The vulnerability of the international travel system to terrorists crossing international borders to perpetrate terrorist acts against countries’ citizens became a major concern after the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001. Subsequently, Congress passed a series of laws that called for various measures to address weaknesses in U.S. and other countries’ foreign travel systems. The Intelligence Reform and Terrorism Prevention Act of 2004 directed the NCTC to submit to Congress a strategy for combating terrorist travel. In 2006, the NCTC issued the National Strategy to Combat Terrorist Travel. One of the strategy’s two pillars was to enhance U.S. and foreign partner capabilities to constrain terrorist mobility overseas. Among the pillar’s objectives were to suppress terrorists’ ability to cross international borders and help partner nations build capacity to limit terrorist travel. The Intelligence Reform and Terrorism Prevention Act of 2004 established the interagency Human Smuggling and Trafficking Center (HSTC) to serve, in part, as a clearinghouse for all U.S. agency information on preventing terrorist travel, and to submit annual assessments of vulnerabilities in the foreign travel system that may be exploited by international terrorists. Later, the Implementing Recommendations of the 9/11 Commission Act of 2007 called for the HSTC to serve as the focal point for interagency efforts to integrate and disseminate intelligence and information related to terrorist travel. The 2007 Act directed DHS, with the cooperation of other relevant agencies, to ensure that HSTC have no less than 40 full-time positions, including, as appropriate, detailees from DHS, State, DOJ, DOD, NCTC, the Central Intelligence Agency, the National Security Agency, and the Department of the Treasury. Presently, DHS’ U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) provides the director of the center, which includes personnel from State, DHS, and the U.S. intelligence community. NCTC and HSTC jointly issued the first terrorist travel vulnerability assessment in 2005, and HSTC issued additional terrorist travel vulnerability assessments in 2008 and 2009. The assessments synthesize information and analyses from key stakeholders throughout the U.S. government. Specifically, HSTC officials review intelligence and other information from all relevant agencies; attend interagency working groups, interagency intelligence meetings, and other coordination meetings related to terrorist travel; review open source information from banks, nongovernmental organizations, and multinational organizations; and consult with agencies responsible for implementing programs. All relevant agencies are given the opportunity to review and comment on the drafts. Various U.S. agencies and subagencies are involved in providing capacity building related to enhancing countries’ ability to prevent terrorist travel abroad. As shown in figure 1, counterterrorism as a whole, including preventing terrorist travel, is overseen at the policy level by the Office of the Director of National Intelligence and by the National Security Council. The Director of NCTC reports both to the President regarding executive branch-wide counterterrorism planning, and to the Director of National Intelligence regarding intelligence matters. NCTC follows the policy direction of the President and the National Security Council. State, DHS, DOD, and DOJ fund and/or implement the majority of the capacity- building programs. Within the Department of State, the Office of the Coordinator for Counterterrorism (S/CT), in addition to funding and implementing capacity-building programs, has a leading role in developing coordinated strategies to defeat terrorists abroad and securing the cooperation of international partners. S/CT works with all appropriate elements of the U.S. government to ensure integrated and effective counterterrorism efforts, and coordinates and supports the development and implementation of all U.S. government policies and programs aimed at countering terrorism overseas. As shown in table 1, the U.S. government has identified four key gaps in foreign countries’ capacity to prevent terrorist travel overseas. HSTC and NCTC vulnerability assessments have identified sharing information about known and suspected terrorists as one key gap in foreign partners’ capacity to prevent terrorist travel. For example, some countries do not have their own database systems with terrorist screening information or access to other countries’ terrorist screening information, which contains biographical or biometric information about individuals who are known or suspected terrorists. Even when countries have terrorist screening information, they may not have reciprocal relationships to share such information or other travel-related information, such as airline passenger lists, with other countries, thereby limiting their ability to identify and prevent the travel of known and suspected terrorists. In addition, some countries do not have access to or fully use biometric information, which provides a unique identifier for each person, such as a fingerprint. For example, Pakistan has a centralized fingerprint database, but it is not shared across all law enforcement agencies, making the database less comprehensive and, as a result, more difficult for Pakistani government officials to prevent potential terrorists from traveling. A second key gap in foreign partners’ capacity relates to their ability to address the use of fraudulent travel documents. For instance, in many countries, fraudulent travel documents, including fraudulent passports and visas, are easy to obtain, and could thereby be used by people who want to travel under a false identity. In addition, some countries’ failure to consistently report lost or stolen passports to the International Criminal Police Organization (INTERPOL) or to access INTERPOL’s database that stores information on lost and stolen passports, can facilitate the use of legitimate passports by imposters. According to U.S. embassy officials in Kenya we spoke with, this is a common occurrence in Kenya, where individuals with a similar appearance to a Somali-American with a legitimate travel document will fraudulently use this travel document for illicit travel. Another common issue related to fraudulent travel documents is using fraudulent “breeder documents,” such as birth certificates and drivers’ licenses issued to support a person’s false identity, to obtain genuine passports. The issue of fraudulent documents is further compounded by the lack of a requirement for a visa to some countries. For example, according to a former Pakistani official that had responsibilities related to immigration enforcement, fraudulent British passports are the most prevalent type of fraudulent travel document in Pakistan. Since British citizens are not required to obtain visas to travel to many countries, a terrorist could use one of these fraudulent passports to travel to many countries without further background checks that would occur through a visa adjudication process. The third key gap identified in the NCTC and HSTC assessments is a lack in some countries’ abilities to ensure the security of their passport issuance systems. The passports from some countries are of low quality and are therefore easily stolen or counterfeited. For example, 18 countries still use passports that are not machine readable and almost half of countries use passports without biometric information stored electronically inside the passport. Such biometric information can include facial and fingerprint data, and can be used to authenticate the identity of travelers. In addition, once countries convert to biometric passports, previously issued passports may be valid for up to 10 years from their issuance dates. A fourth key gap in some foreign countries’ capacity to prevent terrorist travel is in combating corruption in passport issuance and immigration agencies. Corruption in government agencies relevant to travel can facilitate the illicit travel of terrorists or other criminals. For example, corruption in passport issuance agencies can allow potential terrorists to obtain genuine passports under a false identity or blank passports that can be easily manipulated. U.S. embassy officials in Kenya told us that such false passports can be obtained for just a few hundred dollars in some cases. Further, corruption within countries’ immigration agencies, such as border patrol or civil aviation officials with immigration duties, leaves a country’s immigration system vulnerable to human smugglers and traffickers who often have established relationships with these corrupt officials. For example, according to U.S. embassy officials in Kenya, illicit travel facilitators are known to stand outside the airport and indicate to corrupt immigration officials through the window which individuals they should let pass without checking their passports. In addition, according to the HSTC terrorist travel vulnerability assessments, countries that are known for having corrupt immigration officials are more likely to be used by terrorists as transit countries so that the terrorists can avoid interdiction. U.S. government foreign capacity-building programs and activities address to some degree most of the key gaps identified by the U.S. government in foreign governments’ ability to prevent terrorist travel overseas. As shown in table 2, three of the four key gaps—sharing information about known and suspected terrorists, addressing the use of fraudulent travel documents, and ensuring passport issuance security—have been the subject of some programs and activities. However, with regard to U.S. programs addressing the use of fraudulent travel documents, we found potential for overlap and duplication of effort, as multiple agencies that fund and implement numerous training courses do not always coordinate their activities. While the U.S. government has many efforts aimed at helping foreign countries to combat corruption, none focus on the fourth gap of corruption related to passport issuance and immigration agencies. Multiple federal efforts are aimed at improving information sharing about known and suspected terrorists. First, State/S/CT’s Terrorist Interdiction Program (TIP) enables immigration officials in countries at risk of terrorist activity to identify the attempted travel of known or suspected terrorists through the provision of a computerized system called the Personal Identification, Secure Comparison, and Evaluation System (PISCES). TIP provides participating countries with the PISCES software, hardware, and equipment to operate the software; any required maintenance and expansion of the system; and training on how to use it. During fiscal year 2010, the PISCES system processed an estimated 150,000 travelers per day entering or exiting 17 participating countries through ports of entry with PISCES installations. In fiscal year 2010, State began to upgrade the PISCES software with biometric capabilities that further enhance host countries’ capacity to interdict terrorists attempting to travel under a false identity.