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and the Immigration and Nationality Act provide the primary legal framework relevant to the Department's sharing terrorism-related information with other agencies. The procedures most relevant to sharing information relating to terrorism concern the handling of classified information, and the restrictions on dissemination of classified information under O. E. 12958. Since the relevant persons at other federal agencies typically have security clearances, these procedures and restrictions have not generally been an impediment to providing terrorism-related information to other U.S. agencies on a need-to-know basis. Restrictions on dissemination of classified information, however, could be an issue with respect to sharing information with state and local law enforcement authorities.

In some cases, restrictions that third parties place on information they provide to the Department will affect our ability to share that information with other agencies. As E. O. 12958 requires, the Department of State cannot disclose information originally classified by another agency without obtaining authorization from that agency. Some highly-sensitive information the Department receives from other U.S. agencies or that the Department generates itself cannot be distributed beyond the original addresses without the prior approval of the office that originated the information or another appropriate office. While the need to obtain approval before distributing such highly-sensitive information does not, as a practical matter, preclude the Department from sharing sensitive information relating to terrorism, it does impose certain procedural hurdles that must be overcome before such sharing can take place.

The Privacy Act generally restricts disclosure of personal information about U.S. citizens and lawful permanent residents. It has not, in our experience, been an obstacle to sharing information related to terrorist suspects, at least for law enforcement purposes. It is possible in theory, however, that it could restrict disclosure in a particular case, where the information concerned a U.S. citizen or lawful permanent resident, and the disclosure was not consistent with the purpose for which the information was kept. Generally speaking, information-sharing should not be a problem in the context of a law enforcement investigation, but in the context of pure information-gathering for intelligence purposes the Privacy Act could present an obstacle to the sharing of such information between U.S. agencies about U.S. citizens and lawful permanent residents.

Visa records and visa record information are considered confidential and protected from disclosure under section 222(f) of the Immigration and Nationality Act (INA). Because the statute permits the Department to share such information with other USG agencies if it will be used for the enforcement of the laws of the United States, section 222(f) does not restrain our ability to share information on terrorism with other USG agencies for law enforcement purposes. Theoretically, there could be a problem if there were no link whatsoever to enforcement of the laws, but in the context of immigration that seems unlikely. In addition, section 222(f) would not prevent the Department from sharing any information relating to terrorism that the Department had received that might underlie a visa decision but be independent of the visa record itself. Further, Congress recently expanded our ability to share information protected by section 2322(f) with foreign governments, and we can always share such information in discretion when a court certifies that the information is needed in the interests of

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Similarly, although alien registration and fingerprint records are confidential by law, such information may be made available to federal, state and local law enforcement agencies, upon request, and to persons or agencies designated by the Attorney General.

FLOW OF INFORMATION

Finally, Mr. Chairman, we believe that the free flow of terrorism-related information within the Department of State and between the Department and other agencies is important. While the flow has not always been unfettered, we see no institutional or organization culture impediments to informationsharing that cannot be successfully resolved.

Bureaus have provided a few examples of areas that need further work. Consular Affairs notes that its Fraud Prevention office has responded to an increased demand from the intelligence community since 9/11 for its information, but so far has received little data in return. There seems to be a lack of understanding within the community of what information would be useful to fraud program managers. We are working on this issue.

As noted earlier, the consular lookout system has been significantly enhanced with biodata from FBI NCIC records. Consular affairs continues to work on two related issues - getting a more comprehensive extract of specific records and obtaining access to the FBI's non-name retrievable information that may pertain to an individual visa applicant's eligibility.

Mr. Chairman, this overview ends my formal testimony. I hope this overview has been useful. If you have any questions, my colleagues and I will do our best to answer them. Thank you.

TESTIMONY OF AMBASSADOR FRANCIS TAYLOR, COORDINATOR FOR COUNTERTERRORISM, DEPARTMENT OF STATE Ambassador TAYLOR. Mr. Chairman and members of the committee, I am proud to be here this morning to represent the State Department to have the opportunity to discuss this very important and vital issue in America's efforts to combat threats to our society from terrorism. Information, intelligence is a key weapon in the global war on terrorism. Having timely and active intelligence is essential to disrupt terrorist activity and to dismantle terrorist infrastructure.

Mr. Chairman, as you mentioned, I have a detailed statement for the record and I would like to briefly summarize my remarks in that statement. I would start by indicating my great respect for the men and women of the intelligence and law enforcement community of our Nation and the tremendous work they're doing on the front lines in this battle against terrorism.

And certainly their efforts should not, in any way, be diminished by our inability so far to perhaps exchange that information more effectively. They are fighting America's wars today and they're fighting very effectively. The Office of the Coordinator for Counterterrorism, the office I'm privileged to lead, has the responsibility for coordinating the international counterterrorism policy with the U.S. Government and foreign governments around the world. We are a major intelligence consumer rather than a producer of intelligence. Our mission depends on timely and efficient flow of information on terrorism and terrorist threats. It also depends on an open relationship with our international partners in exchange of intelligence information that is so vital in helping them to assist us in the global war on terrorism.

I want to emphasize that our Department has committed itself and our Secretary in working aggressively with our fellow agencies and international partners to make sure that that information is exchanged that allows us to detect, deter and disrupt terrorist activities around the world.

Responding specifically to the questions the committee has asked, the State Department and its overseas posts are integrated, both into the classified and unclassified electronic communications networks used by Federal intelligence agencies. The State Department both receives and transmits information on terrorism directly through those channels. Our Bureau of Intelligence and Research receives terrorism-related sensitive classified information through Intelligence Community components. In 1987, the State Department established a TIPOFF program for the purposes of using biographic information drawn from intelligence products for watchlisting purposes.

In 1993, we established the Visas Viper Program as a dedicated telegraphic channel for reporting information on known and suspected terrorists directly off the TIPOFF database. The Viper channel is used both by our post overseas and by intelligence agency headquarters in Washington, and can accommodate multiple addresses to facilitate information-sharing among its users. Our Bureau of Consular Affairs receives basic biographic data directly from the FBI's criminal databases, some of which might include in

formation about terrorists, and feeds that information into our consular lookout and support system; we call it CLASS.

All consular offices adjudicating visa applications overseas run checks against that system before a visa is issued. Our Bureau of Diplomatic Security receives information from a variety of sources domestically and from Federal and local law enforcement agencies. Overseas information is acquired from host governments or other U.S. Government sources at our missions abroad. Once received, Diplomatic Security forwards this information for inclusion in TIPOFF or in the CLASS system.

With regard to interagency groups, the State Department participates in a wide variety of interagency organizations and task forces. A few examples: The Bureau of Consular Affairs is represented on the FBI's foreign terrorist tracking task force; the Bureau of Intelligence and Research represents the Department on the Interagency Intelligence Committee on Terrorism; the Bureau of Diplomatic Security is a member of 19 of the FBI's regional joint terrorism task forces and a member of the headquarters joint terrorism task force.

The Department is also integrated into a number of intelligence and law enforcement organizations, including Interpol, the DCI's Interagency Intelligence Committee on Terrorism and DCI's Counterterrorism Center and the Office of Homeland Security. My office hosts liaison officers from both the CIA and FBI international terrorism operation section.

As we turn to information technology, terrorism-related information, especially that used for watchlisting terrorists is shared within and without the State Department through a variety of electronic media. For example, the Department's TIPOFF watchlist program of 85,000 names receives information electronically and feeds it directly into the CLASS system, which is checked by consular offices worldwide. Under the terms of a 1991 MOU approved by the intelligence and law enforcement community, that information is also entered into the interagency border inspection system, IBIS, for use by U.S. Immigration and Customs officers at ports of entry.

In August, 2002, the entire TIPOFF database, including full biographic records on nearly 85,000 terrorist names, photographs, fingerprints and on-line source documentation, was made available on CT Link, counterterrorism link, to authorized users from five Intelligence Community and law enforcement agencies. The State Department Bureau of Intelligence and Research manages Web pages available to other members of the Intelligence Community on two Web sites, one classified at the secret level the other at the top secret level.

The State Department's Bureau for Consular Affairs is an innovator in the use of advanced information technology to make the visa lookout information, including terrorist lookout, available to consular offices around the world on a real-time basis. Consistent with the requirements of the USA PATRIOT Act, more than seven million names of persons within the FBI's criminal and other name-retrievable records were added to the CLASS system by August of 2002, augmenting the more than 5.8 million name records

from State, INS, DEA and intelligence sources contained in that system.

With regard to State and local cooperation, the Department of State understands the benefits of integrating State and local enforcement agencies into its counterterrorism activities in accordance with applicable laws and regulations. The Bureau of Diplomatic Security has 21 offices in the United States having liaison responsibility with State and local law enforcement on a variety of law enforcement issues. Currently, discussions are under way with the FBI which will permit a portion of the TIPOFF database to be placed in the national crime information center's violent gangs and terrorist organizations file for access by local law enforcement on a real-time basis.

When we look at legal questions that affect our ability to exchange information, clearly there were before the passage of the USA PATRIOT Act impediments to the sharing of law enforcement data within our TIPOFF and CLASS system. The PATRIOT Act has made significant improvements in the exchange of that information.

Finally, Mr. Chairman, we believe the free flow of information regarding terrorism within the department and between the department and other agencies of our government, both Federal, State and local, is absolutely the most important thing we can do. While the flow of information has not always been unfettered, we see no institutional or organizational cultural impediments to information-sharing that cannot be successfully be resolved.

Mr. Chairman, that concludes my overview of the testimony. At the conclusion, I would be happy to answer your questions. Chairman GRAHAM. Thank you very much, Mr. Ambassador. Mr. Manno.

[The prepared statement of Mr. Manno follows:]

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