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Job Code: 320087 DOC Number: 152138

JAKARTA: Changes to
Procedures Since 9/11
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Review Date: Type review date here

Record of Analysis
Analysis Title Jakarta, Indonesia: Changes to Procedures Since 9/11

Source Observations and interviews with officials in the consular section of the
U.S. Embassy, Jakarta, Indonesia

Stephen Mull, Deputy Chief of Mission

Youngeun Anderson, Consul General
Bill Martin, Deputy Consul
Amy Carlon, Vice Consul
Justin Higgins, Vice Consul
Christine Dal Bello, Vice Consul

20 May 2002 - 23 May 2002

Analysis/Summary General Visa Processing

(Anderson, Martin, Carlon) Prior to 9/11, Jakarta had operated two drop-
boxes, one for previous U.S. visa-holders and one for Commerce referral
candidates. The mornings were devoted to interviews, while the
afternoons were taken up with processing the drop-box applicants.
Applicants would wait long hours lined up outside the Embassy. The
Embassy guards let in as many applicants as would fit into the consulate's
waiting room until 10:30am, at which time they would shut the doors for
the day. Consular officers then had to stay on the visa line until the last
applicant in the waiting room had been interviewed. Given this state of
affairs, Ms. Carlon noted that the visa workload was controlling the
consular officers. In addition, the large numbers of applicants both
outside the Embassy and within the waiting room posed security
concerns. As of June 2001, Jakarta began operating an appointment
system to deal with the steady rise in visa applicants (due to a shaky local
economy and increasing violence). This allowed the consular section to
determine the number of visa applicants coming into the Embassy, based
on the availability of consular officers.

(Anderson, Carlon) After 9/11, post did away with the drop-box system.
In addition, the local staff taking in applications and passports outside the
consular section have found it difficult to explain the new waiting period
to the visa applicants. Consular officers have found that visa processing is
going much more slowly without the drop-box system in place.
(Anderson) All applicants are now interviewed in Jakarta. The only
exceptions are seamen, who, though they are not interviewed, are still

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subject to the 30-day namecheck. After 9/11, the referral process was also
tightened up. An employee of a Chamber of Commerce member company
can now submit their visa application each day between the hours of 1pm
and 2pm. They will either require an interview or a 30-day namecheck or
both. The only benefit these applicants now receive is that they do not
have to wait for an appointment. Ms. Anderson stressed that no one is
exempted from the special clearances (except for A-visa applicants).

(Anderson) There is another post-9/11 change to the referral system in

Jakarta. For each referral visa applicant, the computer has been
programmed to require the name of the person who gave the referral.
This is because Ms. Anderson wants to hold the person making the
referral accountable for truly knowing the applicant and deeming visa
issuance to be in the U.S. national interest. Further, Ms. Anderson now
requires that the section chief of the person making the referral also sign
off on the referral itself. Referrals go directly to Ms. Anderson.

Refusal Rate

Jakarta's refusal rate for the period 1 October 2001 to 1 March 2002 was
9/11 Closed by S t a t u t e " o>
Workload

See "General Visa Processing" section for pre-9/11 workload conditions.

(Anderson) The vast majority of applicants are Indonesian nationals. Of

the third country nationals that apply at the Jakarta consulate, the highest
percentage is Koreans. (Koreans apparently began residing in Jakarta in
large numbers during the 1970s.)

(Anderson) The U.S. Embassy was closed immediately after 9/11. When
the embassy did reopen, the consular section began to take in reduced
numbers of applicants through its appointment system. The consular
section had 50 appointments per day until 15 October 2001, after which
they began scheduling 100 appointments per day. By the end of October
2001, the consular section was processing 150-200 applicants per day.
Consular officers continue to process 150-200 applicants per day

(Anderson) Just prior to 11 September 2001, the number of NW

applicants in Jakarta had increased by 29% over the year before. The total
number of NTV applicants prior to 9/11 was approximately 86,000 persons.

(Anderson) From 11 September 2001 until the end of January 2002, the
number of visa applicants was down by 57%.

(Anderson) The number of referrals has also been down since 9/11.

CLASS

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(Higgins) Mr. Higgins estimated that he sees an exact Category I CLASS

hit about once every two to three months.

(Carlon) Ms. Carlon stated that, in her opinion, the DS-157 is only useful
for noting an applicant's previous travel and for their educational
background. (She uses school information to get a sense of the
applicant's economic class.) She could think of no additional questions to
add to the DS-157. Ms. Carlon thought it was "goofy" that the DS-157 is
only filled out by men and by men of certain ages at that. The biggest
problem, she said, is simply getting applicants to fill out both the DS-156
and the Ds-157.

(Higgins) Some of the better shipping agencies will have the seamen
themselves fill out their DS-157s. Others, however, will fill out the DS-
157s on their behalf and this is often done inaccurately. Post has learned
which agencies are sloppy and will return the application if it is
particularly inaccurate or incomplete. If post finds an inaccuracy on the
application of an individual who has previously held a U.S. visa and who
has gone through a reputable agency, they might cut him some slack.

(Higgins) When conducting interviews, Mr. Higgins stated that the

information he looks at on the DS-157 is: travel history; combatant and/or
military experience; and special training. Mr. Higgins expressed his
doubts that any Indonesia national fills out the DS-157 honestly. In a
country as big and conflict-ridden as Indonesia, he finds it incredible that
nobody will answer yes to having been a combatant or a victim.

Condors & SAOs

(Anderson, Dal Bello) Post treats all applicants subject to the 20-day hold
as Condors, extending the 30-day Condor waiting period to 32 days. Ms.
Anderson said that the post had experienced difficulty in reconciling the
20-day and 30-day waits for so many applicants. She instituted this policy
as a solution since she had not received guidance on this matter from
headquarters. By treating all 20-day applicants as Condors, post
eliminated the need for makeshift procedures that would prevent
inadvertent visa issuance between the 20th and 30th days.

(Higgins) According to Mr. Higgins, approximately 50 percent of Jakarta's

Condors are sent in on seamen. Because it is difficult to determine where
these seamen originate, post checks them all. They do this even in those
cases where they can recognize that a seaman's name is Balinese and he is
therefore probably Hindu, rather than Muslim.

(Carlon) Ms. Carlon stated that the Condor is the-main security check.
The focus on the visa line is the intending immigrant with terrorism
concerns secondary to that. She stated that the post in Jakarta often gets
Muslims who have been on the Hajj. If consular officers harbor any
suspicions about these applicants, they can only send in a Condor on

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them; if they receive no response, they can only issue. She said that
consular officers there have never been told to look out for certain
terrorist patterns or to ask certain questions to improve U.S. knowledge of
terrorism trends in Indonesia
(Carlon) Ms. Carlon feels as if they are sending Condors into "a black
hole," in that they will send in an average of 30 per day but only hear back
on maybe two of them. One of these cases involved an applicant who had
had several U.S. visas in the past but who had only one name: Gunawan.
Post sent a Condor on him, and then received a request from headquarters
for more information on the applicant (e.g., his employment history and
travel plans.)1 Although post cabled this information back in reply on 10
April 2002, they never heard back from State regarding what to do about
this applicant. As of 22 May 2002, post still had heard nothing despite the
fact that they had sent an additional reminder back to State. The second
case involved a negative Condor response from State that came too late.
State returned a cable to Jakarta telling post to place a hold on the
applicant but the visa had already been issued in March 2002. Although
post returned a cable to State, informing them that the visa had been
issued and asking what they should do, post received no answer.
(Carlon) Ms. Carlon felt that Jakarta had to send in too many Condors. In
her opinion, the Condor criteria are too broad. For example, so many
Indonesian nationals!

Jife.—'
Carlon thought that perhaps the system was getting clogged up with
unnecessary Condors. In this regard, she felt tfrat a differentiation had to
9/11 Closed by S t a t u t e be mMe between a man^who'ssimpbi bnd another man
who is actually suspicious. If the Condor becomes a long-term
requirement, then there must be another Condor level to flag the truly
suspicious individuals.
(Higgins) Mr. Higgins expressed his belief that the Condor criteria were
inconsistent, in that/

Use of Validity

(Anderson) Fidl validity for an Indonesian na|^^

entry visa Ms. Anderson stated that she Ptnjih«4«4;with the junior
officers that if they have any doubt about art apgK$ipt| they should not
issue the visa. However, if they are certain enough to issue, they should
issue for the full validity. Although an unsure consular officer may decide
to issue only a one-entry visa, this one entry is att that an ill-intentioned
person needs in order to do damage within the UJS.

1 Auditor's note: This information is contained in the DS-157 filled out by the applicant The DS-157s
are stored at post but were originally intended to be returned to headquarters for use by the FBI.

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(Higgins) Mr. Higgins, however, often exercises his discretion regarding

validity. He cited the example of Indonesian nationals who may have
easily gotten visas back in 1997. With their visas now expiring, these
Indonesians are returning to the consulate to have them renewed. But the
Indonesian economy has suffered a serious downtown since499?, and Mr.
Higgins said he feels that, with such a varying economic climate, it would
be unwise to issue a visa that is valid for 5 years.

(Martin) Prior to 9/11 and the institution of the appointment system, visa
applicants were lining up day and night outside the U.S. Embassy; Mr.
Martin noted that State Department emphasized customer service to
rectify this situation, issuing a Department notice to consular officers to
issue flan validity (thereby reducing the frequency with which applicants
return for visa renewal). In this way, Mr. Martin said, the burden would
fall on the INS rather than on State Department. Currently, he said, the
message coming from State Department is that posts can do whatever
they want as long as tJley dofe't issue visas to bad guys, i.e., there is now
no pressure to issue maximum validity.

Useof2140r)

(Martin) Mr. Martin stated that he uses 214(b) broadly, i.e., if he doesn't
feel comfortable about an applicant. Mr. Martin believes that if he, as a
consular officer, does not feel comfortable about an applicant, then that
applicant has not overcome the intending immigrant presumption and he
is justified in refusing him on 214(b) grounds. However, Mr. Martin stated
that 214(b) is easily overcome, e.g., the applicant can quickly reapply and
go to a different consular officer. For this reason, Mr. Martin will makes
notes in the applicant's CLASS record, to the effect that the applicant was,
e.g., "nervous."

(Carlon) Ms. Carlon stated that it is very easy to deny someone on 214(b)
grounds at this post because a very good annual income in Jakarta right
now is only about $4,000. However, Ms. Carlon did state that occasionally
she might stretch 214(b) a little. As an example of this, she cited the case
of parents whose child had previously overstayed a U.S. visa This makes
the parents suspicious in her eyes; yet in all other respects, the parents
might be qualified to receive a visa In such an instance, she said it was
very tough to use 214(b), that she sometimes felt she couldn't technically
deny on 214(b) grounds.

(Carlon) Ms. Carlon stated that even if she suspected someone of

terrorism, she is bound by the immigration law. If the Department asked
her not to issue, Ms. Carlon stated that she would 221(g) the applicant,
cable back to State for the real reason, and then begin a file on that
individual at post. She said that if the Department did not want to share
the real reason with her, she was fine with them telling her the grounds
under which to deny.

(Carlon, Martin, observation) Consular officers in Jakarta are conducting

longer interviews than is usual. Mr. Martin stated that this is because

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most of the consular officers are new and are spending a longer time on
individuals who, at first glance, are 214(b). We observed that Ms. Dal
Bello, as the newest of the junior officers, was spending a good deal of
time with her applicants. Mr. Martin also said that the drop in visa
numbers gives consular officers more time to conduct longer interviews.
Ms. Carlon commented that consular officers are conducting more in-
depth interviews to assess the purpose of travel. She admitted that
perhaps on some occasions the junior officers will go too far in their
efforts to figure out the applicant's travel intentions, but said that it is
always better to have more information than less.

(Carlon) Ms. Carlon also stated that, even if she knows she will 214(b) an
applicant, asking them a series of questions (in the course of a slightiy
longer interview) is a good way to lead the applicant through the logic of
why she will ultimately refuse them.

Observation) During the morning hours, we observed the interviews

being conducted by consular officers. In addition to interviewing a
constant stream of visa applicants, consular officers have to deal with
applicants who become upset when they are turned down for a visa. In
one case, a man who had previously applied for a visa using his full name
(which consisted of four names) and been denied, returned to the
consular section to apply once more for a visa. This time he presented a
new passport to the consular officer, which contained two of his four
names, and brought along with him a woman he claimed to be his mother-
in-law to verify his story. The consular officer denied him a visa again and
he became very upset, pleading with the consular officer to believe his
story.

Suggestions

(Martin) Mr. Martin felt that there is a real need for a biometric identifier
at posts such as Jakarta because there is such a high level of fraud. It is
very easy to get Indonesian passports and official documents simply by
bribing government officials. Because of this, it is very hard to assess the
credibility of the information presented by the visa applicant. Mr. Martin
believes that a biometric identifier would be of great assistance to the
consular officers. Biometrics would be useful not only for screening out
terrorists but would better enable consular officers to administer the law.

(Martin) Mr. Martin also thought that consular officers on the line need to
have immediate access to scanned applications and supporting
documents. As it stands now, consular officers can see in CLASS that a
person has been previously refused, but then they must physically retrieve
the document. Sometimes, the officer loses valuable time searching for
the correct file. Mr. Martin also thought that consular officers should
enter all notes on an applicant electronically in a person's record rather
than on the application form. This way other consular officers
interviewing that applicant at a later date can easily read the previous
interviewing officer's observations.

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(Martin) Mr. Martin further suggested that information sharing at post

should be a bit more institutionalized. Consular management and all non-
State agencies at post should institute a formal training process, whereby
a new consular officer is introduced to those agency resources to which
they can turn for information on an applicant.

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