or issuing a warrant). 

B. At the Border 

Regardless of what checks have happened prior to an individual’s arrival at the U.S. border, 

every individual seeking to enter the United States is at a minimum subject to the possibility of a 

further screening by a CBP officer upon arrival in the United States sufficient to identify 

USRSOs. All individuals traveling via commercial and private air or commercial vessel are 

subjected to advance screening and may be subject to further scrutiny upon arrival in the United 

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States. No traveler, whether arriving by air, land, or sea, will be admitted into the United States 

until the inspecting officer is satisfied that the traveler is admissible. However, not every landbased traveler is subjected to the type of further screening, including a TECS query, which 

would be necessary to identify a traveler as an RSO, but CBP is continuing to work towards its 

goal of “100% query.” 

1) TECS

When an individual is subjected to a further screening by CBP, their information is run 

through TECS, which includes a real-time search of NCIC/Wanted and NCIC/NSOR. 

2) Immediate Action and Automatic Notifications

When a CBP Officer gets a ‘hit’ on an individual’s record in NCIC/Wanted through TECS, 

that individual would be subject to arrest at that time. An immediate automatic notification 

would also be sent to the law enforcement agency that issued the warrant of arrest. 

When a CBP Officer gets a ‘hit’ on the NCIC/NSOR database, a number of things may 

occur. First, as described in section III.A.4 above, SMART is working with FBI/CJIS to develop 

an automatic notification system whereby notice will be sent both to USMS and the SORA that 

registered the offender to advise them that their USRSO has entered the country. 

3) Land Travel

For those land travelers that are subjected to a TECS query, the procedure would be the same 

as described above for those traveling by air and sea. 

4) Summary

i. Wanted (Fugitive) Sex Offenders will be subject to arrest following the CBP 

Officer’s query of TECS, which includes a real-time biographic search of 

NCIC/Wanted. The International Working Group will determine how to 

provide notification to the appropriate agencies (e.g., NSOTC, USNCB, 

SORA) when a fugitive USRSO appearing in the NCIC/Wanted database 

arrives (or is expected to arrive) at the border. 

ii. Non-Fugitive Sex Offenders will be subject to further action following the 

CBP Officer’s query of TECS, which includes a real-time biographic search 

of NCIC/NSOR. The International Working Group will assist in the 

development a policy of mandatory secondary inspection by CBP, along with 

automatic notification of both NSOTC and the SORA whenever a USRSO 

attempts to enter the United States. 

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VI. The Registered Sex Offender International Tracking System (RSOITS) 

As discussed throughout this white paper, the International Working Group seeks to establish 

RSOITS as a seamless tracking system for RSOs within the confines of our current immigration 

and other applicable laws. To that end, the International Working Group will develop a system 

using existing resources and personnel that strives to, at a minimum: 

1) Maintain a tracking system for all registered sex offenders departing and entering the 

United States to be operated and housed by the NSOTC; 

2) Enable law enforcement to request that passports not be issued to certain USRSOs; 

3) Notify the appropriate law enforcement agencies and the NSOTC when a wanted 

(fugitive) sex offender: 

a) applies for a passport; 

b) applies for a visa; 

c) seeks authorization to travel under the VWP; 

d) applies for LPR status; 

e) seeks to sponsor someone for LPR status; 

f) attempts to enter the United States at a port of entry; or 

g) attempts to depart the United States from a port of departure. 

4) Notify, where appropriate, the relevant SORA, the NSOTC, and other relevant law 

enforcement agencies when a non-fugitive sex offender: 

a) applies for a passport; 

b) applies for a visa; 

c) seeks authorization to travel under the VWP;; 

d) applies for LPR status; 

e) seeks to sponsor someone for LPR status; 

f) attempts to enter the United States at a port of entry; or 

g) attempts to depart the United States from a port of departure. 

5) In certain circumstances, notify appropriate international law enforcement agencies 

and/or foreign countries when a registered sex offender intends to travel to a foreign 

country. 

VII. Tracking System 

SMART will work with the NSOTC to develop a real-time tracking system for USRSOs 

entering and leaving the United States to the extent that current immigration and other applicable 

law and policy permits. RSOITS is in part designed to facilitate the communication of raw data 

from NCIC/NSOR to USMS such that a law enforcement-only tracking system can be 

developed. Using this raw data and the tracking system, USMS can be utilized to 

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facilitate/initiate investigations, provide notifications to foreign or domestic law enforcement 

agencies, or otherwise generate useful information in myriad ways. 

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Agencies and Offices Participating in RSOITS 

Department of Justice

 CEOS Child Exploitation and Obscenity Section, Criminal Division 

 FBI/CJIS Federal Bureau of Investigation/Criminal Justice Information Services 

USNCB United States National Central Bureau for INTERPOL, the 

 International Criminal Police Organization 

 OLP Office of Legal Policy 

SMART Office of Sex Offender Sentencing, Monitoring, Apprehending, 

Registering, and Tracking, Office of Justice Programs 

 USMS United States Marshals Service 

 USMS/IIB United States Marshals Service/International Investigations Branch 

 USMS/NSOTC United States Marshals Service/National Sex Offender Targeting Center 

Department of Homeland Security

CBP/APP/ESTA U.S. Customs and Border Protection/Admissibility and Passenger 

Programs/ Electronic System for Travel Authorization 

CBP/ARO U.S. Customs and Border Protection/Admissibility Review Office 

CBP/TEP U.S. Customs and Border Protection/Traveler Entry Programs 

CBP/IPB U.S. Customs and Border Protection/Inspection Processes Branch 

 CBP/OCC U.S. Customs and Border Protection/Office of Chief Counsel 

CBP/OFO U.S. Customs and Border Protection/Office of Field Operations 

ICE U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement 

ICE/HSI U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement/Homeland Security 

Investigations 

NPPD/US-Visit National Protection and Programs Directorate/US-VISIT 

NTC-P National Targeting Center-Passenger 

 PSPO Passenger Systems Program Office 

State Department

 CA/PPT Bureau of Consular Affairs/Office of Passport Services 

CA/VO Bureau of Consular Affairs/Office of Visa Services 

DS/CR/CIL Diplomatic Security/Criminal Investigative Liaison Branch 

Department of Defense

Army/SAPRT Department of the Army/ Office of the Deputy Chief of Staff/Sexual 

Assault Prevention and Response Team, 

 Navy/MR&A Department of the Navy/Manpower and Reserve Affairs 

 Navy/NCIS Department of the Navy/Naval Criminal Investigative Service 

OUSD(P&R)PI/ Office of the Undersecretary of Defense (Personnel and Readiness) 

LEPS Program Integration/ Law Enforcement Policy and Support 

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Acronyms

APIS Advanced Passenger Information System (DHS/CBP) 

CLASS Consular Lookout and Support System (State) 

ESTA Electronic System for Travel Authorization (DHS/CBP) 

NCIC National Crime Information Center (DOJ) 

NSOR National Sex Offender Registry (DOJ) 

RSOITS Registered Sex Offender International Tracking System 

SORA Sex Offender Registration Agency (State/Local) 

SORNA Sex Offender Registration and Notification Act (Adam Walsh Act, Title I) 

USRSO United States Registered Sex Offender 

VWP Visa Waiver Program (DHS) 

WIN Warrant Information Network (DOJ)