The purpose of SORNA is to protect the public from sex offenders and offenders against children by providing a comprehensive set of sex offender registration and notification standards. These standards require convicted sex offenders, prior to their release from imprisonment or within 3 days of their sentencing if the sentence does not involve imprisonment, to register and keep the registration current in the jurisdictions in which they live, work, and attend school, and for initial registration purposes only, the jurisdiction in which they were convicted. Registration generally entails the offender appearing in person at a local law enforcement agency and the agency collecting information such as name, address, Social Security number, and physical description of the offender, among other items. The registration agency also is to document, among other items, the text of the provision of law defining the criminal offense for which the offender is registered; the criminal history of the offender, including dates of all arrests and convictions; and any other information the Attorney General requires. In addition, implementing jurisdictions are to maintain a jurisdiction-wide sex offender registry and adopt registration requirements that are at least as strict as those SORNA established. The length of time that convicted sex offenders must continue to update their registration is life, 25 years, or 15 years, depending on the seriousness of the crimes for which they were convicted and with possible reductions for maintaining a clean record. The frequency with which sex offenders must update or verify their information—either quarterly, semiannually, or annually—also depends on the seriousness of the crime. Once sex offenders register or update their registration in their jurisdictions, under the act, implementing jurisdictions are to provide the new information to FBI’s National Sex Offender Registry (NSOR). NSOR is a national database within the FBI’s National Crime Information Center (NCIC) that federal, state, local, territorial, and tribal law enforcement officials can access to obtain information on registered sex offenders throughout the United States. Jurisdictions’ receipt of certain federal grant funds is conditioned upon whether they have “substantially implemented” SORNA, and, as we have previously reported, jurisdictions are in various stages of implementing the act. Pursuant to the Attorney General’s authority to interpret and implement SORNA, the SMART Office developed SORNA guidelines specifically related to registered sex offenders traveling internationally. For example, under DOJ’s National Guidelines, each jurisdiction in which a sex offender is registered as a resident is instructed to require the sex offender to inform the jurisdiction if the sex offender intends to commence residence, employment, or school attendance outside of the United States. The jurisdiction needs to then (1) notify all other jurisdictions in which the offender is required to register through immediate electronic forwarding of the sex offender’s registration information, and (2) notify the U.S. Marshals—the primary federal agency responsible for investigating sex offender registration violations under SORNA—and update the sex offender’s registration information in the national databases pursuant to the procedures under SORNA § 121(b)(1). Also, under DOJ’s Supplemental Guidelines, jurisdictions are directed to have sex offenders report international travel 21 days in advance of such travel and submit information concerning such travel to the appropriate federal agencies and databases. Furthermore, per the SMART Office’s SORNA Implementation Document, in order to provide the most helpful information to U.S. Marshals and other law enforcement agencies, DOJ’s guidelines require jurisdictions to collect passport information in addition to other travel information, such as itinerary details, purpose of travel, criminal records, and contact information within the destination country, regarding a registered sex offender’s intended international travel. Currently, according to officials from the SMART Office, DOJ will not reduce grant funds for jurisdictions that have not yet implemented the supplemental guidelines on registered sex offenders traveling internationally, because DOJ is allowing jurisdictions additional time to implement the supplemental guidelines as part of its assessment of whether jurisdictions have “substantially implemented” SORNA. Under SORNA, the responsibility for establishing a system for informing jurisdictions about persons entering the United States who are required to register is divided among three federal departments— DHS, DOJ, and State—with DOJ being the lead agency. Additionally, in 2008, the SMART Office created the IWG, which consists of multiple agencies within DOJ, DHS, and State, to discuss issues related to identifying registered sex offenders traveling internationally.SORNA, ICE’s Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) division, consistent with its objective to target transnational sexual exploitation of children, developed the Angel Watch program. The purpose of this program is to provide advance notice to foreign officials when a registered sex offender who committed a crime against a child is traveling from the United States to a foreign country. Table 1 describes the functions of the federal agencies that play a role in identifying registered sex offenders traveling internationally. Three federal agencies—U.S. Marshals, USNCB, and ICE—use information from state, local, territorial, and tribal jurisdictions, as well as passenger data from CBP, to determine whether registered sex offenders are traveling outside of the United States. Similarly, five federal agencies—USNCB, ICE, U.S. Marshals, Consular Affairs, and CBP—may be notified of registered sex offenders traveling to the United States through several means, including tips from foreign officials or when CBP queries the registered sex offender’s biographic information at a port of entry and finds that the offender has a criminal history. However, none of these sources provides complete or comprehensive information on registered sex offenders leaving or returning to the United States. For example, because CBP’s passenger data are based on information from private or commercial air, commercial vessels, and voluntary reporting from rail and commercial bus lines; and CBP does not routinely query individuals who leave the United States by commercial bus, private vessel, private vehicle, or by foot, it is unable to provide information on all individuals leaving the country. In addition, foreign officials do not always monitor when a registered sex offender is returning to the United States. The FBI is establishing an automated notification process that is expected to address some of these limitations. However, because ICE has not requested to receive the automated notifications, ICE will not be notified of registered sex offenders who leave the country via a land port of entry. Officials from the U.S. Marshals and USNCB said that they use information from state, local, territorial, and tribal jurisdictions, and officials from the U.S. Marshals and ICE said that they use air and sea passenger data from CBP, to determine whether registered sex offenders are traveling internationally, but both mechanisms have limitations. The information that the U.S. Marshals and USNCB receive from jurisdictions about registered sex offenders traveling internationally is limited, in part because (1) some jurisdictions do not require sex offenders to inform them of international travel and (2) those jurisdictions that do require notice must rely on sex offenders to self-report this information. Consistent with the Attorney General’s authority under SORNA to require sex offenders to provide additional information for inclusion in the jurisdiction’s registry than what the act requires, DOJ’s Supplemental Guidelines added that registered sex offenders must provide jurisdictions 21 days advance notice of any international travel, and jurisdictions are to notify the U.S. Marshals of any registered sex offenders traveling internationally. According to the U.S. Marshals, to support these jurisdictions’ efforts to provide more complete and consistent information, in February and March 2012, the SMART Office asked jurisdiction registry officials, and the U.S. Marshals and USNCB asked relevant jurisdictional law enforcement agencies, to submit a Notification of International Travel form to the U.S. Marshals. This form includes the traveler’s name, passport number, travel information, criminal record, and contact information in the destination country. However, not all jurisdictions have elected to implement the DOJ guideline requiring registered sex offenders to provide advance notice of international travel. Specifically, of the 50 jurisdictions that responded to our survey question about advance notice of international travel requirements, 28 reported that they require sex offenders to provide such advance notice, whereas the other 22 do not, primarily because their jurisdiction’s laws do not permit them to do so. For example, 1 jurisdiction said that because its statute requires registered sex offenders to notify the registry within 72 hours after international travel, officials are not authorized to collect this information in advance. Moreover, some jurisdictions have difficulty obtaining information on traveling registered sex offenders on a consistent basis because jurisdictions must rely on sex offenders to self-report, and jurisdictions have limited mechanisms in place to enforce the self-reporting requirement. For example, sex offender registry officials in 1 jurisdiction we visited said that they would not know that a registered sex offender failed to self-report international travel unless they conducted an address verification operation, which would enable them to determine that the sex offender is traveling. Senior officials from the SMART Office stated that they are pleased that 28 jurisdictions have already implemented the advance notice provision, considering that the guidance for the provision was not released until January 2011. These officials also stated that they continue to provide technical assistance to jurisdictions seeking to implement this provision. Information on registered sex offenders traveling internationally that the U.S. Marshals and ICE obtain from CBP’s review of passenger data also has limitations. CBP, as part of DHS, has the mission to secure the United States’ borders while facilitating legitimate trade and travel. To help fulfill that mission, CBP established NTC, which, among other things, receives and reviews air and sea passenger data to determine whether persons entering or leaving the country via a commercial airline or cruiseline are on the terrorist watchlist, are wanted, or have a warrant out for their arrest. NTC officials stated that in 2009, they met with the U.S. Marshals to determine how they could support efforts under way at the newly formed NSOTC.