[Senate Hearing 113-718]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
S. Hrg. 113-718
THE STATE OF U.S. TRAVEL AND TOURISM:
GOVERNMENT EFFORTS TO ATTRACT 100 MILLION
VISITORS ANNUALLY
=======================================================================
HEARING
BEFORE THE
SUBCOMMITTEE ON TOURISM, COMPETITIVENESS, AND INNOVATION
OF THE
COMMITTEE ON COMMERCE,
SCIENCE, AND TRANSPORTATION
UNITED STATES SENATE
ONE HUNDRED THIRTEENTH CONGRESS
SECOND SESSION
__________
JUNE 26, 2014
__________
Printed for the use of the Committee on Commerce, Science, and
Transportation
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SENATE COMMITTEE ON COMMERCE, SCIENCE, AND TRANSPORTATION
ONE HUNDRED THIRTEENTH CONGRESS
SECOND SESSION
JOHN D. ROCKEFELLER IV, West Virginia, Chairman
BARBARA BOXER, California JOHN THUNE, South Dakota, Ranking
BILL NELSON, Florida ROGER F. WICKER, Mississippi
MARIA CANTWELL, Washington ROY BLUNT, Missouri
MARK PRYOR, Arkansas MARCO RUBIO, Florida
CLAIRE McCASKILL, Missouri KELLY AYOTTE, New Hampshire
AMY KLOBUCHAR, Minnesota DEAN HELLER, Nevada
MARK BEGICH, Alaska DAN COATS, Indiana
RICHARD BLUMENTHAL, Connecticut TIM SCOTT, South Carolina
BRIAN SCHATZ, Hawaii TED CRUZ, Texas
EDWARD MARKEY, Massachusetts DEB FISCHER, Nebraska
CORY BOOKER, New Jersey RON JOHNSON, Wisconsin
JOHN E. WALSH, Montana
Ellen L. Doneski, Staff Director
John Williams, General Counsel
David Schwietert, Republican Staff Director
Nick Rossi, Republican Deputy Staff Director
Rebecca Seidel, Republican General Counsel and Chief Investigator
------
SUBCOMMITTEE ON TOURISM, COMPETITIVENESS, AND INNOVATION
BRIAN SCHATZ, Hawaii, Chairman TIM SCOTT, South Carolina, Ranking
MARK PRYOR, Arkansas Member
AMY KLOBUCHAR, Minnesota ROY BLUNT, Missouri
MARK BEGICH, Alaska DAN COATS, Indiana
EDWARD MARKEY, Massachusetts DEB FISCHER, Nebraska
JOHN E. WALSH, Montana RON JOHNSON, Wisconsin
C O N T E N T S
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Page
Hearing held on June 26, 2014.................................... 1
Statement of Senator Schatz...................................... 1
Statement of Senator Blunt....................................... 2
Statement of Senator Scott....................................... 20
Statement of Senator Nelson...................................... 25
Statement of Senator Heller...................................... 27
Statement of Senator Rubio....................................... 29
Statement of Senator Klobuchar................................... 33
Witnesses
Kenneth E. Hyatt, Deputy Under Secretary for International Trade,
International Trade Administration, U.S. Department of Commerce 3
Prepared statement........................................... 4
Ambassador Michele Thoren Bond, Acting Assistant Secretary for
Consular Affairs, U.S. Department of State..................... 7
Prepared statement........................................... 9
Michael Stroud, Acting Assistant Secretary, Private Sector
Office, Office of Policy, U.S. Department of Homeland Security. 12
Joint testimony of Michael Stroud and John P. Wagner......... 13
John P. Wagner, Acting Assistant Commissioner, Office of Field
Operations, U.S. Customs and Border Protection, U.S. Department
of Homeland Security........................................... 18
Appendix
Letter dated June 26, 2014 to Hon. Brian Schatz and Hon. Tim
Scott from Organizations of the American Hotel & Lodging
Association.................................................... 41
Colleen M. Kelley, National President, National Treasury
Employees Union, prepared statement............................ 42
Response to written questions submitted to Kenneth E. Hyatt by:
Hon. Bill Nelson............................................. 44
Hon. Brian Schatz............................................ 44
Response to written questions submitted to Michele T. Bond by:
Hon. Bill Nelson............................................. 46
Hon. Richard Blumenthal...................................... 46
Hon. Brian Schatz............................................ 47
Response to written questions submitted to Michael Stroud by:
Hon. Bill Nelson............................................. 48
Hon. Richard Blumenthal...................................... 48
Hon. Brian Schatz............................................ 50
Response to written questions submitted by Hon. Brian Schatz to
John P. Wagner................................................. 53
THE STATE OF U.S. TRAVEL AND TOURISM:.
GOVERNMENT EFFORTS TO ATTRACT 100.
MILLION VISITORS ANNUALLY
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THURSDAY, JUNE 26, 2014
U.S. Senate,
Subcommittee on Tourism, Competitiveness, and
Innovation,
Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation,
Washington, DC.
The Subcommittee met, pursuant to notice, at 10:34 a.m., in
room SR-253, Russell Senate Office Building, Hon. Brian Schatz,
Chairman of the Subcommittee, presiding.
OPENING STATEMENT OF HON. BRIAN SCHATZ,
U.S. SENATOR FROM HAWAII
Senator Schatz. Good morning. We call this hearing to
order.
Today's hearing will examine the Federal Government's
efforts to reach our Nation's goal of attracting 100 million
international visitors annually by the year 2021. Last month,
we heard from key industry stakeholders on how we can achieve
this goal. It was clear that there were areas where the Federal
Government could do better.
Today, I would like to focus on three ways to increase
tourism. The first is how the Federal Government engages in
travel and tourism export promotion. Hawaii knows the
importance of targeting international markets to grow this
sector. Having the right data about international markets has
been key to its success.
Looking at states like Hawaii as examples, the Federal
Government should partner with industry to make sure the right
data are collected. This will make us informed--this will help
us to make informed decisions about which markets to target at
the national level. We need to shift our approach from meeting
existing demand to driving demand, and in doing so, we must
ensure Federal resources are prepared to meet it.
The second issue is improving accessibility, a fundamental
piece of travel promotion. We can do all the tourism promotion
we want, but if we are not ready to receive travelers, our
efforts are for naught.
A key component is the arrivals process. Customs and Border
Protection has initiated several programs to reduce wait times
at our ports of entry, but the United States still faces
challenges with long wait times. This makes travelers less
likely to return.
The U.S. has also experienced challenges meeting demands--
demand for visas, especially in emerging economies, such as
China and Brazil. The State Department has made progress in
reducing visa interview wait times. As demand rises, we need to
further streamline processes and leverage new technologies to
make sure those who want to travel here can do so without
unnecessary delay.
To address accessibility challenges, Senator Scott and I
have introduced the INVITE Act. This bill would improve the
arrivals process by expanding the Global Entry program and
strengthening the Model Ports program. The INVITE Act would
direct CBP and the State Department to look at ways to
coordinate the passport, visa, and Global Entry application
processes. This would help to streamline application processes
and encourage more travelers to apply for Global Entry.
Our bill would also build upon the current Model Ports
program and require CBP to develop metrics to measure the
program's performance. And it would further public-private
partnerships by establishing a matching grant program for
eligible U.S. airports to create more user-friendly ports. I
look forward to any comments the witnesses may have today
related to this bill.
The third issue is how we provide a quality visitor
experience to attract new visitors and encourage repeat
visitors. The Federal Government has a role to play in reducing
barriers to a quality experience. We need to shift our mindset
to become more customer focused in how we deliver Federal
services. This means rethinking how the Federal Government
operates.
It also means investing in today's work force. We need to
train employees at all levels to be forward leaning, to deliver
better services and create a positive experience for our
visitors.
As we address these issues, I look forward to hearing from
the witnesses on how they are partnering with private sector
stakeholders to grow our travel and tourism industry. Thank you
all for being here today.
If Senator Blunt has an opening statement, we would be
happy to hear from him.
STATEMENT OF HON. ROY BLUNT,
U.S. SENATOR FROM MISSOURI
Senator Blunt. Chairman, I am just pleased you are holding
this hearing. And you understand these travel and tourism
issues, as well as the importance of encouraging visitors and
dealing with visitors in appropriate ways so that they want to
come back, as well as the things we need to do to secure our
entry and understand our exit system in the country.
And I thank you for conducting this hearing.
Senator Schatz. Thank you, Senator Blunt, and thank you for
your leadership on these issues over the years on a bipartisan
basis.
Senator Heller, do you have any remarks before we get
going?
Senator Heller. I will wait for questioning.
Senator Schatz. Thank you. And Senator Nelson is going to
wait for questioning as well.
Senator Scott is on his way, and when he comes, he will be
offering an opening statement.
I would like to introduce the witnesses today. We have Ken
Hyatt, Deputy Under Secretary for International Trade at the
Department of Commerce; Michele Bond, Acting Assistant
Secretary for the Bureau of Consular Affairs at the Department
of State; Michael Stroud, Acting Assistant Secretary for the
Private Sector Office at the Department of Homeland Security;
and John Wagner, Acting Assistant Commissioner for the Office
of Field Operations at the United States Customs and Border
Protection.
Before we start, I want you to know that your written
statements will be part of the record, and I would also like to
remind you to please limit your oral remarks to 5 minutes.
Mr. Hyatt, please proceed with your statement.
STATEMENT OF KENNETH E. HYATT, DEPUTY UNDER
SECRETARY FOR INTERNATIONAL TRADE, INTERNATIONAL
TRADE ADMINISTRATION, U.S. DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE
Mr. Hyatt. Chairman Schatz, Ranking Member Scott, and
members of the Committee, thank you for the opportunity to
speak about the Department of Commerce's role in supporting and
coordinating the U.S. Government's National Travel and Tourism
Strategy.
I first want to thank my colleagues here today for their
leadership, partnership, and hard work in moving this strategy
forward. It is truly an administration-wide effort.
The travel and tourism industry now accounts for more than
26 percent of America's services exports and 8 percent of
exports overall. Travel and tourism is our largest services
export. Altogether, the trade surplus in this industry is
bigger than ever, at $57 billion in 2013. That is 20 percent
higher than the $47.5 billion surplus in 2012 and the largest
on record.
We are pleased to report that a record 70 million
international visitors traveled to the United States in 2013, a
5 percent increase over 2012, and spent a record $180.7
billion. These numbers are important. They represent export
growth in the United States and support American jobs.
International travel and tourism supports 1.2 million jobs in
the United States, and more than 7.8 million Americans work in
the U.S. travel and tourism sector overall.
Contributing to our growth in travel and tourism is our
National Travel and Tourism Strategy. The strategy set an
ambitious goal of attracting 100 million international visitors
annually to the United States by the end of 2021. The Tourism
Policy Council, a Cabinet-level group led by Secretary
Pritzker, is coordinating the implementation of the strategy in
cooperation with the private sector to help facilitate
legitimate travel to the United States.
However, even as demand has grown, challenges remain. Some
travelers are experiencing bottlenecks at the borders, demand
for visas remain high, there is increased global competition
for international travelers, and the increased number of
travelers are putting pressure on our infrastructure. Clearly,
we have more work to do.
The perspectives of the private sector have been
incorporated into the five areas where we, the U.S. Government,
are focusing our efforts moving forward.
First, we are working to continue improving visa
processing.
Second, we want to improve the experience of travelers at
U.S. ports of entry. To that end, on May 22, the President
announced an effort to develop a national goal to enhance the
entry process for international travelers to the United States,
along with the development of specific action plans at the
Nation's busiest airports. President Obama directed the
Secretaries of Homeland Security and Commerce to lead this
important effort.
Third, we will promote the United States by supporting
Brand USA, the public-private partnership established by the
Travel Promotion Act of 2009.
Fourth, we want to make more data about Federal tourist
sites more accessible to industry for marketing use.
And finally, we will explore ways to expand the statistical
information we collect and publish on international travelers
to the United States.
While the Federal Government is coordinating across the
agencies, it is important to highlight what the private
sector's role is in implementing the strategy. The Travel
Promotion Act established the Corporation for Travel Promotion,
now doing business as Brand USA, with the mission of
spearheading the Nation's first international marketing effort
to promote the United States as the premier global travel
destination.
As of September 2013, Brand USA had recruited more than 400
partners who are participating in more than 100 programs around
the world. These partners contributed more than $122 million in
value in Fiscal Year 2013. They are being utilized by Brand USA
to create and execute an international marketing campaign. We
will continue to work with Brand USA to ensure that the U.S.
remains the top global tourist destination.
With the national strategy, I am pleased to report that we
are doing better than ever before and will continue to improve
in interagency coordination and our engagement with industry.
It is truly only by working hand-in-hand across the public and
private sectors that we will achieve the 100 million visitor
goal set forth in the strategy.
Thank you, and I welcome questions.
[The prepared statement of Mr. Hyatt follows:]
Prepared Statement of Kenneth E. Hyatt, Deputy Secretary, International
Trade Administration, U.S. Department of Commerce
Introduction
Chairman Schatz, Ranking Member Scott, and members of the
Committee, thank you for the opportunity to speak about the Department
of Commerce's role in supporting and coordinating the U.S. Government's
National Travel and Tourism Strategy and how we are working across the
Federal Government and the private sector to implement this strategy.
Let me start with the fundamentals: why travel and tourism is
important to the U.S. economy, to the Administration and to the
President.
Importance of Travel and Tourism to the U.S. Economy
The Department's NEI/NEXT is a customer service-driven strategy
with improved information resources that will help American businesses
capitalize on existing and new opportunities. Travel and tourism is a
priority sector within this strategy. We are pleased to report that a
record 70 million international visitors traveled to the United States
in 2013, which is a five percent increase over 2012. Those 70 million
international visitors spent a record-shattering $180.7 billion in
2013. That is nearly $1.3 billion more spent each month by
international visitors on American goods and services than in 2012.
To break these numbers down just a little more:
Passenger fare receipts were up nearly 5 percent, and
Travel receipts for things like food, lodging, recreation,
gifts and entertainment were up nearly 11 percent over 2012.
The travel and tourism industry now accounts for more than 26
percent of all of America's services exports and nearly 8 percent of
exports overall.
Altogether, the trade surplus in this industry is bigger than ever
at $57 billion dollars in 2013. That is 20 percent higher than the
$47.5 billion travel trade surplus in 2012 and the largest U.S. travel
trade surplus on record.
These numbers are important--they represent tremendous exports for
the United States and they also support jobs as well: 1.2 million jobs
in the United States are supported by international travel and tourism.
Overall, 7.8 million Americans work in travel and tourism jobs in the
United States.
2012 Executive Order and Progress-to-Date
One of the factors driving the growth in travel and tourism was the
President's Executive Order--Establishing Visa and Foreign Visitor
Processing Goals and the Task Force on Travel and Competitiveness--
issued in 2012. This was a seminal moment for Federal Government
support for this industry. The Executive Order has already led to a
number of concrete accomplishments:
Thanks to additional positions in consular affairs and
expanded visa processing facilities around the world, 94
percent of non-immigrant visa applicants worldwide are
interviewed within three weeks.
Wait times for non-immigrant visas in key markets like
Brazil, India, China, and Mexico are all currently less than 10
days. In China, wait times have been under five days for the
past two years.
More than two million people now have access to Trusted
Traveler Programs, up 60 percent from December 2012; and
More than 53 million people received expedited screening as
of the end of 2013.
In addition, the Executive Order led to the development of a
National Travel and Tourism Strategy, which the Departments of Commerce
and Interior launched in 2012. The Strategy set an ambitious goal of
attracting 100 million international visitors to the United States by
2021.
The National Travel and Tourism Strategy identified five key areas
critical to its success:
1. Promoting the United States as a destination, as never before;
2. Enabling and enhancing travel and tourism to and within the
United States;
3. Providing world class customer service and visitor experiences;
4. Coordinating across government; and
5. Conducting research and measuring results.
The Tourism Policy Council (TPC), a cabinet level group led by
Secretary Pritzker, is coordinating the implementation of the Strategy.
It is being implemented by the Federal Government, in cooperation with
the private sector, to help facilitate legitimate travel to the United
States and bring us closer to our 2021 goal. Fortunately, over the past
several years, we have been helped by increasing international demand
for overseas travel.
However, as demand has grown, new challenges have arisen. Not only
are some travelers experiencing bottlenecks at the borders, long wait
times, and customer service challenges at our ports of entry, the
increased demand is also putting pressure on our infrastructure.
Clearly, we have more work to do.
To that end, on May 22, 2014, the President announced a new
initiative to establish a national goal and develop airport-specific
action plans to enhance the entry process for international travelers
to the United States. President Obama directed the Secretaries of
Commerce and Homeland Security to spearhead this task in coordination
with the TPC. The purpose of this goal and attendant action plans is to
maximize the economic contribution of travel and tourism for business,
leisure, academic, medical and other lawful purposes by improving the
experience of international travelers coming to the United States, in
particular their experience with the admissions process and customs
processing at airports in the United States. You'll hear more about
that today from my colleague from the Department of Homeland Security.
This new initiative complements what the U.S. Travel and Tourism
Advisory Board (TTAB), the private sector advisory body that provides
advice and counsel to Secretary Pritzker, has very clearly articulated
as the travel and tourism industry's priorities for the Federal
Government for the next few years:
Continue to make progress on travel facilitation, including
sustaining the progress on visa issuance time frames and
continuing to improve the entry experience.
Do more to support Brand USA, including the reauthorization
of its Federal funding.
Increase investment in infrastructure, including surface
transportation, airports, and Next Gen air traffic control.
Explore additional public-private partnerships so that
industry and government can work together to make progress on
mutual priorities.
Next Steps in the Strategy
The TTAB recommendations are clearly reflected in the five areas
where the agencies of the TPC agreed to focus their efforts during the
President's second term:
First, as my colleague from State will further explain, we
will continue to focus on improving travel facilitation through
efforts to expand membership of eligible countries in the Visa
Waiver Program and other initiatives to keep up with demand for
visas.
Chile was recently designated for participation in the
Visa Waiver Program.
The State Department made permanent the non-immigrant
visa interview waiver program, which speeds up the process
for certain visa renewals.
Second, we will improve the experience of travelers at U.S.
ports of entry. For example, Secretary of Commerce Penny
Pritzker and DHS Secretary Jeh Johnson have agreed to expand
efforts and work collaboratively between the two departments.
Third, increase support for and integration with Brand USA.
The Department of Commerce will partner with Brand USA on
promotions and coordinate Commerce/Brand USA activities in key
markets, focusing on parts of the world where we can have the
most impact.
Fourth, the Departments of Interior and Agriculture are
working to free up data about Federal tourist sites (such as
national parks), which will allow entrepreneurs and tour
operators to create even better itineraries and products, such
as apps, and provide the travel trade with new and different
ways to get their customers thinking about the United States as
a great vacation destination.
Finally, explore ways to improve and expand the statistical
information we collect and publish on international travelers
to the United States.
The White House, Commerce, State, Homeland Security, Interior, and
other agencies of the TPC continue to drive this as a national priority
and continue to work together to achieve results. At the same time, it
is important to look at what is being done at the private sector level.
Brand USA
Brand USA was created as the Corporation for Travel Promotion in
2010 when President Obama signed into law the Travel Promotion Act of
2009 (TPA). Now doing business as Brand USA, the corporation's mission
is to spearhead the Nation's first international marketing effort to
promote the United States as a premier travel destination and
communicate U.S. entry policies and procedures. The relationship
between the Department of Commerce and Brand USA is also set forth in
the TPA. It is working well--and it will continue to evolve.
As of September 2013, Brand USA had recruited more than 400 private
sector partners who were participating in more than 100 programs in key
markets around the globe. These partners contributed more than $122
million in cash and in-kind goods and services that is being utilized
by Brand USA to realize their mission and to encourage international
travel from all of our key markets.
In 2013, Brand USA's retention/renewal rate with their 2012
partners was more than 95 percent. This speaks strongly to Brand USA's
ability to deliver on their brand promise and to create a strong
international marketing campaign. Their ``Discover this land, like
never before'' campaign is one in which large and small businesses can
participate and will help the United States stay competitive in the
global arena. They are implementing other programs around the globe in
partnership with the Federal Government, such as their culinary-themed
promotion campaign being launched with the State Department. For only
the second time, five Federal agencies--Commerce, Interior, State,
Agriculture and DHS--came together in partnership to present a unified
``federal row'' at the travel and tourism industry's largest U.S.-based
trade show, IPW, during which more than $4.5 billion in future travel
to the United States was written. With Brand USA's support, ``federal
row'' was incorporated into the show floor as part of Brand USA's
pavilion. This key location provided stronger, more visible presence of
the Federal agencies directly with IPW's international buyer and media
delegates largely as a result of the traffic to Brand USA's pavilion.
In addition, Brand USA staff cross-promoted the Federal partners to
their clients, making introductions as appropriate. As a result,
international delegates were introduced to new Federal travel and
tourism products and pre-developed tour itineraries they can offer
their clients--the international visitors we want to welcome to the
United States.
The work of Brand USA is critical to our ability to achieve the
President's ambition goal of attracting 100 million international
travelers by 2021. Federal funding for Brand USA, as provided by the
Travel Promotion Act, expires at the end of FY 2015. The Administration
encourages Congress to reauthorize this important program.
Conclusion
The National Travel and Tourism Strategy has been remarkably
effective, with two years of record numbers in both international
arrivals and the revenues they generate. The Strategy has provided a
focus and a roadmap for agencies to work together and with the private
sector to create a policy framework to foster growth in this sector.
Moving forward, agencies will continue to work together, and with the
private sector, to improve the entry experience for visitors and
support international visitation by better coordinating activities in
the markets that generate international visitors to the United States.
It is truly only by working hand-in-hand across the private sector and
across government--local, state and federal--that we will achieve the
goal set forth in the National Strategy--welcoming 100 million
international visitors by 2021 who will spend $250 billion annually.
Thank you for the opportunity to speak before you today on this
dynamic industry and I welcome any questions.
Senator Schatz. Thank you very much.
Ambassador Bond?
STATEMENT OF AMBASSADOR MICHELE THOREN BOND,
ACTING ASSISTANT SECRETARY FOR CONSULAR AFFAIRS,
U.S. DEPARTMENT OF STATE
Ambassador Bond. Good morning, Chairman Schatz, Ranking
Member Scott, and distinguished members of the Subcommittee.
My testimony this morning will focus on what the Department
of State has accomplished in support of the President's
National Travel and Tourism Strategy, and I am pleased to
report that we have met the President's directive and have been
surpassing the benchmark he set since 2012. We do this while
continuing to protect our borders and the safety of our
citizens.
The numbers speak for themselves. In Fiscal Year 2013,
consular officers issued more than 9.2 million U.S. visas, an
increase of 42 percent over the past 3 years. We are on pace to
surpass that number this fiscal year.
The largest growth in travel comes from the world's
emerging economies, where we have seen demand for U.S. visas
increase at a dramatic pace. In fact, nearly half of worldwide
visa issuances come from just four countries: Mexico, China,
Brazil and India.
In the first half of this fiscal year, we processed more
than three-quarters of a million visas in China, a 28 percent
increase, and more than half a million visas in Brazil, a 17
percent increase over the previous fiscal year. Visa issuances
in Brazil have doubled since 2009 and almost quadrupled since
2006.
Since August 2012, Consular Affairs has met the goal set by
the President to interview 80 percent of applicants worldwide
within 3 weeks of submitting their applications. In fact, so
far this year, we have interviewed 71 percent of applicants
within a week and 95 percent of applicants within 3 weeks.
At our busiest overseas post, Sao Paulo, Brazil, where we
issued over half a million nonimmigrant visas last Fiscal Year,
appointment wait times are consistently less than 1 week, and
the average visitor to the Consular Section spends 20 minutes
in the building.
Let me briefly highlight two key strategic improvements we
have made to our visa processing model. First, we increased
staffing. We now have 167 consular officers in Mission China
and have more than doubled our consular staffing in Mission
Brazil since 2011. Fifty-nine new adjudicators have been hired
and deployed worldwide through a limited non-career appointment
program that hires visa adjudicators who already speak Chinese,
Portuguese, or Spanish.
Second, we expanded facilities to handle increased numbers
of applicants, and we are still growing. We are adding nearly
60 windows across our China posts. We are moving into a new
facility in Monterrey, Mexico. In Belo Horizonte and Porto
Alegre, Brazil, and in Wuhan, China, we are opening entirely
new consulates in coming years.
In conclusion, let me state that our top priority in visa
adjudication is always national security. Every visa
adjudication includes extensive biographic and biometric checks
supported by data from the law enforcement and intelligence
communities. In 2013, we improved this process even more,
making possible an even more streamlined and comprehensive
continuous monitoring of visa applicants.
We are working with our colleagues across the Government to
expand the successful Interview Waiver Program. We would like
to discuss with Congress the legislative authority to expand
the applicant groups who can receive visas without personal
appearances, because waiving interviews for travelers who are
better known to us allows us to dedicate valuable time and
resources to less-known visa applicants.
We believe that U.S. interests in legitimate travel, trade
promotion, and educational exchange complement our border
security mission. Consular Affairs also occupies a unique space
at the nexus of foreign policy and national security. Our daily
direct contact with the world gives us a perspective unlike any
other in the U.S. Government. We will continue to innovate,
increase our staff, and improve our facilities to ensure that
the United States continues to be a secure and a welcoming
country.
Thank you. I will be pleased to answer your questions.
[The prepared statement of Ambassador Bond follows:]
Prepared Statement of Michele T. Bond, Acting Assistant Secretary for
Consular Affairs, U.S. Department of State
Chairman Schatz, Ranking Member Scott, and distinguished Members of
the Subcommittee, it is a distinct honor to appear before you to share
the accomplishments of my colleagues in the Bureau of Consular Affairs,
and our efforts to facilitate the legitimate travel of millions of
tourists, businesspeople, students, and other visitors to the United
States.
The advances we have made are a credit to the hard work of consular
staff around the world, but especially in emerging markets, where we've
seen the greatest increases in demand for U.S. visas. I would like to
update you on the efforts we have undertaken over the past few years.
Meeting Increasing Worldwide Demand for U.S. Visas
I am pleased to testify to the enormous strides we have made in
facilitating legitimate travel to the United States in support of the
National Travel and Tourism Strategy. We recognize, as Secretary Kerry
testified in April, that economic policy is foreign policy. We have
sharpened our thinking about how market forces can advance our foreign
policy goals. As a Bureau, we have made it easier for businesses to
work with our embassies, and we have encouraged our consular officers
to uphold the highest levels of public service. Our consular officers
have always understood that they are often the first interaction a
foreigner will have with an American official. The visa process
protects our borders, but it is also an integral part of our public
face beyond those borders. This is why we are committed to make that
process as straightforward, clear, and applicant-focused as possible,
without compromising security.
We remain actively engaged in supporting the President's National
Travel and Tourism Strategy Goals. Over the past year we have:
continued to work with Brand USA on its communications plan for visa
and port of entry policies and other projects; added travel and tourism
links on embassies' and consulates' websites; launched a redesign of
our primary website, Travel.State.Gov, to enable applicants to view
critical information about the visa application process in a more
streamlined, straightforward way; and participated in travel and
tourism conferences and panels throughout the country, including the La
Cita de las Americas Travel Conference, the Latin American Chamber of
Commerce Annual Meeting in September, the Society of American Travel
Writers 2013 Convention in October, the SelectUSA Summit in November,
and the United States Travel Association's IPW trade show in April. The
Bureau also participates fully in the Department of Commerce's travel
and tourism initiatives, including attending the private-sector-led
Travel and Tourism Advisory Board committee meetings, as well as co-
chairing (with the Departments of Homeland Security and Commerce) the
Ease of Travel Working Group as part of the Tourism Policy Council. At
our most recent Tourism Policy Council meeting, Secretary of Commerce
Penny Pritzker, who serves as chair, and Secretary of the Interior
Sally Jewell, who is helping lead implementation of the Strategy,
commended Consular Affairs for its hard work in keeping visa wait times
low and improving the visa process, thereby attracting more visitors to
the United States.
Consular officers at 224 embassies and consulates overseas issued
almost 9.2 million nonimmigrant visas in Fiscal Year 2013, a 42 percent
increase in just three years. We managed this dramatic growth by
expanding our facilities, adding hundreds of new consular staff, and
most importantly, streamlining procedures to maximize efficiency.
International visitors spent a record-breaking $180.7 billion in 2013,
an increase of more than nine percent compared to 2012. And as the
Department of Commerce has previously indicated, increased
international travel generates significant job growth: the growth in
international visitors has supported roughly 175,000 new American jobs
over the past five years.
For many foreign visitors, the American experience begins in
consular waiting rooms overseas. We take that responsibility seriously,
and have worked with groups like Disney Worldwide Services and Brand
USA to improve applicants' experience in our spaces. In China and
Brazil, most applicants are in and out of our facilities in less than
30 minutes. In our London waiting room, we present applicants with
materials from state and regional tourism boards, inviting business
travelers and workers to extend their trips with a leisure component so
they can enjoy their U.S. experience in addition to conducting
business. International travel and tourism has a deep impact on the
United States, comprising 27 percent of the U.S.' services exports and
supporting 1.3 million jobs. We are pleased to have a role in support
of these hardworking Americans.
The Bureau of Consular Affairs continues to do its part to
facilitate the President's goals in Executive Order 13597, which in
January 2012 directed Federal agencies to aggressively expand the
Nation's ability to attract and welcome visitors while maintaining high
standards of security. Since August 2012, Consular Affairs has met the
goal to interview 80 percent of visa applicants worldwide within three
weeks of submitting their applications. In 2013, the global average was
over 92 percent; a 10 percent increase over 2012. At our busiest
overseas post, Sao Paulo, Brazil, where we issued over half a million
nonimmigrant visas in Fiscal Year 2013, appointment wait times are
consistently less than one week.
The role of security has not diminished
Consular officers, in addition to being the first Americans many
foreigners will encounter, are also our country's first line of
defense. Every visa decision is a national security decision. We train
our staff extensively and continuously on interviewing and name-
checking techniques, fraud detection, and the use of myriad automated
systems. Every visa adjudication comprises extensive biometric and
biographic checks supported by a clearance process including data from
the intelligence and law-enforcement communities, ensuring that our
officers have the best data available at all times. We've improved this
process in the last year, ensuring that we target more of our resources
towards individuals who may pose a threat.
Meeting Demand, Especially in Emerging Economies
In 2013, Brazilian visitors contributed $10.5 billion to the U.S.
economy, a 13 percent increase from the prior year. During the same
period, Chinese visitors contributed $9.8 billion, an 11 percent
increase from the prior year, or $5,400 per visitor. To address this
important opportunity to contribute to our country's economy, 167
officers perform consular work in Mission China. Consular Affairs
created over 50 new officer positions in China in Fiscal Year 2012
alone. In the same year, we increased consular staffing in Mission
Brazil by 40 percent within six months, and eventually increased
staffing by more than 100 percent. We met the President's Executive
Order target of 40 percent capacity increase in Brazil in June 2012 and
in China in November 2012, both ahead of schedule.
Coping with the explosive growth in demand for nonimmigrant visas
in Brazil, China, India, and Mexico has been a major challenge for
Consular Affairs over the past several years, but is one which we have
addressed vigorously and successfully. We continue to direct our
personnel and resources towards the locations with the greatest need,
applying innovative solutions to these critical markets.
In 2011, we realized our traditional hiring mechanisms wouldn't
allow us to deploy officers quickly enough to meet exploding visa
demand in Brazil and China. We weren't recruiting enough Portuguese-and
Mandarin-speaking officers and could not wait for new entry-level
officers to learn these essential languages. In response, the
Department created a rapid hiring pilot program to ramp up staffing at
critical needs posts. The first class of these adjudicators, appointed
for one-year periods and limited to a maximum of five consecutive
years, began in January 2012. That year, we brought on a total of 24
Mandarin-speakers and 19 Portuguese-speakers, all of whom arrived at
posts by mid-July. In Fiscal Year 2013, we expanded the program to
recruit Spanish-speakers. To date, we have hired and deployed 59
adjudicators under this program to China, Brazil, Mexico, Colombia, and
the Dominican Republic, representing an added capacity of 900,000 visa
adjudications per year.
We are working to expand and remodel our consular facilities so we
can interview more visa applicants on a daily basis. We are expanding
our interviewing capacity in China by adding 22 new service windows in
Guangzhou, 20 new windows in Shanghai, eight new windows in Chengdu,
and eight new windows in Beijing. We expect one million Indians to
visit the United States in 2015, and are adding 17 new windows in
Mumbai to handle the additional workload. In the coming years we will
open entirely new visa-processing facilities in Porto Alegre and Belo
Horizonte, Brazil, and Wuhan, China.
We also prioritize key groups of travelers, such as students and
business visitors. Wait times for student visa interview appointments
worldwide are less than 15 days. We prioritize student visa
appointments because of the tremendous intellectual, social, and
economic benefits foreign students provide to the U.S. economy.
According to the Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs,
international students contributed $24.7 billion to the U.S. economy
during the 2011-2012 academic year. U.S. officials work closely with
the American Chambers of Commerce in more than 100 countries to
streamline the visa process for business travelers, and all U.S.
embassies and consulates have established procedures to expedite
appointments for urgent business travel.
The Global Support Strategy is a worldwide program to optimize visa
application support services, including: information provision through
call centers and e-mail correspondence, appointments, fee collection,
document delivery, greeters, and in some cases, biometric collection
services. Offsite biometric collection facilities are in operation in
Mexico, Brazil, India, Argentina, and Colombia; online scheduling makes
getting an appointment easy and transparent for applicants; and with
oversight by the Department, our contractors handle routine telephone
and e-mail inquiries in many markets. This frees up space and staff at
our embassies and consulates, creating additional capacity and allowing
us to focus on the critical security-related screening that cannot be
outsourced. We expect to have offsite support services in most of our
consular sections worldwide by the end of this year.
We are moving towards a foil-less nonimmigrant visa. The visa
application has been fully electronic since 2010, and the next step is
eliminating the visa foil itself. Leveraging our existing electronic
systems and connections with our interagency partners will enable us to
save money and reduce document fraud by eliminating the printed visa.
Interviews and Reciprocity
One of the most effective ways we have to improve the efficiency of
visa operations is to eliminate in-person interviews for low-risk
travelers, while retaining all of the security checks that apply to
every visa applicant. Although the Immigration and Nationality Act
(INA) requires our consular officers to interview in-person all visa
applicants aged 14 through 79, it also provides limited authority to
waive interviews, including authority to waive for diplomatic and
official applicants from foreign governments and for some repeat
applicants. We are utilizing technology and advanced fraud detection
techniques to help us expand the pool of applicants for whom interviews
can be waived under the Interview Waiver Program. This allows us to
focus resources on higher-risk visa applicants while facilitating
travel for low-risk applicants.
We are working with our colleagues across the government to expand
this successful program, which became permanent in January 2014. In
Fiscal Year 2013, we waived over 380,000 interviews, and a recent study
showed that tourist and business visitor visa holders whose interviews
were waived, all of whom were subject to the full scope of security
checks, posed no greater risk for an overstay than those who were
interviewed. We are interested in explicit legislative authority to
supplement the existing Interview Waiver Program by adding additional
low-risk applicant groups such as citizens of Visa Waiver Program
members applying for other types of visas such as student or work
visas; continuing students moving to a higher level of education; non-
U.S. citizen Global Entry and NEXUS trusted traveler program members;
and holders of visas in other categories, such as students and workers,
who wish to travel for tourism or business. The Department is
interested in working with Congress on legislation specifically
authorizing the Secretaries of State and Homeland Security to enhance
our interview waiver programs.
The law also requires us to set visa validity based on the validity
of visas issued to U.S. citizens on a reciprocal basis. Following the
Chinese government's formal offer in September 2012 to expand validity
to five years, multiple entries for a host of visa categories, the
interagency community has engaged in a series of meetings to assess the
full range of implications and economic, cultural, and political
benefits of longer visa validities for Chinese nationals. In 2013, we
agreed to extend the validity of crewmember and transit visas to five
years, multiple entries. Increasing Chinese visa validity for tourists,
businesspeople, and students would provide a significant boost to the
U.S. economy and would help Mission China successfully manage its
consular resources. Of course, the Department does not act alone when
it comes to decisions about visa validity; we must consult with the
Department of Homeland Security and with other interagency partners
where appropriate prior to increasing any period of visa validity.
Finally, we are working with our U.S. Government colleagues to
expand the Visa Waiver Program, consistent with U.S. law, as was
recently done with the addition of Chile to the program earlier this
year. With this designation, Chile now joins 37 other participants and
is currently the only participant from Latin America. The Department
supports the proposed amendments contained in the Senate-passed Border
Security, Economic Opportunity, and Immigration Modernization Act,
because we believe they would restructure the Visa Waiver Program in a
manner that would strengthen law enforcement cooperation, while
maintaining the program's robust counterterrorism and criminal
information sharing initiatives and promoting commerce and tourism in
the United States.
However, we do not recommend offering premium visa processing. We
believe many visa applicants would be willing to pay any ``premium
processing fee'' in the false belief that payment of a higher fee will
ensure visa issuance, thus making any such program less efficient and
compromising the integrity of the visa process. The best approach to
achieve greater efficiencies is the continued prioritization of
student, medical, and urgent business travel applications, which is
already in effect at consular posts worldwide. We will also pursue
increased visa validity where reciprocal agreement can be obtained with
interagency support.
Conclusion
As consular officers, we occupy a unique space at the nexus of
foreign policy and national security. We are first and foremost
diplomats representing the United States. We strongly support the
efforts of the Administration to improve the standing of the United
States as a welcoming, exciting destination for travelers around the
world. And we play an important role in our Nation's security,
emphasizing at every available opportunity the primacy of security
considerations in all our processes. This is drilled into every officer
from the first day of training, and it is enforced by our systems as a
part of every visa adjudication. We understand that maintaining secure
borders complements our mission to facilitate legitimate travel.
The extent of our daily direct contact with the world gives us a
perspective unlike any other in the U.S. Government. Our officers study
their host countries and become intimately familiar with their customs
and cultures. When combined with in-depth training and knowledge of
immigration law, the result is a singular ability to conduct visa
operations around the globe, with our multifaceted national interest
the ultimate beneficiary of our expertise.
Our work affects U.S. interests directly on a basic, human level.
Every issuance and refusal touches a person, a responsibility we take
seriously. It is incumbent upon us to treat those individuals with the
respect and dignity they deserve, and our service orientation
demonstrates that every hour of every day. The Department of State is
committed to improving our service and our security continuously, and
we will apply every resource at our disposal to that end.
This concludes my testimony today. I will be pleased to take your
questions.
Senator Schatz. Thank you, Ambassador.
Mr. Stroud?
STATEMENT OF MICHAEL STROUD, ACTING ASSISTANT
SECRETARY, PRIVATE SECTOR OFFICE, OFFICE OF POLICY,
U.S. DEPARTMENT OF HOMELAND SECURITY
Mr. Stroud. Good morning, Chairman Schatz, Ranking Member
Scott, and members of the Subcommittee. I am pleased to appear
before you today to discuss the Department of Homeland
Security's major travel and tourism initiatives.
The travel and tourism area best showcases our dual goals
of economic and national security. Every year, DHS facilitates
the travel of tens of millions of international visitors. We
secure passengers and their baggage, screen travelers as they
cross our borders, and play an important role in the visa
security process, among many other responsibilities.
Facilitating secure travel is a priority for DHS. DHS is
working closely with the Departments of Commerce and State,
Brand USA, and others to boost America's tourism industry.
At DHS, we view efficient and effective security as a key
to a thriving economy, not as a barrier. Our goals of enhancing
national security and boosting economic prosperity are
fundamentally intertwined.
In May 2012, the administration launched the National
Travel and Tourism Strategy, setting a goal of attracting
international visitors. To meet this goal, DHS and the
Department of Commerce have already begun developing a national
strategy for improving service levels for international air
passengers.
Specific action plans are under development, including
input from both the private and public sectors. The
stakeholders include airports; airlines; local, State, and
Federal Governments; workers; and passengers, all with an
essential role to play.
DHS's greatest asset in both securing and facilitating
international travelers is our dedicated work force. Thanks to
congressional support, 2,000 new Customs and Border Protection
officers will enhance security, help reduce wait times, and
facilitate legitimate trade and travel, thereby benefiting our
Nation's economy.
To facilitate rising volumes of international travel,
streamline entry processes, and improve the international
travelers' experience, DHS continues partnering with private
industry, including leveraging advanced technologies and
expanding voluntary trusted traveler programs.
One example is expanding TSA PreCheck to international
carriers at U.S. airports, a long-term goal of our risk-based
and intelligence-driven approach to aviation security. Another
example is the President's support for developing a North
American trusted traveler program. Finally, DHS continues to
support the expansion of Global Entry with its international
partners.
DHS created a program that leverages private sector
expertise, the Loaned Executive Program. This program brings
government and industry expertise together to support efforts
that promote DHS's travel and tourism goals. Last month, DHS
announced seven Loaned Executive assignments to support these
goals.
These Loaned Executives will help to improve the travel
experience for the American public and international visitors
at our gateway airports. Private sector integration in the
development of our policies and processes ensures a coordinated
approach to identifying innovative solutions to our security
challenges.
Since 2003, DHS has collaborated with our international
partners to expand security measures beyond our domestic
borders. We believe that new initiatives should offer both a
security and travel facilitation benefit. This is why we firmly
believe that expanding preclearance operations in strategic
areas, combined with expanding trusted traveler programs, will
improve national security and facilitate legitimate travel all
prior to boarding an aircraft bound for the United States.
DHS continues to welcome the input and engagement of
Congress, the private sector, and the traveling public to
pursue our mission in an effective, innovative, and efficient
way.
Thank you for the opportunity to appear before you today,
and I look forward to your questions.
[The joint testimony of Mr. Stroud and Mr. Wagner follow:]
Joint Testimony of Michael Stroud, Acting Assistant Secretary, Private
Sector Office, U.S. Department of Homeland Security; and John Wagner,
Acting Assistant Commissioner, Office of Field Operations, U.S. Customs
and Border Protection, U.S. Department of Homeland Security
Chairman Schatz, Ranking Member Scott and members of the
Subcommittee, we are pleased to appear before you today to discuss the
U.S. Department of Homeland Security's (DHS) major travel and tourism
initiatives. There is no better area in which to showcase our dual goal
of economic and national security than our work to foster and
facilitate travel to and within the United States. The U.S. travel and
tourism sector is critical to our Nation's prosperity and drives
economic growth. Last year international visitors alone supported more
than 1.3 million U.S. jobs.
In May 2012, the Administration launched the National Travel and
Tourism Strategy for expanding travel to and within the United States
with a goal of attracting and welcoming 100 million international
visitors annually by the end of 2021. Once achieved, these visitors are
estimated to spend $250 billion on an annual basis. Two years later, we
are on track to meet that goal. We have made significant progress on
specific actions to encourage and make it easier for international
travelers to visit the United States while continuing to secure our
country.
Today, our testimony will provide an overview of DHS' innovative
efforts to improve the entry process and streamline the experience for
international travelers moving through U.S. ports of entry.
Every year, DHS facilitates the travel of tens of millions of
international tourists visiting our Nation. The facilitation and
security of travel and tourism is a priority for the Department and we
are taking concrete steps, working closely with the Department of
Commerce, to boost America's tourism industry. The focus of these
efforts is to grow our economy, create more jobs, and continue to
secure our country. At DHS, we view effective and efficient security as
a contributor to facilitation, and not a barrier. Security measures are
vital to protecting travel and tourism from the damaging effects of
terrorist or other security incidents. Our goals of national security
and economic prosperity are fundamentally intertwined.
DHS programs, such as the Visa Waiver Program (VWP), provide
valuable security and facilitation benefits before visitors even travel
to the United States. VWP allows citizens of participating countries
\1\ to travel to the United States without a visa for stays of 90 days
or less, if they meet all requirements. Visitors traveling to the
United States by air or sea and intending to apply for admission in
accordance with the VWP must first apply for travel authorization
through CBP's online application system--Electronic System for Travel
Authorization (ESTA). Through this process, CBP incorporates targeting
and database checks to identify individuals who are ineligible to enter
the United States under the VWP and those who may pose an overstay
risk, or who may present a national security or criminal threat if
allowed to travel. CBP also continuously reviews ESTA applications for
new derogatory information to identify persons whose eligibility for
entry into the United States has changed since the ESTA authorization
was initially approved. The VWP provides eligible low-risk visitors an
opportunity to streamline and simplify the travel and admission
application process before even arriving at a U.S. port of entry.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
\1\ The 38 countries currently designated for participation in the
VWP are: Andorra, Australia, Austria, Belgium, Brunei, Chile (joined
March 31, 2014), the Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France,
Germany, Greece, Hungary, Iceland, Ireland, Italy, Japan, South Korea,
Latvia, Liechtenstein, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Malta, Monaco, the
Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, Portugal, San Marino, Singapore,
Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Taiwan, and the United
Kingdom. With respect to all references to ``country'' or ``countries''
in this document, it should be noted that the Taiwan Relations Act of
1979, Pub. L. No. 96-8, Section 4(b)(1), provides that ``[w]henever the
laws of the United States refer or relate to foreign countries,
nations, states, governments, or similar entities, such terms shall
include and such laws shall apply with respect to Taiwan.'' 22 U.S.C.
Sec. 3303(b)(1).
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
Building on a range of earlier travel and tourism promotion
activities, DHS and the Department of Commerce started work last month
to develop a national goal for improving service levels for
international air passenger arrival. As part of this effort, DHS and
the Department of Commerce will assess and identify opportunities to
reduce the time passengers spend waiting for primary inspection and to
fulfill other steps of the arrival process. Specific airport action
plans are under development, including actions from both private and
public sectors to measurably improve the entry experience.
These goals and action plans will align with and build upon recent
successful activities conducted in partnership with international
airports, such as improvements at Dallas-Fort Worth (DFW) and Chicago
O'Hare (ORD). At these locations, a combination of technology, trusted
travel programs, and, at DFW, reimbursable service agreements, reduced
wait times by nearly 40 percent on average over 12 months. These
efforts reduced the percentage of travelers waiting over 30 minutes by
more than half, resulting in a new 15-minute average wait time at DFW
and ORD air ports of entry.
Improving the Entry Process
Since 2009, we have experienced remarkable growth in international
travel to the United States with total passenger volumes in our
airports rising approximately four percent each year. In Fiscal Year
(FY) 2013, U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) processed more than
362 million passengers in the land, sea, and air environments,
welcoming a record 102 million air travelers. Travel and tourism are
absolutely vital to our economy, and according to the U.S. Department
of Commerce, in 2013, one new American job was created for every 73
travelers arriving from overseas.
Our greatest asset in both securing and facilitating these immense
volumes of international travelers is our dedicated workforce. Thanks
to the support of Congress, funding for 2,000 new CBP officers was
included in the Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2014.\2\ The 2,000
will be allocated utilizing CBP's Workload Staffing Model (WSM) and
directed to the ports with the greatest need for additional officers.
They will enhance security, help reduce wait times, and facilitate
growing volumes of legitimate goods and travelers that are critical to
the health of our Nation's economy. We are pleased to report that the
job opportunity announcement for these positions opened on May 2, 2014
and we are poised to hire all 2,000 by the end of FY 2015. It is
important to note that this is a good down payment, but unfortunately,
no port of entry will be ``made whole'' with this allocation. CBP will
continue to pursue transformation efforts, new reimbursement
authorities, and partnerships with our stakeholders. The President's FY
2015 Budget request calls for user fee increases that would fund an
additional 2,000 CBP officers.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
\2\ Pub. L. No. 113-76
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
The extent to which wait times affect the local and national
economy was most recently studied by the National Center for Risk and
Economic Analysis of Terrorism Events (CREATE), a DHS Center of
Excellence. CREATE issued ``The Impact on the U.S. Economy of Changes
in Wait Times at Ports of Entry'' \3\ in March 2013. Their analysis of
17 major passenger land crossing ports of entry (POE), 12 major freight
crossing POEs, and 4 major passenger airport POEs, found that an
increase or decrease in staffing at the ports of entry has an impact on
wait times and, therefore, on the U.S. economy. More specifically,
adding a single CBP Officer at each of the just 33 studied border
crossings equates to annual benefits of: $2 million increase in Gross
Domestic Product; $640,000 saved in opportunity costs; and 33 jobs
added to the economy.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
\3\ ``The Impact on the U.S. Economy of Changes in Wait Times at
Ports of Entry,'' National Center for Risk and Economic Analysis of
Terrorism Events (CREATE), University of Southern California, released
April 4, 2013 (dated March 31, 2013).
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
To further facilitate rising volumes of international travel,
streamline entry processes, and improve the international traveler's
experience, DHS is partnering with private industry, leveraging
advanced technology, and expanding voluntary trusted traveler programs
and international initiatives.
Partnering with Private Industry
DHS will continue to work closely with industry to learn from their
expertise, engage on best practices, and identify new opportunities to
improve our operations. We are taking a fresh look at the entry process
and looking for new ways to create an easier and more welcoming entry
experience for visitors to the United States. It is only through strong
partnership and cooperation that we can realize the full benefit of
innovation and our mutual goal of facilitating travel to the United
States. The significant improvements realized in DFW and ORD exemplify
what can be accomplished through this type of public-private
collaboration.
Another example of DHS' efforts to leverage private sector
expertise is the Loaned Executive Program. This program brings
government and industry expertise together to support efforts that
promote the Transportation Security Administration (TSA) and CBP-led
travel and tourism goals. Last month, DHS announced the opening of six
assignments under the Loaned Executive Program for private sector
leaders to support the Department's travel and tourism initiatives. We
want to leverage the private sector's best talent to improve the travel
experience for the American public and those who we welcome as visitors
to our country. Private sector integration in the development of our
policies and processes ensures a coordinated approach to identifying
innovative solutions to our homeland security challenges. We look
forward to the input from these experts as we work to transform
operations at our airports.
DHS is also working to develop stronger metrics to measure our
progress in improving customer service at air ports of entry. CBP
recently hosted a meeting with dozens of travel industry stakeholders
to begin to define metrics for an entire range of customer service
processes and procedures. Our intention is to develop national goals
and effective measurements for improved service levels that consider a
variety of factors such as wait times, volume of travelers, economic
benefits of tourism, and enforcement statistics.
Using Technology to Automate and Streamline
CBP staffing levels have not kept pace with increases in both trade
and travel since 2009, resulting in increased wait times and service
levels at many ports of entry. CBP developed and implemented the
Resource Optimization Strategy (ROS) to ensure the efficient use of
staffing and other resources. The ROS has three main components: (1)
optimize current business processes through Business Transformation
Initiatives (BTIs); (2) identify staffing requirements accurately
through the WSM; and (3) explore alternative funding strategies to
increase revenue sources supporting staffing.
In addition, CBP continues to transform border processing
operations by implementing and optimizing innovative solutions based on
operational need. A hallmark of CBP's efforts to modernize the travel
process is the expansion of Automated Passport Control (APC), which
enables eligible air travelers to complete the administrative portion
of their processing at a kiosk, reducing overall inspection time from
approximately 55 seconds to 30 seconds--a savings of over 60,000
inspectional hours through FY 2015. APC kiosks also increase security
by allowing officers to focus on the passenger instead of paperwork. In
the past year, 15 airports purchased and deployed this streamlining
technology, and there are plans for another 10 to join by the end of
the year. A number of these airports, including John F. Kennedy
International Airport, Orlando International Airport, ORD, and DFW,
have experienced reductions in average wait times of 30 percent or more
after APC kiosks have been installed.
To increase efficiency, reduce operating costs and streamline the
admissions process, CBP has automated Form I-94, DHS Arrival/Departure
Record, for foreign visitors arriving at air and sea ports of entry.
CBP now gathers travelers' arrival and departure information
automatically from their electronic travel records, making the entry
process easier and faster for travelers as well as increasing security
and reducing Federal costs. CBP estimates the automated process will
save the agency $15.5 million per year in administrative costs and over
$10 million in salaries and expenses through the savings of 80 CBP
Officers through FY 2015.
Trusted Traveler and Expedited Screening Programs
Identifying and separating low-risk travelers from those who may
require additional scrutiny is a key element in DHS's efforts to
facilitate and secure international travel. DHS has increased the
enrollment and usage of trusted traveler programs that are essential to
our risk-based approach to facilitating the flow of travelers into the
United States. CBP's trusted traveler programs, such as SENTRI, NEXUS,
and Global Entry, provide expedited processing upon arrival in the
United States for pre-approved, low-risk participants through the use
of secure and exclusive lanes and automated kiosks. At the end of 2013,
more than 2 million people had access to CBP's Trusted Traveler
Programs--a nearly 60 percent increase from the previous year. These
trusted traveler programs have reduced CBP's resource requirements by
over 70 CBP officers. Global Entry is available for eligible
participants at 47 airports. Travelers using Global Entry kiosks now
account for 10 percent of all international air arrivals on the busiest
travel day of the week.
CBP has also partnered with TSA to extend TSA
Pre3TM benefits to our trusted travelers. TSA
Pre3TM is a voluntary prescreening process used to perform
risk-assessments on passengers prior to their arrival at the airport.
These programs are a valuable contribution to the efficient processing
of travelers. They enable TSA and CBP to focus resources on the small
percentage of passengers warranting additional scrutiny, while
expediting the screening and processing for known and trusted
travelers. Today, TSA is providing expedited screening to more than 5
million travelers each week, and over 40 percent each day at 118
domestic airports in partnership with participating U.S. air carriers
and CBP.
DHS also announced recently that travelers flying on Air Canada may
be eligible to receive expedited security screening through TSA
Pre3TM when flying out of participating U.S. airports. With
this announcement, Air Canada becomes the first international carrier
to partner with DHS and offer its customers advanced security screening
that is the hallmark of TSA Pre3TM. We are working closely
with other international air carriers and expect to announce similar
partnerships later this year. Expanding the TSA
Pre3TM initiative to international carriers that have a
significant presence at U.S. airports has been a long-term goal of our
risk-based and intelligence-driven approach to aviation security.
International Initiatives
Since the formation of DHS in 2003, we have collaborated with our
international partners to push security measures out beyond our
domestic ports of entry. These effective security programs also provide
valuable facilitation benefits to international travelers. We believe
that new initiatives should offer a net security benefit--that is, any
measure proposed should do more than merely displace the risk from one
location to another. This is why we firmly believe that establishing
preclearance operations in strategic areas will assist in identifying
terrorists, criminals, and other national security threats prior to
boarding aircraft bound for the United States. We recognize the
benefits private-public partnerships bring to the preclearance business
plan. We intend to establish more of these at overseas airports that
are last points of departure for flights into the United States. Each
proposed location for expansion is reviewed carefully to ensure the
operation would be cost effective and provide positive returns with
regards to a wide spectrum of U.S. interests.
Expansion of preclearance will positively impact the overall
traveler experience by reducing wait times at both CBP and TSA U.S.
domestic air ports of entry and provide economic opportunities to air
carriers and tourism stakeholders.
Improving and Streamlining the Traveler Experience
First impressions are important. A foreign visitor's first and
primary encounter with the U.S. Government is often with the
Departments of State and Homeland Security, and these interactions
shape visitors' opinions about the United States. DHS and our travel
industry partners have worked together to improve processes for
welcoming travelers into our country while maintaining the highest
levels of security and professionalism.
In February 2011, CBP launched a new comprehensive basic training
program for new officers. The program prepares trainees mentally,
physically, and ethically to meet the challenges and demands of a law
enforcement position and equips them with the specific skills needed to
perform their duties with a high level of competence. CBP has taken a
proactive management approach in addressing passenger processing issues
and is constantly working in partnership with airport authorities,
airlines, and the travel industry to identify new ways to more
efficiently facilitate the entry process.
Our commitment to improving customer service also led to the
development of the Model Ports program. Created in 2006, the Model
Ports program focuses on making the entry process more streamlined,
understandable, and welcoming. One of the best practices of the Model
Ports program is the establishment of the Passenger Service Manager
(PSM) position, a key advocate for promoting traveler satisfaction. The
PSM is a uniformed CBP manager able to respond to traveler complaints
or concerns; oversee issues related to travelers requiring special
processing; observe overall traveler processing; address issues on site
as they occur; and provide recommendations for improvement of traveler
processing and professionalism. Photographs and contact information for
all PSMs are prominently displayed for maximum traveler visibility and
access and will be available at over 300 ports of entry this year.
To increase effective communication with arriving travelers, CBP
previously installed audio and video technology in the passport primary
queuing area to display CBP's informational video, ``Welcome to the
United States `Simple as 1, 2, 3','' which presents travelers with
step-by-step instructions on what to expect during CBP processing. The
video is subtitled in eight languages and is seen by over 25 million
visitors each year. CBP is currently updating this technology and
videos to educate travelers on how to use APC kiosks. CBP is also
partnering with the airlines to show these new, educational products on
planes where possible.
Reducing Wait Times
CBP strives to process arriving travelers, regardless of the port
environment, as quickly as possible while maintaining the highest
standards of security, and we closely monitor wait times for
international travelers.
Although CBP continues to address ways to manage wait times, other
issues affect wait times, including concurrent arrivals that exceed the
capacity of the airport and the need to staff multiple terminals. CBP
is working to address these challenges by using existing resources more
effectively, partnering with carriers and airport authorities on
facilitation measures, and enhancing risk segmentation by increasing
membership in trusted traveler programs.
The Airport Wait Time Console is used to report on primary
processing passenger wait times at the top 63 air ports of entry. This
data is based on measurements of time intervals between the arrival of
the aircraft and the processing of the passenger on primary. The wait
time for each arriving passenger is recorded, and aggregates of these
wait times may be obtained based on the individual flight, class of
admission, time of day, or any other data element associated with an
arriving air passenger. CBP reports wait times on our public website,
and we continue to refine the reporting.
The Airport Wait Time Console Real Time Flightboard utilizes live
data feeds from multiple sources to create a view of passenger arrival
data that allows CBP Field Operations personnel to make optimal
staffing decisions. By taking into account such factors as aircraft
arrival time and facility constraints, as well as passenger volume and
admission class, CBP management at our air ports of entry are able to
foresee how changes in any of the elements will require corresponding
adjustments to staffing.
Partnership with Brand USA
In support of efforts to expand legitimate travel and tourism to
the United States, DHS works with The Corporation for Travel Promotion,
doing business as Brand USA. The Corporation for Travel Promotion,
established under the Travel Promotion Act of 2009, is a public-private
marketing entity that encourages travelers from all over the world to
visit the United States.\4\ CBP works closely with Brand USA to promote
CBP programs such as the Electronic System for Travel Authorization
(ESTA) and Global Entry and to identify ways of improving the traveler
experience at U.S. ports of entry based on feedback from the customer
satisfaction survey.
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\4\ Pub. L. No. 111-145, Sec. 9
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The experience of an international arrival passenger at one of our
ports of entry is not limited to their interaction with the U.S.
Government. CBP has made significant investments in improving the
international arrivals process for both security and facilitation.
Airports, airlines, and local governments also figure heavily into the
passenger's experience--and they all have an essential role to play in
creating a positive first impression.
DHS is working to foster and facilitate a thriving travel and
tourism industry, while maintaining the highest security standards. DHS
continues to welcome the input and engagement of Congress, the private
sector and the traveling public to pursue our mission in an
increasingly innovative, efficient, and effective way.
Thank you for the opportunity to appear before you today. We look
forward to answering your questions.
Senator Schatz. Thank you very much.
Mr. Wagner?
STATEMENT OF JOHN P. WAGNER, ACTING ASSISTANT
COMMISSIONER, OFFICE OF FIELD OPERATIONS,
U.S. CUSTOMS AND BORDER PROTECTION,
U.S. DEPARTMENT OF HOMELAND SECURITY
Mr. Wagner. Thank you, Chairman Schatz, Ranking Member
Scott, members of the Subcommittee. Thank you for the
opportunity to appear today to discuss ways U.S. Customs and
Border Protection is securely facilitating travel to the United
States.
During 2013, CBP processed more than 362 million passengers
in the land, sea, and air environments, welcoming a record 102
million air passengers. Since 2009, we have seen remarkable
growth in international travel with total passenger volumes in
our airports rising approximately 4 percent each year.
CBP staffing levels have struggled to keep pace with this
growth, resulting in increased wait times at many ports of
entry. One of the main challenges we face is the current
international air transportation model that creates large peaks
of passenger arrivals.
For example, for a place like Miami airport, we will
routinely see about 16 flights arrive per hour in the late
afternoon/early evening. That is about 12,500 people over a 5-
hour period. So to address this ongoing challenge we have
developed a three-part resource optimization strategy that,
one, identifies staffing requirements using a workload staffing
model; two, ensures the efficient use of resources by
optimizing current business processes; and three, explores
funding strategies to support the staffing increases.
The workload staffing model employs a rigorous data-driven
methodology to identify staffing requirements by considering
all activities performed by CBP officers at the ports of entry,
the volume of those activities, and the level of effort
required to carry them out. The most recent results of the
model show a need for 4,373 additional CBP officers through
Fiscal Year 2015.
CBP's greatest resource in both securing and facilitating
travel is our professional work force. Thanks to the support of
Congress, the 2014 Appropriations Act included funding for
2,000 new CBP officers. These additional officers will be
allocated utilizing the workload staffing model and directed to
those ports with the greatest need.
While the 2,000 additional officers will bring significant
support to our mission, the workload staffing model identifies
a need for an additional 2,000 CBP officers. This has been
included in the 2015 budget request, along with a proposal for
user fee increases to fund this effort.
We realize personnel alone is not the answer to improving
the arrivals process. CBP has been relentlessly self critical
to ensure our operations are as efficient and secure as
possible. We are incorporating technological enhancements,
developing self-service kiosks, and reducing paper forms for
travelers.
We have implemented programs that segment arriving
travelers into efficient processing modes. Like an E-ZPass lane
at a tollbooth, CBP's trusted traveler programs like Global
Entry provides expedited processing for pre-approved, low-risk
participants through the use of automated kiosks.
There are over 2.5 million travelers with Global Entry
benefits, and to date, the Global Entry kiosks have been used
over 9.3 million times. On the busiest travel day of the week,
travelers using these kiosks can account for up to 10 percent
of all international air arrivals.
We have also worked closely with the airport authorities
and the airlines to deploy automated passport control kiosks,
also known as APC. These are like the exact change lanes at the
tollbooth. APC enables travelers to complete the administrative
portion of the arrivals process, thereby reducing the overall
interaction time with the CBP officer and allows the CBP
officer to really focus on the security aspects of that
inspection process.
In the past year, 16 airports have launched APCs, and
several more are planned to join by the end of this year. At
all these airports that have launched these kiosks, we have
seen average wait times decrease by 30 to 35 percent after the
installation of the kiosks.
We have also automated Form I-94, the Arrival and Departure
Record for foreign visitors arriving in air and sea ports of
entry. We gather arrival and departure information
automatically from electronic records, making the entry process
easier and faster for travelers, in addition to reducing agency
costs.
We are also looking at the paper Customs Declaration Form
and ways to automate or eliminate that process. We re-
envisioned several ways to clear CBP in the future through the
use of the Internet, a mobile device, a kiosk, or seeing an
officer, just like the options available when checking in for a
flight.
Effective and efficient security should be a contributor to
travel facilitation, not a barrier. Security measures vitally
protect travel and tourism from the damaging effects of
terrorists or other security incidents. Identifying and
separating low-risk travelers from those who may require
additional scrutiny is a key element in CBP's efforts to
facilitate and secure international travel.
We are also dedicated to providing quality customer service
to travelers. From training programs for officers to enhanced
audio and video communication tools, providing travelers with
clear instructions in many languages on CBP's entry process,
CBP continues to enhance the ways we serve the public.
In conjunction with the travel industry, we developed a
traveler satisfaction survey to benchmark passenger
satisfaction in CBP professionalism. Last year's survey
findings indicated 80 percent of the travelers agree the entry
process made them feel welcome in the U.S., and over 90 percent
of travelers agree that the CBP officials are professional,
helpful, efficient, and easy to understand.
Chairman Schatz and Ranking Member Scott and members of the
Subcommittee, thank you for the opportunity to testify today,
and I am happy to answer your questions.
Senator Schatz. Thank you very much.
We will start with our Ranking Member Scott.
STATEMENT OF HON. TIM SCOTT,
U.S. SENATOR FROM SOUTH CAROLINA
Senator Scott. Thank you, Mr. Chairman.
And thank you, members of the panel, for taking your time
and investing your time in helping us to have a clearer path
forward on improving our tourism, improving our economy, and
perhaps improving our reputation as well.
Ambassador Bond, a quick question for you. Our Fiscal Year
2014 appropriations included a requirement for the State
Department to pilot a visa video conferencing technology. That
secure technology would allow State to conduct visa interviews
remotely and provide a convenient solution for foreign
travelers with limited access to U.S. consulates.
Can you please give us an update on the status of this
pilot program and how effective you think it has been so far?
Ambassador Bond. Thank you, Senator.
The Bureau of Consular Affairs is continuing to look into
whether video could be incorporated into visa processing. We
understand the allure and the attraction of the video
interviewing idea. We have serious concerns about the security,
efficiency, and integrity of video conferencing--video
interviewing.
We believe that expanding the pool of low-risk travelers
who do not require an interview at all will realize far greater
efficiencies than would video interviewing. We are focusing our
efforts on utilizing technology and advanced fraud detection
techniques to help us expand the pool of applicants for whom
interviews can be waived. That would allow us to focus
resources on higher-risk visa applicants, people we know less
about, while better facilitating travel for the others.
Expansion of Interview Waiver and the Visa Waiver Program
are two efficient, effective methods for facilitating larger
numbers of legitimate travelers. The video interview process
can work when you are dealing with a known group, but when you
are trying to interview, you know, several thousand people who
are just coming in one after the other, sitting in front of the
camera, we think there are really serious security and
efficiency questions about that approach and that process.
Senator Scott. So you perhaps focus more on identifying
those low-risk travelers, as opposed to moving forward today on
the use of that technology?
Ambassador Bond. Yes, sir.
Senator Scott. OK. Thank you.
Assistant Secretary Stroud, we have heard a little about
the Loaned Executive Program and how DHS is leveraging private
sector expertise with six assignments under the program to
support some of the Department's tourism initiatives. Can you
give me a better idea of exactly what problems these roles will
be focusing on and where within the Department they will be
located, whether they will be in the field or at the
headquarters?
Mr. Stroud. Sure. Thank you, Senator.
Let me first explain that the Loaned Executive Program is
basically a program that allows DHS to take advantage of the
private sector at essentially no cost.
Senator Scott. Yes.
Mr. Stroud. These folks continue to get paid by their----
Senator Scott. Employers.
Mr. Stroud.--private sector employers.
Senator Scott. Yes.
Mr. Stroud. We currently have on the travel and tourism
side seven assignments posted. And they largely came about
after a site visit to Miami International Airport, where we saw
that very quickly with a couple of people from some of the
larger theme-park areas in Florida, that their expertise on
signage, their expertise in queuing people was invaluable.
And so, we worked with CBP and TSA to jointly develop these
descriptions to basically create a task force team that could
go around to our various gateway airports and look at each
airport because, as Administrator Pistole of TSA has testified,
``Once you have seen one airport, you have seen one airport.''
So this team has to literally go to these airports and look.
But to address your question with respect to where they
will be located, they will actually dual report, essentially,
to both TSA and CBP and also to the Deputy Secretary who, under
the law, operates as a Chief Operating Officer for the
Department.
Senator Scott. Yes.
Mr. Stroud. So that is where they will be located. They
will be located ideally for about 6-month periods. And they
will be used during that timeframe in a focused effort.
Senator Scott. Thank you.
Just a real quick question, since I am running out of time,
for Mr. Wagner. On the CBP's preclearance operations with our
strong allies like Canada, Ireland, and the Caribbean, this
really has facilitated low-risk travel opportunities.
And the Canadian preclearance, especially the Toronto
location, has done a lot of good for our economy in South
Carolina. I would love to get your perspective on the
effectiveness of these programs, from a facilitation
perspective and from a security perspective.
Mr. Wagner. Well, absolutely. It fills both those needs for
us. We are looking to expand the program with a lot of
different of the gateway airports overseas, but it does help
with facilitation benefits and certainly the enforcement and
the security benefits of being able to search someone or
inspect someone and approve someone for travel to the United
States while on the ground overseas before they board that
aircraft. So really essential for both the facilitative and
security mission that we do.
Senator Scott. Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Chairman.
Senator Schatz. Thank you, Ranking Member Scott.
Before I get into my questions, I just wanted to thank
Ambassador Bond in her testimony for flagging the issue and the
opportunities related to expanding the Interview Waiver Program
and commit to you that I know for myself and many members of
the Committee, we are anxious to facilitate in any way possible
your work on the administrative side. And if there are
legislative changes that need to be made, we are pleased to
work with you on that.
Mr. Wagner, as you probably know, CBP is working on
resuming operations at the Kona airport. Resuming operations
would provide another international gateway to Hawaii and help
increase economic activity there.
I know there are facilities issues. There are capacity
issues. But from our standpoint, we are not--we are not landing
commercial flights at the Kona airport for lack of resources,
both at the State and Federal level. Do I have your commitment
to work with us to solve that problem?
Mr. Wagner. We will absolutely work with you. It is the
facility requirements that we need to operate and then having
the commercial airlines to come in to bring the traffic to us.
But we will absolutely work with you.
Senator Schatz. I can assure you that the commercial
airlines will come if we can square away our end of the
bargain.
Thank you very much.
Ambassador Bond, I understand the Interview Waiver Program
has helped to reduce visa wait time and that the State
Department would like to pursue possible legislative authority
to expand that program. Could you put into perspective the
benefits of this waiver authority?
Ambassador Bond. Yes, thank you, Senator.
The benefit of the waiver authority is that it allows us to
carefully examine the people who are applying for visa
applications and separate out the people about whom we already
have quite a lot of information. An example would be someone
from a visa waiver country who can already travel to the United
States without getting a tourist visa and is now applying for a
student visa.
If that person has been to the States, we have information
about their travel pattern. We have all of the screening that
is done for 100 percent of travelers. We have the information
that is provided in the applicant's application. We really
don't need necessarily to interview that person.
And because each application will be examined by a consular
officer, if there is something in an individual application
that raises a question, we can invite that person to come in
for an interview. And there are other examples of people that
we would be able to remove from the queue of people waiting for
appointments and move them along and focus our attention then
on the other folks about whom we know less.
Senator Schatz. Thank you very much.
Mr. Wagner, where are we with the development of metrics,
and are we at a point anytime soon where we are going to have a
maximum wait time target as an official policy of the CBP?
Mr. Wagner. So we measure the wait times at all the major
airports today. That information is posted on our website. We
take two pieces of information that we have good data on, and
that is the block time of the aircraft to the time we read the
person's passport in that primary inspection area, and then we
subtract out what the average walk time is to get from the
plane to our area.
So that data is calculated and tabulated every day. It is
posted on the website for everyone to see, and it is broken
down into different increments of how long people actually
wait. So how many people waited 15 minutes or less, 30 minutes
or less, 60 minutes or less.
Like just yesterday, about nationally 75 percent of the
people cleared CBP in 30 minutes or less. So we break it down
into different useful boxes of information for the public. What
we----
Senator Schatz. What is your--I mean, it seems to me that
it is not just a question of aggregating the data, but you are
trying to eliminate the outliers where you create such a bad
experience where people won't come back.
In other words, if people are moving through at 2 minutes
in non-hub airports, but there are consistent problems at hub
airports, especially on the international side, then you are
actually--you are removing people from the likely repeat
traveler pool, even if your aggregate data looks good.
Mr. Wagner. Correct. So it is an average of everyone. But
even at the gateway airports, you know, we are seeing--you
know, for instance, at Miami yesterday, our maximum wait time
was 79 minutes. The average was 20 minutes throughout the day.
But it is really those peak arrival times that, you know,
if 15 flights land within an hour and a couple thousand people
all come at us at once, we are working with the airport
authorities and the airlines to find better ways to segregate
that traffic into the risk analysis.
We have already done all of our pre-arrival targeting and
vetting of these passengers, and now we just have to match them
up with that information. That is where the kiosks come in and
automated passport control. That is where Global Entry comes
in, and we can remove those people from the queue completely.
Programs like 1-Stop for people with no checked bags.
So we are trying to work the different ways through that,
but we are also working with the local authorities on measuring
the different points in the process.
Senator Schatz. And where are we with setting a wait time
goal?
Mr. Wagner. So we have not looked at a national wait times
goal. We are looking more at what are the right measurements to
measure the increase in travel, the economic benefits that that
brings?
So if travel increases and wait time stays the same, that
supports the goal. So we are looking more at what are the right
metrics, what are the right things to measure in that process,
rather than setting just an across-the-board goal, which a lot
of those factors are outside of our control. The planes might
land all at once, and all these people will come at us.
You know, we don't have control over that, and I don't want
to go down the road of us regulating those arrival times or
trying to stagger those arrivals, or telling planes where they
have to park at the airport so people come at us in some type
of structured environment. So it is a deeper discussion we need
to have about what it actually means to implement a goal like
that.
Senator Schatz. Thank you.
My final question, for Ambassador Bond: Where are we with
negotiations between the United States and China on reciprocal
visa validity?
Ambassador Bond. As you may know, Senator, currently the
visa reciprocity for Chinese--for tourism, for business visas,
students, and so forth is one year, and we are talking to the
Chinese government about extending those visa validities for
several categories in order to allow people to make long-term
plans.
If you are somebody who has a visa that lets you travel for
several years, you are going to think ahead and start planning
trips this year and next year and the year after. So we are in
consultation with the Chinese government, and they are also
interested in finding a way to get to yes on that.
Senator Schatz. Thank you very much.
Senator Blunt?
Senator Blunt. Thank you, Chairman.
Mr. Hyatt, in your testimony, you talked about the
importance of reauthorizing what is now called Brand USA. I
appreciate that. Senator Klobuchar and I have actually filed
legislation to do exactly that. At the same time, we have
included what I think are some important metric reporting and
some accountability standards, and I want to ask you about
those two things.
One is the metrics you gave us today were pretty
impressive--the increase in numbers, the increase in money
spent. And what I am wondering is, what can you do, as you
establish these reporting standards, to measure the impact of
the marketing efforts themselves?
Mr. Hyatt. We think of Brand USA as a global destination
marketing organization for the United States, and therefore,
the classic metrics to measure a destination marketing
organization seem appropriate. The effectiveness of the
marketing programs themselves.
Second, the degree to which they shape intent to travel.
Are people more likely to intend to travel to the U.S.?
Third, the results themselves. Does it create additional
travelers?
And fourth, the return on investment.
And that set of classic destination marketing metrics are
those with which we are working with Brand USA, and seem to us
to make sense as metrics. And they have built a pretty
comprehensive dashboard to measure each of those as they engage
in their marketing.
Senator Blunt. And the numbers you gave today, the
difference in 2012 and 2013 travel, would you say that Brand
USA was responsible for some portion of that increase?
Mr. Hyatt. We don't have the data to determine what portion
they are responsible for. There are at a micro level marketing
program after marketing program where the marketing partners
talk about the results that Brand USA creates, and there is a
lot of company by company, destination marketing organization
by destination marketing organization responses suggesting
tremendous return.
In addition, Brand USA had a study commissioned by Oxford
Economics, which also articulated the results that Brand USA is
creating. So the indications are that value has been created by
Brand USA in its activities.
Senator Blunt. In the first year or so of implementing this
new program, a program largely funded by visa waiver fees paid
by people visiting the country--the funding is not any taxpayer
funding from the United States--the visa waiver fees still has
to be matched----
Mr. Hyatt. Right.
Senator Blunt.--by funds from the private sector. I know in
the first year, we were concerned about the real value of any
in-kind match, and I wonder what the Department has done and
can do to more fully determine that value of the in-kind match.
Mr. Hyatt. Thank you, Senator, for the question.
We have spent a lot of time working with Brand USA and also
third-party companies to help determine what is the most
appropriate and effective way to determine the in-kind value.
The challenge has been that many of the contributions that are
coming from the private sector are to different countries and
companies are contributing in different media--billboards,
space on a website, etc.
We have built now a set of procedures, trying to
incorporate best practices from around the Government to value
the in-kind. Where it is a unique or more difficult to value
in-kind contribution, we rely very heavily on third-party
valuations, and so I think both Brand USA and we are now
comfortable that the procedures in place are efficiently and
effectively measuring the in-kind contributions.
Senator Blunt. And are there other metrics that you all
have put in place to monitor the way money is being spent by
the Brand USA board and the people they hire to run the
program?
Mr. Hyatt. And again, as I said, the metrics that we are
watching are the metrics of the effectiveness of the campaign,
of intent to travel, of results program by program, and what
the ROIs (return on investment) are for those. And again, there
is a dashboard there that is built that we are working with
them on.
Senator Blunt. Thank you.
Chairman, if we have time for another round of questions, I
may have some more. And if not, I will have more questions for
the record.
Senator Schatz. Senator Nelson?
STATEMENT OF HON. BILL NELSON,
U.S. SENATOR FROM FLORIDA
Senator Nelson. Mr. Wagner, Senator Rubio and I are going
to tag team on the issue of Miami and Orlando. And I understand
you obviously have this on your radarscope because you have
mentioned Miami several times.
And it was curious to me when you specifically mentioned in
Miami a 5-hour period where some 12,000 people are arriving all
at once. Aside from the issue of the number of Customs and
Border Protection officers, do you consider on a temporary
basis shifting CBP officers from other locations for that high
concentration of need?
Mr. Wagner. Yes, absolutely. And that is what our local
managers will do from other work areas within their environment
to make sure we have enough booths open every single day.
But we have been--Miami is of significant importance to us,
especially with the World Cup travel and the increases American
Airlines has projected out for the next couple of weeks. So we
are looking at the wait times every day. I am getting a report
every single day of how we are doing and how we are monitoring
and adjusting to the traffic.
I was just down there on Monday, walking through the
facility and the operations with American Airlines and some of
the other local stakeholders. But it is very important to us,
and we want to make sure we are providing that level of
service.
Senator Nelson. So where would you get them? Would you get
them from the seaport on a temporary basis? Would you get them
from Fort Lauderdale? Where would you get them?
Mr. Wagner. Well, we could use them from other areas within
the airport, say, for cargo processing or other types of work
environments that we can afford to take a few hours break from
that activity to put into addressing the peak arrivals. Taking
them from another airport is a little more challenging because
of the travel times and the impact it brings on a place like
Fort Lauderdale, which also have some wait time concerns of
themselves.
Senator Nelson. So are you doing this now?
Mr. Wagner. We are doing it within the----
Senator Nelson. Within the airport itself?
Mr. Wagner.--within the airport itself.
Senator Nelson. Not from the Port of Miami seaport?
Mr. Wagner. No, we have not really looked at that, but that
is an option that is available to us as we look through the
summer peak arrival times.
Senator Nelson. I will leave the other questions on Miami
to Senator Rubio. But just to remind you that there was a
period about 2 years ago in Orlando, where they had to keep the
passengers on an international flight from deplaning for about
an hour and a half because of the lack of officers.
You all responded, but then the sequester hit. And so, I
want you to be mindful of that as you are looking at your
allocation.
Mr. Wagner. Absolutely.
Senator Nelson. Now, I am curious. I want to come at this
from another standpoint, for all of you. We are facing a
situation where we look like we are going to have a lot of area
of Iraq and Syria that, at least for in the short run, is going
to be controlled by an extremely radical terrorist group.
And presumably, there are Americans who have gone to Syria
for training. A Floridian was the one that blew himself up
recently. But also a lot of Europeans.
Okay, if they have got a European passport, what are the
extra precautions that you take other than our overall
terrorist search in a visa waiver country, which very well may
be one of these homegrown terrorists, to catch them? Mr.
Stroud?
Mr. Stroud. I would say that primarily through our using
our National Targeting Center with CBP, we begin to look at the
travel patterns of folks, and we get that information well
before they actually get on the plane. In addition to that, if
you have taken a visit to Miami International, you will see
that Customs and Border Protection executes all of their
regular protocol with respect to arriving passengers,
regardless of if they are Visa Waiver, or even Global Entry
people still receive a check.
And I will defer to my colleague on the rest.
Mr. Wagner. So we are also working with our foreign
counterparts in governments and allies to identify who these
people are, who is associated with them and what else we can
decipher from their intentions.
But as Mr. Stroud mentioned, it is using our advanced
analysis through the airline reservation data, going through
that data, drawing links to pieces of information we know would
give us national security concerns and who can be associated to
that, but also looking at travel patterns based on prior
activities or intelligence reports on what we think would
present some national security concerns.
And then it is a matter of reaching back out through the
travel continuum and what is the right point in that process to
intercept this person, talk to them, have them inspected, have
them searched before they get onboard that plane. And it can
be--we have officers stationed overseas at about 11 locations,
major airports, CBP officers.
Not so much preclearance, but it is called the Immigration
Advisory Program. They are in plain clothes. But they get a
list everyday of travelers that give us concerns, and they meet
them at their boarding gates and talk to them and make a
recommendation to the airline, whether or not the airline
should fly this person based on national security concerns, or
bringing them over to the host authorities to have somebody
fully searched and checked before we allow them onto that
aircraft.
Preclearance gives us the other option because it is
uniformed CBP officers in places like Abu Dhabi that give us a
lot of concern with the types of connecting flights and
travelers that go through there and the amount of national
security activity that keeps us up at night. And having our
officers on the ground there with full authorities to be able
to search people and ensure they are safe before we put them
onboard that aircraft.
Senator Nelson. Thank you.
Senator Schatz. Senator Heller?
STATEMENT OF HON. DEAN HELLER,
U.S. SENATOR FROM NEVADA
Senator Heller. Mr. Chairman, thank you, and to the Ranking
Member, thank you for holding this hearing.
And for our witnesses being here today, too, thanks for
taking the time.
I think we have a hearing on this subject every month, and
if I was chairman, it would be every week. So, anyway, I am not
complaining is what I am trying to say, because you can tell we
are well represented from tourist states here. From Hawaii to
Florida, Nevada, South Carolina, and Missouri, tourism plays a
huge part.
And you can imagine, in the State of Nevada, for 20
consecutive years, we have been the number one meeting and
convention destination in North America. This year, Las Vegas
projects over 40 million visitors--an all time high--and
tourism supports one in two local jobs. So what we are doing
here today and what we are talking about is important, and I
want to thank again the chairman and the ranking member for
holding this particular hearing.
Today, though, I am interested in learning what Washington,
D.C., can do to continue the hard work on your behalf and on
the States' behalf in the tourism industry. And that is why I
am pleased you are here today.
I am particularly interested in the ways we can open more
international markets, markets like Brazil, while continuing to
work to reduce wait times at our Nation's busiest airports and
for those seeking to visit this country. This was a part of my
debate on immigration reform and continues to be today.
So, according to the Las Vegas Convention and Visitors
Authority, international visitors stay longer and they spend
more money during their stays. And with that in mind, I would
like to ask a couple of questions.
And I will start with you, Mr. Stroud. Specifically on the
May 2012 strategy to expand travel to the United States with
the goal of attracting 100 million international visitors
annually by 2021, how are we doing? Can you quantify that?
Mr. Stroud. Can I quantify it? I think we are making some
big strides toward it. I think we are ahead of where we are
supposed to be, and one of the things that I would obviously
say, that the Secretary has already testified to, is the fact
that expanding and facilitating the travel arrival experience
will greatly increase that number.
So one of those things is the preclearance locations, but
also expanding Global Entry. If you look at the Department of
Commerce's numbers on arrivals from 2013, 3.73 million people
from Japan came to the United States.
If you just took 1 percent of that and enrolled that in
Global Entry and you use the number of about 300 passengers on
a 777, which is the most common airframe flown, you would see
it takes about 124 airplanes basically off the CBP lines and
puts them into the Global Entry program, which we could even
use overseas if we had a preclearance location. We have Global
Entry located overseas.
So that is why I think we are working toward that together.
The Secretary is driven toward that goal, and I think we are in
the process of doing that. And I would defer to my colleague
from CBP to answer some of that as well.
Senator Heller. If you would, please?
Mr. Wagner. So it is looking at the different passenger
arrivals experience. So it is getting rid of paperwork. It is
getting rid of forms for them to fill out. It is building
automated self-service kiosks that not only gives them a better
experience but helps us then be more efficient and more secure
in what we do.
So seeing things like Global Entry for that frequent, low-
risk traveler, keeping a program like that. We see--you know,
we are getting 60,000 to 70,000 applications a month for that
program, and it has been steady at that for the last year or a
year and a half. Tremendous uptick in that program.
Usage can vary from 5 to 10 percent depending on day of the
week, but it really tends to trend with the business travel. So
later in the week, we see those percentages increase up to 10
percent of total arrivals.
Automated passport control for the infrequent traveler, for
the family travelers, for the casual vacationers. You know,
they can use some sort of automated process but still see the
officer for a shortened process with that officer, and that
helps makes us more efficient because it increases our
capacity. And then what is the traveler experience after going
through that? So----
Senator Heller. Let me interrupt you. Do you have all the
authority to do all that you are talking about? Or do you need
more from us in order for you to streamline the process like
you are talking about?
Mr. Wagner. Authority wise, yes, we have the authorities to
do that. We have very good relationships with the stakeholders
that help design, build, and deploy these kinds of activities
and really support us in that.
Senator Heller. Let me ask a quick question because I am
running out of time. What is it going to take to open up
countries like Brazil? What are the challenges that we are
facing?
Mr. Stroud. That technically would be the current visa
waiver statute. Currently, right now, Brazil would not qualify
under the current visa waiver statute.
Senator Heller. OK. So we need to address that?
Mr. Stroud. Yes. And of course expanding Global Entry to
other countries like Japan that don't currently have it. That
would be helpful.
Senator Heller. All right.
Ambassador Bond. Sir, if I may----
Senator Heller. Yes, please.
Ambassador Bond.--just to add to that, the point that we
did see a significant uptick in travel from Brazil when the
visa validity went from 5 years to 10 years. When people were
starting to get a visa that allowed them to travel in and out
over a 10-year period, they started traveling more. And so,
that kind of step can also assist in increasing the number of
travelers.
Senator Heller. Ambassador, thank you.
And Chairman, thank you.
Senator Schatz. Senator Rubio?
STATEMENT OF HON. MARCO RUBIO,
U.S. SENATOR FROM FLORIDA
Senator Rubio. Thank you.
Mr. Wagner, I wanted to focus on Miami, as Senator Nelson
previewed, because it is a real mess, and I fly through that
airport all the time. I hear from them constantly.
It is the second-busiest port of entry for visitors to the
United States. It is the only airport in the top five that is
going to have double-digit growth this year. This year alone,
it is going to get a million more visitors than it did a year
ago, which I think should be good news for the goal that is
outlined as the purpose of this hearing.
Here is the mess. From January to March of this year, the
average wait time has been 59 minutes, but the problem with
that is sometimes the wait time is as long as 190 minutes,
which has been documented as the longest wait time in the U.S.
I know we are going to brag about the fact that the wait
times are down about 20 percent, which is good, but the problem
with that, and I think you touched upon it earlier when you
talked about the numbers yesterday, is that the average is
basically the average of the entire day that flights are coming
in. International flights come in waves, right?
So you have a peak time of flights, and then you have a
down time of flights. And sometimes the wait is zero because
there are no international flights. And sometimes, the wait
time has been documented to be as long as 3 hours. So there is
a problem with the way that is documented.
The damage is incalculable. Number one, you have missed
connections. And I know you have heard from the airlines people
are missing their connections. And the other is the word of
mouth. I have here a collection of things people have put up on
Twitter: ``Miami Airport line is a nightmare. First World city,
Third World airport.'' This is Travel Advisor: ``Miami Airport
is a joke. I have stood in line for immigration for over an
hour many, many times. We now allow 3 hours from expected
landing to departure of connecting flights.''
Here is another TripAdvisor comment: ``Warning to all
continuing passengers clearing Customs and Immigration through
Miami. It is a nightmare. If you can avoid this, try to do
so.''
So this is really, really complicated and really
problematic. And then I look at some of the models that are
being used to make some decisions here. About 2,000 new
officers have been approved. I know it is going to take about
18 months to 2 years to get most of them online, which is, in
and of itself, a very long wait given the damage that is
already happening. It is what it is. But the model doesn't make
a lot of sense to me.
For example, Newark, which is not even on the chart of
major delays, got 100 new agents, and Miami only got 60. So the
second-busiest international airport in America got 3 percent
of the new agents. Can you just explain to me, first of all,
what was the model that led to that determination?
Mr. Wagner. Correct. So the workload staffing model takes
all of the activities a CBP officer does at a port of entry. It
takes the average time to do each one of those activities and
multiplies by how many times a day it is done. It comes up with
the amount of hours needed to run a port of entry, divides by
the available work hours of an officer, and comes up with this
staffing number of what we think is the right number to run
that port of entry.
It is not optimal staffing. It would be the minimum needed
required to address that workload. There are factors then that
you can lay on top that as filters, such as all that work
arrives at one point in time, and they overload the capacity of
the entire system.
There are other factors that we would look at for remote
ports or splitting terminals or splitting the work up. So there
are several factors that can influence that.
So in the case of Miami, we provided--we allocated about
between 80 to 100 officers the previous year to Miami airport
in anticipation of the North Terminal opening. The other
airports in the country didn't get that.
JFK is going to receive the largest number of officers out
of the 2,000 because JetBlue is opening a terminal this fall,
and we need to staff that up. So, you know, Miami got a large
influx of CBP officers to accommodate that growth. We agree it
is not enough. We received--we are grateful for the 2,000 that
Congress gave us, but it was about 60 percent of what we needed
and really about 2 years after----
Senator Rubio. So what I go back and tell the Miami airport
is the reason why you are only getting 60 is because you got 80
the year before?
Mr. Wagner. Correct. So the workload staffing model tried
to balance out the need, and we tried to spread that out evenly
and make places on a similar status with the major gateway
airports--LAX, JFK.
The officers would have to come from somewhere. So we take
them from an LAX, a JFK, a Las Vegas, El Paso, Detroit,
Michigan, and move them to Miami. We try to use the workload
staffing model to balance that out to keep us on record to see
how far from the gaps that each place----
Senator Rubio. I don't want to run out of time. I am
interested to see what their response will be to that. But the
second question that I have, it has to do with the staffing
models once they are in place, how you allocate resources based
on peak times.
And you talked earlier about how there is close
coordination with the airport and the airlines on when to surge
up the number of agents versus when not to. Miami airport has
told us, however, that you will not share the staffing model.
Is the staffing model something that you don't share with
the airlines and the airport? According to them, they don't
know what the staffing model is for how you surge personnel.
Mr. Wagner. No, we will share that with them, and I think
we meet twice a day with the airlines and the airport operators
to plan out the day's events. So we look at the manifest that
we receive in advance from the airlines. We do some
calculations that it takes about 1 minute to process a U.S.
citizen, about two and a half minutes for a non-U.S. citizen
because of the fingerprint requirements.
We model out what the projected wait times are going to be
and what the projected primary booth count should be, and then
we lay our staffing over that to see how many booths can we
afford to open and how much overtime we use to close those gaps
and fill in the slots behind that.
Senator Rubio. So you do share the staffing models with the
airports?
Mr. Wagner. We share that information with the airport.
Senator Rubio. What about the model to determine when to
surge personnel? Not the actual determination you come up with,
but how you came up with it. Are they aware of what you used to
determine how much personnel----
Mr. Wagner. They should be, and if not, we will certainly
share that information with them. How we come about the
workload staffing model numbers, the activities that we--it is
about a 170 different activities we counted to come up with the
workload for the ports of entry, and we can share the average
processing times of each one of those activities. There is
nothing, say, secretive or controversial or classified behind
that kind of information.
Senator Rubio. Well, that is completely contrary to what
the airport has told me. So we have got to figure this out.
Mr. Wagner. Absolutely. I am happy to talk to them.
Senator Rubio. I have one more question, but I will wait if
there is going to be a second round, or we are going to have
votes?
Senator Schatz. We have a vote at 11:45 a.m.
Senator Klobuchar?
Senator Klobuchar. If he wants to ask one more question.
Senator Schatz. Go ahead, Senator Rubio.
Senator Rubio. It has to do with the kiosks. You have this
program now where airports can pay to install kiosks, and Miami
has it. I think they put in 75 new kiosks. Here is the problem
they are having that I hope we can address, and this should be
easy to address.
The problem they have is that those kiosks, as they are
currently configured, only work for U.S. citizens that are
returning. As they are currently configured now in Miami, they
don't work for the international passenger yet, which is where
their wait times are coming from. What they need is a software
upgrade on those kiosks so that they will work for
international travelers.
Can you work with us or can you pledge to us to get that
software in there so that these kiosks that they have paid for
will actually work for the cause of their waits?
Mr. Wagner. They work today for U.S. citizens, U.S.
permanent residents, and visa waiver travelers.
Senator Rubio. OK.
Mr. Wagner. What we have to add is the B-1/B-2 visa holders
and people from visa----
Senator Rubio. That is a software upgrade, basically.
Mr. Wagner. That is a software upgrade and the programming
to be able to do that and then the testing with them. We have
not started working on that yet, but that is on--we just
deployed for the lawful permanent residents. We did the VWP
travelers a few months ago.
Miami does about 35 percent of their total arrivals through
those kiosks, but 100 percent agree we need to expand it to the
B-1/B-2 visa holders.
Senator Rubio. So what is the time-frame on that?
Mr. Wagner. We have not sketched out what the requirements
would be or what the timeline of that would be. But that is
where we are going to focus on within the coming weeks, and we
will have a better projection of what that timeline should be.
Senator Rubio. Well, the sooner the better.
Mr. Wagner. Absolutely.
Senator Rubio. Because they have got a mess on their hands
over there. I mean, I really worry about permanent damage being
done to that port of entry.
There are some Orlando issues, but we are out of time.
Senator Schatz. Senator Klobuchar?
STATEMENT OF HON. AMY KLOBUCHAR,
U.S. SENATOR FROM MINNESOTA
Senator Klobuchar. Well, thank you. Thank you very much for
having this hearing.
I think it has been really, actually, very useful. We have
so many exciting things going on with tourism and challenges as
well, and it is good to be here with my friend Senator Blunt--
we are heading up the Brand USA reauthorization--and also two
Senators from Florida and Hawaii.
And I would like them to know this, that Minnesota actually
has more coastline, this is a true story, than the states of
Florida, California, and Hawaii combined because of our lakes.
I know you might not have thought that before.
Senator Nelson. But not as many beaches.
Senator Klobuchar. OK, not as many beaches.
[Laughter.]
Senator Klobuchar. So there are a lot of trees, a lot of
trees hugging those lakes. But we are proud of our tourism and
the Mall of America and really happy with the increases that we
have seen because of the good work many of you are doing. We
thank you for that.
I thought Senator Blunt did a good job of focusing some of
the changes that we have made and positive things, not only the
positive past with Brand USA, but the bill that we have and the
accountability measures.
And I thought I would ask you about Global Entry first of
all, Mr. Wagner. In addition to increased officer staffing, the
continued expansion of Global Entry is another tool to maximize
Custom and Border Protection's limited resources in a tight
budget environment.
While the program has continued to grow, as we all know,
with the additional enrollment of U.S. citizens, expanding the
reciprocal agreements with foreign governments would
significantly increase CBP staffing efficiency. We know we have
these agreements with Mexico, Canada, the Netherlands, and
Korea. Could you talk about the possibilities of expanding to
other countries?
And while you are looking at your papers there--and also
just how this is interacting with NEXUS with Canada?
Mr. Wagner. Yes. So I will address the NEXUS piece first.
So NEXUS and Global Entry are integrated.
Senator Klobuchar. Right.
Mr. Wagner. So if you are a U.S. citizen with a NEXUS card,
you qualify for Global Entry.
Senator Klobuchar. Mm-hmm.
Mr. Wagner. If you are a U.S. citizen with a Global Entry
card, you can use the NEXUS lane or the NEXUS kiosk to come
home, but you can't use it to actually get into Canada unless
you enroll in the NEXUS program.
So for U.S. citizens, they are all intertwined and
integrated. The cards are all integrated. Just the title at the
top of the card is different, but it is the same RFID
technology.
Senator Klobuchar. And are there issues on the Canadian
side or things we have to fix, you think or----
Mr. Wagner. No. It is just really the capacity and reach of
where we have the program. Global Entry, we are at 52 locations
now.
Senator Klobuchar. Mm-hmm.
Mr. Wagner. We are still seeing 60,000 to 70,000
applications a month coming in.
Senator Klobuchar. Wow.
Mr. Wagner. NEXUS has about 25,000 applications a month
coming in, and that has been fairly consistent for the last
couple of years. But collectively, with the SENTRI program on
the Mexican border, we are doing over 100,000 applications a
month for all of these programs.
Senator Klobuchar. And then the other countries I
mentioned?
Mr. Wagner. So the other countries, we currently have
agreements with--you mentioned a couple of them--South Korea,
Mexico, Canada, the Netherlands. We have pilots limited by
numbers with the U.K., Qatar, and Germany.
We are working with those countries and Panama to increase
the number of background checks that those governments can do.
They are limited by how much work capacity those governments
can take on to do the background checks. We would like to open
it up to the U.K. without restriction, but it is really up to
working with the U.K. government to take that on.
I think we are fairly close with Japan. I just had a call
yesterday with France. I think we are making some progress----
Senator Klobuchar. OK.
Mr. Wagner.--with them. But all of our major travel
sources, these countries, we would like to sign up and join
this program with----
Senator Klobuchar. Good. And meanwhile----
Mr. Wagner.--and then----
Senator Klobuchar.--I think you know how if we get these
tourists in, they spend an average of $4,500 when they come
into our country. So that is a good thing.
Mr. Wagner. Absolutely.
Senator Klobuchar. Could I just move on to something else
with Canada? Senator Blunt and I were just in Canada and heard
a lot about their issues, and I know one of the things that is
important is the border crossings.
And the CBP has reached some private-public partnerships
for the appropriations legislation for 2013 and 2014. And from
what I understand, it allows private money to be leveraged with
public money to improve border crossings, which also helps with
freight and other things. And what I also understand is right
now those projects have been piloted on the Mexican border.
And I was up in International Falls, one of the busiest
ports of entry in Minnesota, and we would like to commit--some
commitment to add northern border sites for these partnerships
as soon as possible. Do you know what is in the works?
Mr. Wagner. So we have the reimbursable services
availability to us, and then we also now have the donation of
real property and services----
Senator Klobuchar. Right. Mm-hmm.
Mr. Wagner.--to us. So we have a handful of locations that
are currently using the reimbursement----
Senator Klobuchar. Yes.
Mr. Wagner.--for services, and we have solicited for a next
round of applications, which we have received, and we are going
through selecting the final----
Senator Klobuchar. Yes, but I----
Mr. Wagner.--finalists----
Senator Klobuchar. OK.
Mr. Wagner.--for that.
Senator Klobuchar. Are there northern border locations in
the group, or even can you say?
Mr. Wagner. I can say, but I don't remember offhand, so----
Senator Klobuchar. OK.
Mr. Wagner.--I will have to get back to you on that. We
received a handful from the land borders. I will just have to
look to see who was on that list.
We should be making those announcements, though, by the end
of the month as to who was selected. There is no restriction on
the land border locations. They are on some of the
international airports. We are still working with GSA on the
procedures for the donation of real property, though, however.
Senator Klobuchar. OK.
Mr. Wagner. A little trickier for us. So we are still
working on that aspect.
Senator Klobuchar. OK. We really need to get the northern
projects--I just think there was more focus on the Mexican
border with those projects, and we need to extend this up to
the northern border.
Mr. Wagner. OK.
Senator Klobuchar. So, all right. And I just thank you
again, Mr. Hyatt, for visiting Minnesota--I am going to turn
this over to my colleagues now--and the work that all of you
are doing to promote tourism.
Thank you.
Senator Schatz. Thank you, Senator Klobuchar, and thank you
for leading on these issues over the years with Senator Blunt.
We will wrap up with Senator Blunt with some final
questions, followed by Senator Nelson, and then we have a vote
in a few minutes.
Senator Blunt. Well, thank you, Chairman.
Mr. Wagner, on the NEXUS/Global Entry question, I am
assuming from what you are saying that the problem is Canada
won't accept the Global Entry card?
Mr. Wagner. It is not that they won't accept it. We have to
tee up the approval for Canada to approve your entry into
Canada. So it is not that they won't accept it, it is just they
need to do their immigration and low-risk analysis of that
person.
See, with NEXUS, it is a joint application. So both
governments get it for approval at the same time, and both
governments interview the person. So it works in both
directions. Global Entry, it is just for entry into the United
States.
So, as a U.S. citizen, you can use either program. You can
always come home through one of the programs, but for entry
into another country, you still need that government's approval
through their process to enter that. So the programs are
linked, but there is an extra step if you want to use Global
Entry to enter Canada.
Senator Blunt. And have we ever asked them if they would
accept the Global Entry card in lieu of the NEXUS card? Or is
this just something that they can't do from their point of
view?
My impression is the Canadians always at least purport to
be much more open to our folks coming across than they think we
are to coming the other way. So here is a place where we can
say, ``Why don't you accept this card as an expedited entry
card?''
Mr. Wagner. We have discussed it, and it gets more into the
authorities from the immigration admissibility end of who they
can let into their country and who makes that determination,
much like it is for ours----
Senator Blunt. What is the cost for the application for
NEXUS?
Mr. Wagner. NEXUS is $50 for 5 years. Global Entry is $100
for 5 years.
Senator Blunt. So people have already paid $100 to get the
Global Entry, and these are all people who are residing in the
United States. It would seem to me we would do them a favor if
we could convince the Canadians that, in the application
process, you wouldn't have to go through it a second time for
the people that want a NEXUS card if you could just issue them
a NEXUS card?
And maybe you do that. Do you do that? If somebody with a
Global Entry card says we are going to go to Canada, you say,
well, it is another $50 to get a NEXUS card. Is that the
current process?
Mr. Wagner. Correct. And then we have we have to tee them
up for an appointment with the Canadian government so they can
get interviewed by their border authorities much like we would
do. And in that interview, they determine the identity--
admissibility into Canada with their immigration regulations
and laws. And then they will issue----
Senator Blunt. All right.
Mr. Wagner.--that approval.
Senator Blunt. This is something for us to talk to them
about then. Maybe we can begin to talk----
Mr. Wagner. Sure.
Senator Blunt.--with the Canadian government on this topic.
Just for the panel, generally. And maybe Mr. Hyatt,
initially. When we first authorized Brand USA, there were a lot
of critics that would say, ``Well, if we charge this visa
waiver fee, that will discourage people from coming to the
United States, and we will have fewer travelers. They will
choose to go somewhere else instead.''
Is there any evidence that any of the four of you have that
the visa waiver fee has discouraged people from coming to the
United States, and they have gone to other countries instead?
Mr. Hyatt. We do not have any evidence of that.
Senator Blunt. Ambassador, do you have anything at the
State Department----
Ambassador Bond. I agree with that, sir. No sign of that at
all.
Senator Blunt. Mr. Stroud?
Mr. Stroud. No, sir.
Mr. Wagner. No, sir. We have seen record increases in
international air travel.
Senator Blunt. Good.
And the last thing I wanted to mention, Ambassador, on the
visa reciprocity with China. Generally, our visa reciprocity is
based on the fact that the other country is equally eager for
our travelers to go there. So it is a mutual kind of
determination.
I have been persuaded for some time that with the Chinese,
who may, based on a comment you made, be changing their view of
this. They have not appeared to care very much about how
difficult it was for our travelers to go there. We benefit from
their travelers coming here. I don't know that reciprocity is
something that is a goal that we have to be rigidly pursuing if
we think it is to our advantage to have more Chinese travelers
here.
But the interesting comment you made to me is that we were
both trying to get to--what I think what you said was they were
trying to get to yes. Would you talk about that just a little
bit more?
Are they beginning to change their view of ``We want
Americans to come here more and stay longer, and in return for
that, we are prepared to have greater reciprocal relationship''
or not? And that will be my last question, Mr. Chairman.
Ambassador Bond. Senator, the short answer is, yes, we very
definitely have the understanding that China is also interested
in looking at whether we can extend visa validities.
Demand for travel to China has gone up, and they are, as we
are--they are thinking about how to stay ahead of that demand
and make sure that they are able to adjudicate those visa
applications. So we do believe that there is interest on both
sides in finding a way to agree on extended visa validities.
Senator Blunt. If we can't, what you have done on renewing
travel visas in a much better way than we had before has
clearly made a difference.
Mr. Chairman, thank you for your time and thank you for
holding this hearing today.
Senator Schatz. Thank you.
Senator Nelson?
Senator Nelson. They have called the vote, so I have a
couple of questions.
Mr. Hyatt, you testified about 40--no, let's see, it's up
to $57 billion in trade surplus as a result of the travel and
tourism industry in 2013. At the same time, we are running a
trade deficit of about $471 billion. Now, if we can get to the
President's target of 100 million visitors, what do we estimate
the diminution of that trade deficit to be?
Mr. Hyatt. Senator, that is a great question. We have not
calculated that, but that is something we could calculate.
We estimated that the 100 million visitors would generate
$250 billion in service exports. I don't know that we have
modeled the other side of it, which is where we expect outbound
U.S. travel to be, but that is something we can get back to
you.
Senator Nelson. Does that equate to the $57 billion in
trade surplus for the industry?
Mr. Hyatt. The $57 billion trade surplus is in calendar
year 2013----
Senator Nelson. Right.
Mr. Hyatt.--so it is exports minus American expenditures
abroad. But your second question----
Senator Nelson. I see.
Mr. Hyatt.--around what 2021 looks like, we have not
calculated. We have just calculated the exports.
Senator Nelson. And your target is 2021?
Mr. Hyatt. 2021 for 100 million visitors who we would
estimate would spend $250 billion.
Senator Nelson. OK.
Madam Ambassador, let us go to Brazil. You testified as to
a huge number of Brazilians that come to the U.S. I think you
said something like 100,000?
Ambassador Bond. Sir, I am not sure that I had that number
in my testimony, but it is certainly more than that. There
are----
Senator Nelson. You named about four countries that had----
Ambassador Bond.--that account for, I think, close to 50
percent of all the visas that we issue.
Senator Nelson. OK.
Mr. Stroud. According to the Commerce stat, for 2013 from
Brazil, we had 2.06 million visitors.
Senator Nelson. OK. Now I can tell you a lot of them are
coming to Florida.
Ambassador Bond. Absolutely, they are.
Senator Nelson. And they are specifically going to Miami
and/or Orlando. So we do not have a visa waiver with Brazil. So
if you are a Brazilian family and you want to go to Disney
World, you have to go a consulate to have an eyeball-to-eyeball
interview in order to get a visa. Is that right?
Ambassador Bond. Yes, sir, although children under the age
of 16 do not have to appear and travelers over the age of 66.
So the parents might come but would not necessarily need to
bring their children.
Senator Nelson. OK. And last I checked, this is a year or
so ago, we had two consulates. One in Rio and another one in
Brasilia. Is that right?
Ambassador Bond. No, sir. We also have consulates in Recife
and in Sao Paulo. We are working to open consulates in Belo
Horizonte and in Porto Alegre.
And we also have what we call offsite facilitation centers
so that the people who are planning to apply for a visa can go
and get their fingerprints taken and the picture taken and
submit their application online. So that when they actually
come to the consulate, they move through extremely quickly. I
mentioned in my testimony, on average they are in the consulate
for less than half an hour.
Senator Nelson. Right.
Ambassador Bond. It is a very rapid process. Once they have
the visa, they never have to come back because that visa, when
it expires, can be renewed by mail, and we just send them the
passport back with a new visa in it.
Senator Nelson. And what is the application fee for a visa?
Ambassador Bond. One hundred sixty dollars.
Senator Nelson. Is that per person?
Ambassador Bond. Yes, it is per person, and that is
worldwide.
Senator Nelson. Is there a discount for children?
Ambassador Bond. No, sir, there is not.
Senator Nelson. So for a family of four--two adults and two
children--you are looking at some real money just to apply for
a visa.
Ambassador Bond. There is that cost. The fee that we
charge, and it is a worldwide fee, but it is based on a very
rigorous cost of service model that shows how much it costs us
to actually provide that service. And so, we are recouping the
cost of running the visa program that we have globally, and
that is what determines the fee.
Senator Nelson. And----
Ambassador Bond. And just to add that the Brazilians do--
the visa is valid for 10 years. So they are paying the
equivalent of $16 a year to apply for the visa.
Senator Nelson. So if a family is raising children and they
anticipate they want to take them to Disney World, they ought
to go ahead because the visa is going to be good for 10 years.
Ambassador Bond. That is exactly right. And what we clearly
see across the world is that when travelers have a visa that
has a longer validity, they just start thinking of themselves
as a person who might travel again and again and again.
They say, ``Well, we got that 20th anniversary coming up.
We have got that 16th birthday,'' or 15th birthday for them.
And so, they plan on travel to the United States. We see that
very clearly.
Senator Nelson. What percentage of your applicants do you
reject giving a visa to in Brazil?
Ambassador Bond. Sir, I don't have the number exactly. I
would like to ask that I take that question and get back to
you, but I am pretty sure for applicants for business and
tourist travel, it is less than 10 percent. But let me----
Senator Nelson. What about worldwide? What is your
percentage?
Ambassador Bond. Again, I am going to have to take the
question. I am sorry. I don't know offhand.
Senator Nelson. OK.
Ambassador Bond. But it varies so dramatically from country
to country.
Senator Nelson. And Mr. Stroud, of those that are rejected,
are the intelligence services--basically, the people that are
rejecting--what percent are you thinking there is something
squirrely about this person, as opposed to somebody that you
think is just going to be a flight risk that is going to get
into the country and stay?
Mr. Stroud. I would have to take that for the record to
give you----
Senator Nelson. OK.
Mr. Stroud.--an accurate break-out on that, sir.
Senator Nelson. If you would.
Mr. Stroud. Absolutely.
Senator Schatz. Thank you, Senator Nelson.
We want to thank the panel. This has been an impressive
group of witnesses. You are all working hard on this issue. You
are working smart, and I think you have seen from the
participation in this subcommittee that tourism knows no
ideology. It is a nonpartisan issue.
And we look forward to working with all of your agencies
and giving you the statutory authority necessary, the political
support necessary, and the funding necessary to meet our 100
million international visitors goal.
Thank you very much.
[Whereupon, at 11:56 a.m., the hearing was adjourned.]
A P P E N D I X
American Hotel & Lodging Association
Washington, DC, June 26, 2014
Hon. Brian Schatz,
Chairman,
Commerce Subcommittee on Tourism, Competitiveness, and Innovation,
Washington, DC.
Hon. Tim Scott,
Ranking Member,
Commerce Subcommittee on Tourism, Competitiveness, and Innovation,
Washington, DC.
Dear Chairman Schatz and Ranking Member Scott,
On behalf of the 1.8 million-employee U.S. lodging industry, we
thank you for your leadership in holding this hearing on the important
issue of expanded travel and tourism, and urge you to work toward the
reauthorization of Brand USA as expeditiously as possible.
Established by the Travel Promotion Act of 2010, Brand USA is the
public-private partnership created to help attract millions of new
international visitors by promoting this country as a premier travel
destination. The program is paid for entirely by international
travelers and voluntary industry donations; no taxpayer funds are
involved. The positive impact of Brand USA is clear. A recently
released economic report show that Brand USA's efforts in 2013 resulted
in:
1.1 million additional visitors to the U.S. who spent
$3.4 billion on travel and purchases, resulting in
$7.4 billion in total sales, which supported over
53,000 new U.S. jobs, and generated
$1 billion in total sales tax revenue.
Today, more than ever, we must actively promote our country abroad
to maintain the pace of visitors. International travel adds billions of
dollars to our economy and helps to create jobs. In 2012, international
visitors contributed $180.7 billion in travel spending, supporting 14.6
million jobs in all 50 states.
Nearly every other country in the world has an official program to
welcome international tourists to their nation, and the lack of a
similar promotional program in the U.S. prevents us from maximizing the
number of visitors to our country. Through industry efforts like Brand
USA, travel is now increasingly recognized as a leading growth industry
and a source of valuable jobs that cannot be outsourced. We look
forward to working with you to reauthorize Brand USA.
Sincerely,
The American Hotel & Lodging Association
Alabama Restaurant & Hospitality Alliance
Alaska Hotel & Lodging Association
Arizona Lodging & Tourism Association
Arkansas Hospitality Association
California Hotel & Lodging Association
Colorado Hotel & Lodging Association
Connecticut Lodging Association
Florida Restaurant & Lodging Association
Georgia Hotel & Lodging Association
Hawai`i Lodging & Tourism Association
Illinois Hotel & Lodging Association
Indiana Restaurant & Lodging Association
Louisiana Hotel & Lodging Association
Maine Innkeepers Association
Massachusetts Lodging Association
Michigan Lodging and Tourism Association
Minnesota Lodging Association
Montana Lodging & Hospitality Association
Nebraska Hotel & Motel Association
Nevada Hotel & Lodging Association
New Hampshire Lodging & Restaurant Association
New York Hospitality & Tourism Association
North Carolina Restaurant & Lodging Association
Ohio Hotel & Lodging Association
Oklahoma Hotel & Lodging Association
Oregon Restaurant & Lodging Association
Pennsylvania Restaurant & Lodging Association
Rhode Island Hospitality Association
South Carolina Restaurant & Lodging Association
Tennessee Hospitality Association
Texas Hotel & Lodging Association
Utah Hotel & Lodging Association
Vermont Chamber of Commerce
Virginia Hospitality & Travel Association
Washington Lodging Association
West Virginia Hospitality & Travel Association
Wisconsin Hotel & Lodging Association
Wyoming Lodging & Restaurant Association
______
Prepared Statement of Colleen M. Kelley, National President,
National Treasury Employees Union
Chairman Schatz, Ranking Member Scott, distinguished members of the
Subcommittee; thank you for the opportunity to provide this testimony.
As President of the National Treasury Employees Union (NTEU), I have
the honor of leading a union that represents over 24,000 Customs and
Border Protection (CBP) Officers and trade enforcement specialists
stationed at 329 land, sea and air ports of entry across the United
States (U.S.).
For years, NTEU has maintained that delays at the ports of entry
result in real losses to the U.S. economy. According to the U.S.
Department of the Treasury, more than 50 million Americans work for
companies that engage in international trade and travel. And, according
to a recent University of Southern California study, The Impact on the
Economy of Changes in Wait Times at the Ports of Entry, for every 1,000
CBP Officers added, the U.S. can increase its gross domestic product by
$2 billion, which equates to 33 new private sector jobs per CBP Officer
added.
Travel and tourism also drive economic growth. According to the
U.S. Travel Association, nearly 32 million overseas travelers visited
the U.S. in 2013. For every 34 of these visitors, an additional
American job is created. A recent U.S. Travel Association survey;
however, revealed that delays in passenger processing, caused by
staffing shortages at the ports, has discouraged international
travelers from visiting the U.S. According to the survey, eliminating
long lines and wait times at ports of entry would make the U.S. a more
attractive destination, and, among survey respondents who had never
come to the U.S., 40 percent said they would consider a visit if they
knew they could count on timely entry processing.
NTEU applauds Congress for recognizing that there is no greater
roadblock to legitimate trade and travel efficiency than the lack of
sufficient personnel at the ports. Earlier in the year, Congress passed
the 2014 Consolidated Appropriations Act that provided funding to hire
an additional 2,000 CBP Officers--for a total of 23,775 CBP Officers to
be on board by the end of 2015. In its Fiscal Year (FY) 2015 budget
submission, the Administration asked Congress to approve an increase in
both customs and immigration user fees to fund an additional 2,000 CBP
Officers to address the rise in the number of international travelers.
NTEU strongly supports the increase of the immigration and customs user
fees by $2 each to fund the hiring of an additional 2,000 CBP Officers.
CBP collects user fees to recover certain costs incurred for
processing, including air and sea passengers, and various private and
commercial land, sea, air, and rail carriers and shipments.
Increasing the immigration inspection user fee by $2 would allow
CBP to better align air passenger inspection fee revenue with the costs
of providing immigration inspection services. According to the
Government Accountability Office (GAO-12-464T, page 11), fee
collections available to Immigration and Customs Enforcement and CBP to
pay for costs incurred in providing immigration inspection services
totaled about $600 million in FY 2010, however, ``air passenger
immigration fees collections did not fully cover CBP's costs in FY 2009
and FY 2010.''
Despite an enacted increase in appropriated funding in FY 2014 and
2015 for an additional 2,000 CBP Officers, CBP will continue to face
staffing shortages in FY 2015 and beyond. The Senate Appropriations
Subcommittee on Homeland Security this week included language in its FY
2015 mark a $2 increase in the immigration user fee to fund the hiring
of an additional 1,000 CBP Officers at the air and sea ports. If this
Committee and Congress are serious about job creation and meeting its
goal to attract 100 million travelers annually, then you should support
the Subcommittee bill language that increases the immigration user fee
and enactment of legislation that increases Customs user fee by $2 and
adjust both fees annually to inflation.
Foreign Language Awards Program (FLAP)
Since 1997, CBP has implemented the Foreign Language Awards Program
(FLAP), a program established by Congress in 1993 that incentivizes
employees at the Nation's ports of entry who speak and use foreign
language skills on the job to receive a cash incentive for enhancing
their language skills, if they use the language for at least 10 percent
of their duties, as well as pass language competency tests.
In its FY 2015 budget submission, however, CBP has proposed cutting
FLAP funding from the enacted FY 2013 level of $19 million to $3
million. This Committee should be very concerned about the impact on
the traveling public and CBP's security mission if an 84 percent cut in
this valuable program is implemented. In the FY 2013 Senate Homeland
Security Appropriations bill, Congress encouraged CBP to work with
airport authorities to develop a ``welcome ambassador'' program and
cited language in CBP's FY 2012 Improving Entry Process for Visitors
Report stating, ``[CBPOs are] the first face of the U.S. Government
that travelers see at ports of entry. As a visible symbol of our
Nation, CBP Officers have an important responsibility.''
Incentivizing CBP Officers to attain and maintain competency in a
foreign language through FLAP, not only improves the efficiency of
operations, it makes the U.S. a more welcoming place when foreign
travelers can communicate with CBP Officers in their native language,
and helps expedite traveler processing leading to reduced wait times.
In a recent U.S. Travel Association Traveler Survey, adding entry
processing personnel fluent in foreign languages ranked second in
priority--only surpassed by reducing long lines and wait times.
By authorizing FLAP, Congress understood that CBP Officers
stationed at air, sea and land ports of entry are in daily, direct
contact with international travelers. The facilitation of trade and
travel, along with port security, is a dual mission of these employees.
Not only do language barriers delay processing of trade and travel at
the ports, but communication breakdowns can be dangerous for CBP
Officers. Confusion can arise when a non-English speaking person does
not understand the CBP Officer's commands. These situations can
escalate quite rapidly if that individual keeps moving forward or does
not take their hands out of their pockets when requested.
Recognizing the importance of this program, Congress specified a
dedicated funding source to pay for FLAP--customs user fees. Congress
authorized user fees for certain customs services in the Consolidated
Omnibus Budget Reconciliation Act. The Act stipulates the disposition
of these user fees for the payment of overtime, premium pay, agency
retirement contributions to the Civil Service Retirement and Disability
Fund, preclearance services and FLAP (see 19 U.S.C., section 58c (f)(3)
(A)(i)).
FLAP has incentivized the use of more than two dozen languages, and
has been instrumental in identifying and utilizing CBP Officers who are
proficient in a foreign language. The majority of CBP Officers who
receive a FLAP award do so on the basis of their proficiency in
Spanish, but other key languages that CBP Officers are called upon to
use include French, Chinese, Korean and Japanese. Qualified employees
are also eligible for awards for the use of the following languages of
special interest that have been identified as critical foreign
languages in support of CBP's anti-terrorism mission:
Arabic
South Asian--Urdu (UAE, Oman), Farsi (Iran, Bahrain), Punjabi
(Pakistan), Dari-Pushtu (Afghanistan), Turkish (Turkey, Cyprus)
Eurasian--Uzbek, Tajik, Turkoman, Uighur
African Horn--Somalo, Amharic, Tigrinya
Bahasa (Indonesia), Tagalog (Philippines)
Kurdish (Karmanji)
Russian
Chechen
In order for employees to receive an incentive, they must
demonstrate proficiency in a foreign language via a test, and use the
foreign language during at least 10 percent of their normal work
schedule. The employee incentive is based on their competency level as
determined by the exam. CBP Officers' foreign language skills are
tested once per year--with two additional exams per year for languages
of special interest.
Only employees testing at Level 4 and 5 of language proficiency are
eligible for the full 5 percent incentive payment. Those testing at
Level 3 receive a 3 percent incentive award and those at Level 2
receive a 1 percent incentive payment. All Border Patrol Agents and
some CBP Officers are trained at their respective training centers in
Level 1 basic Spanish. However, Level 1 is deemed so basic that it is
not eligible for a FLAP incentive. Higher language proficiency and
usage are necessary to be eligible for the FLAP incentive.
Since FLAP was implemented, thousands of frontline CBP Officers at
the ports of entry have chosen to maintain and improve their existing
level of foreign language proficiency, and the program is further
responsible for other frontline employees to acquire new foreign
language capability at a much higher level than the basic Level 1
proficiency. At CBP, this program has been an unqualified success, not
just for the agency and its employees, but for travelers who are aided
by having someone at a port of entry who speaks their language.
Recommendations
To help the government in its continued efforts to attract 100
million visitors annually to the U.S., grow the economy, and create new
private sector jobs, NTEU urges the Committee to support:
Funding, including user fee increases, for additional CBP
personnel to ensure security and to mitigate prolonged wait
times for both trade and travel at our Nation's ports of entry;
and
Requiring CBP to continue providing the $19 million customs
user fee funding for all FLAP-eligible CBP employees.
Thank you for the opportunity to submit this testimony.
______
Response to Written Question Submitted by Hon. Bill Nelson to
Kenneth E. Hyatt
Question. If we achieve the President's goal of attracting 100
million international visitors annually by the end of 2021, what do you
expect the impact will be on our national trade deficit?
Answer. We believe that welcoming 100 million visitors to the
United States would help reduce our national trade deficit. Based on
recently revised statistics from the Bureau of Economic Analysis,
travel and tourism has accounted for nearly $214.8 billion in U.S.
exports in 2013, an increase of 47 percent from the $146.0 billion
exported in 2009. We currently estimate that an increase to 100 million
visitors would generate more than $300 billion in service exports
annually.\1\ As we do not project outbound travel, we cannot however,
estimate the precise impact on the trade balance.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
\1\ On June 4, 2014, the U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis broadened
the definition of travel to include health-related and education-
related travel and the expenditures on goods and services by border,
seasonal, and other short-term workers, all of which were previously
included in other private services. As a result, estimates for travel
and tourism-related exports are greater (by 19 percent) than previously
reported.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
______
Response to Written Questions Submitted by Hon. Brian Schatz to
Kenneth E. Hyatt
Question 1. According to your written testimony, the Departments of
Commerce and Homeland Security have started to develop a national goal
for reducing wait times at U.S. ports of entry and improving service
levels for international arrivals. What specific steps will the
Department take moving forward to support this effort?
Answer. The Department of Commerce (Commerce), in concert with
Department of Homeland Security, the National Security Council and
National Economic Council, is engaged in a robust outreach program to
engage stakeholders at the national and local levels to gain input and
insight on the development of the national goal and airport specific
plans called for in the Presidential Memorandum of May 22, 2014. In
addition, Commerce is providing data from the Survey of International
Air Travelers on perceptions of the entry process. To assist in future
planning, Customs Border Protection (CBP) and Commerce are working to
integrate future projections of international arrivals into CBP
projections on staffing needs. The Secretary of Commerce has requested
that the Travel and Tourism Advisory Board provide specific advice on
the formulation of the national goal.
Question 2. The U.S. travel and tourism industry consists of small
and medium-size businesses, from retail shops, to tour operators, to
independent hoteliers. These types of firms have limited resources and
stand to benefit from Federal support to access new markets and expand
their businesses. How does the Commerce Department work with small and
medium-size travel and tourism businesses to help them expand in
international markets?
Answer. The International Trade Administration (ITA) has offices in
over 100 cities around the United States. The primary goal of these
offices, called U.S. Export Assistance Centers (USEAC), is to work with
American businesses of all sizes to help them prepare for exporting, or
to expand to new markets if they are already exporting. At the same
time, our National Travel & Tourism Office (NTTO) produces and posts
online over 30 annual reports, provides monthly international arrivals
forecasts and additional information. Small-and medium-sized (SME)
travel and tourism (and other) businesses can work directly with ITA's
USEAC officers to identify international markets that make sense for
their products. In addition, ITA has staff in over 75 markets
worldwide. ITA's staff can help get SMEs ready for exporting through
some our services; such as: one-on-one counseling, market research, and
matchmaking--introducing potential buyers for their products and
services. In addition, the Department works with Brand USA to ensure
there are programs in place to promote these offerings at an affordable
cost, as part of their mission to promote rural communities and lesser
known destinations.
Question 2a. Could you explain how the Commerce Department ensures
that these efforts support our 100 million visitor goal?
Answer. Small-and medium-sized enterprises provide unique
experiences to international visitors traveling to the United States.
These diverse offerings, located in communities across the Nation drive
visitation throughout the United States often times to less well-known
destinations and rural communities. SMEs are critical to showing the
diversity of the U.S.'s destinations and attractions. The United States
has wide-spread attractions and demonstrating to visitors that one
visit is not enough is crucial to attracting repeat visitation and
meeting our goal of attracting and welcoming 100 million visitors by
2021.
Question 3. As we work to attract more international visitors, we
should ensure that tribes, tribal organizations, and native communities
across the United States are supported so that we can meet the
significant visitor interest in the diverse and rich cultures of Native
Americans. Enhancing tourism in native communities holds great
potential to increase economic activity overall and disperse benefits
more equally between urban and rural areas of our Nation. American
Indians, Alaska Natives and Native Hawaiians contribute significantly
to what makes our country unique and should be showcased appropriately.
Growing this segment of the industry should be a foundational piece of
our tourism strategy. What has the Commerce Department done to ensure
that Native American tourism is an integral component in the Federal
Government's travel and tourism promotion efforts?
Answer. ITA has supported Native American tourism by facilitating
tribal presence in travel and tourism trade shows in many different
countries, by counseling and educating Native American tribes on how to
export through annual presentations at Native American Tribal
Conferences, and by providing one-on-one counseling with individual
tribes. We also have a trade specialist who has been working with this
community.
In addition, for more than a decade, NTTO has provided market
research data to tribes to help them understand the international
market for travel to the United States, including information on the
top markets that have an interest in Native American experiences. NTTO
has developed articles for publication in Native American newsletters,
and worked with the travel and tourism industry to encourage them to
integrate Native American culture into their promotions and to engage
with the tribes to promote their offerings to both the international
travel trade and consumers/potential visitors.
The Travel and Tourism Advisory Board (TTAB) is also focused on
ensuring that those tribal organizations and native communities
interested in travel and tourism are supported by the Board's work. The
TTAB Cultural and Natural Heritage subcommittee met recently to develop
its work plan, whose scope of work and overall objective is to
``develop strategies and recommendations designed to effectively
promote, quantify and celebrate the diversity of travel and tourism
experience that are distinctive to the United States and that
illuminate American culture, art, food, traditions, and natural
surroundings in support of an enhancement to the National Travel and
Tourism Strategy.''
One of the six key elements of the scope of work is to ``support
and promote America's indigenous history, peoples and cultures.''
Indigenous culture and heritage is included in each of the four tactics
aimed at achieving that goal.
The Subcommittee's work will continue throughout their tenure, and
final recommendations will be submitted to the Secretary of Commerce
prior to the completion of their term.
______
Response to Written Question Submitted by Hon. Bill Nelson to
Michele T. Bond
Question. What percentage of visa applications from Brazil are
rejected? How does that compare to the worldwide average?
Answer. In Fiscal Year 2013, the adjusted tourist visa (B) refusal
rate was 3.5 percent for Brazilians and 15.1 percent worldwide.
______
Response to Written Questions Submitted by Hon. Richard Blumenthal to
Michele T. Bond
Question 1. One possible way to increase foreign travel to the U.S.
is to facilitate the ability of individuals to make multiple visits to
the U.S. over time, and in that regard, we have agreements with many
countries allowing travelers to obtain multiple-entry visas valid for
as many as five years. However, despite the surge of foreign travel by
Chinese nationals, the United States and China limit short-term
business and tourist visas to one year. Would longer multiple entry
visas with China increase travel and tourism to the United States?
Answer. We anticipate if visa validity is extended, more Chinese
tourists and business travelers will visit the United States, and they
will visit us more frequently, increasing investment in our economy and
strengthening their understanding of our country. During the July 9-10
Strategic and Economic Dialogue in Beijing, the United States and China
identified joint outcomes highlighting the depth of our two countries'
cooperation on a range of issues. One of those outcomes explicitly
states that, in recognition of the importance of travel and tourism to
the two countries' economies, the United States and China are committed
to exploring new proposals to significantly extend visa validity for
tourists, short-term business travelers, and students.
The Department of Commerce concurs with the assessment that
loosening constraints on visas--including by increasing validity or
removing the requirement for a visa altogether--typically results in
increased travel to the United States. For example, when the United
States extended visa validity for Brazilian travelers in 2010 (from
five to ten years), the growth rate of Brazilian travelers arriving in
the United States more than doubled.
According to the Department of Commerce, in recent years the number
of Chinese visitors has increased by as much as 35 percent over prior
years, with 1.8 million travelers to the United States in 2013. These
tourists collectively spent $9.8 billion while in the United States,
supporting more than 70,000 U.S. jobs. Chinese tourists represent the
7th-largest group of foreign visitors to the United States.
Question 1a. Would this have any other consequences?
Answer. Continuing to welcome Chinese visitors is key to
encouraging investment, realizing the tremendous economic opportunities
created by additional Chinese visitors, and expanding people-to-people
exchanges--including a record number of Chinese students at U.S.
universities and colleges.
Question 1b. Is the State Department working to negotiate a longer
visa period with China?
Answer. Validity for Chinese C1/D (crew members) applicants was
increased to five years, multiple entries, in October 2013. As stated
in the July 10 Strategic and Economic Dialogue joint outcomes document,
``The United States and China are committed to exploring new proposals
to significantly extend visa validity for tourists, short-term business
travelers, and students.'' We continue to hold discussions with the
Chinese about reciprocal visa validity. The Department can provide
further information in a separate briefing.
Question 2. The U.S. Government has made some significant progress
to increase its consular presence in China, but there is still a long
way to go to fully improve the visa processing system in China. What
are the current wait times for Chinese nationals seeking to obtain
visas to travel to the U.S., especially outside of Beijing and
Shanghai?
Answer. Nonimmigrant visa (NIV) wait times in China have generally
remained under the three-week target at every post since September
2011, and average wait times have remained under ten days over the past
two years.
Question 2a. Do we have statistics that reflect the number of
Chinese nationals who elect not to travel to the U.S. because of wait
times?
Answer. The Bureau of Consular Affairs has no data reflecting the
number of Chinese nationals who elect not to travel to the United
States due to wait times.
Question 3. What measures are being taken in China and in other
major tourist markets to increase the presence of consular officials to
process visas?
Answer. The Department continues to exceed the goals set out in
President Obama's Executive Order 13597 of January 2012. In particular,
the Department also continues to exceed the E.O. 13597's goal of
interviewing 80 percent of nonimmigrant visa applicants worldwide
within three weeks of receipt of application. E.O. 13597 also directed
the Department of State to increase nonimmigrant visa capacity in China
and Brazil by 40 percent in 2012. We met that target ahead of schedule
and have not dipped below it since that time. In CY 2012 and 2013, the
Department of State added 51 new officer positions in Mission China,
and will add 25 new positions over the next two years. By the end of
December 2016, we will have added 131 new interview windows in Mission
China since 2010. We expect all windows to be fully utilized by the end
of 2016. In July 2013, we opened our new consulate facility in
Guangzhou. We plan to open our new consular section in Wuhan in the
next few years.
______
Response to Written Questions Submitted by Hon. Brian Schatz to
Michele T. Bond
Question 1. The State Department has taken steps to reduce visa
wait times. It will be critical that we continue to maintain low wait
times in non-Visa Waiver Program countries to encourage people to apply
for a tourist visa. As the Federal government works to promote travel
to the United States, how does the State Department plan to meet future
demand?
Answer. The Bureau of Consular Affairs (CA) is dedicated to
facilitating legitimate travel to the United States while securing U.S.
borders by ensuring that both domestic and overseas consular offices
have world-class personnel, well-managed resources, and efficient
processes. CA also continually monitors changes to the demand for non-
immigrant (NIV) applicants by post, mission, region, and worldwide, to
better allocate staffing and resources.
CA consistently tries to improve its services by regularly
revisiting our flexible staffing model. While career Foreign Service
Officer hiring is down, the overseas visa workload is growing. To meet
this challenge, a joint CA and Human Resources working group
established programs using Limited Non-Career Appointments, Civil
Service administrative series employees and Passport Specialists, and
U.S.-citizen family members to provide necessary staffing.
Question 1a. How is the State Department planning for the long term
and anticipating future visa demand in overseas markets? What steps is
it taking to strategically target resources?
Answer. Visas play a critical role in support of the President's
goal to attract 100 million annual visitors to the United States by
2021. Mexico, Brazil, China, and India are our fastest-growing markets,
and are all among the ten countries whose visitors spent the most money
in the United States in 2013.
CA continuously plans for and anticipates future visa demand in all
overseas markets using projection analysis to predict anticipated visa
demand by post, mission, region, and worldwide. A continuous stream of
incoming data undergoes rigorous analysis, enabling us to anticipate
workloads and staffing needs by month and post.
CA realizes increased efficiencies through ideas gleaned from the
field. Our 1CA Leadership, Management, and Innovation office is focused
on creating a culture of leadership, management, and innovation
excellence across the Bureau. 1CA provides training, guidance, and
resources to consular professionals to allow them to work more
efficiently. Among 1CA's practical resources, the Innovation Forum
helps consular professionals collaboratively develop and communicate
innovative solutions to common challenges. Our consular managers use
1CA management tools, such as business process mapping and value stream
analysis, to improve applicant flow in our work spaces and reduce
appointment wait times.
The Interview Waiver Program (IWP) keeps low-risk applicants out of
consular waiting rooms altogether. We have ideas about measures to
expand travelers' eligibility for IWP without compromising border
security.
Our Global Support Strategy, a public-private partnership that lets
the private sector handle non-governmental, time-consuming elements of
the visa application process, including providing information services,
fee collection, appointment scheduling, document delivery, and greeter
services, has made the visa process even more efficient.
Question 2. As U.S. Customs and Border Protection works to expand
Global Entry, there may be opportunities to explore innovative methods
for enrolling new, eligible U.S. citizens. Have the State Department
and U.S. Customs and Border Protection considered the feasibility of
coordinating the Global Entry application process with the U.S.
passport renewal process?
Answer. We have not had formal discussions with U.S. Customs and
Border Protection (CBP) on this issue. However, we are currently
exploring the feasibility of this endeavor.
Passport Services (CA/PPT) began cross-promoting the Global Entry
and TSA-Pre Check programs in October 2012. CA sent Trusted Traveler
brochures, bookmarks, and other supplies, including a 60-second looped
Global Entry public service announcements, to twenty-seven passport
agencies and centers. The passport agencies and centers show and
distribute these materials in their lobbies and at regional outreach
events. We also include Global Entry and TSA Pre-check insert
brochures, supplied by DHS, with all passports mailed out to our
applicants. Our processing centers have mailed out well over 11 million
inserts since this effort began.
CA partnered with CBP and the Transportation Security
Administration (TSA) on Global Entry Enrollment Events, where CBP
conducted Global Entry interviews at the Department of State in
February and March 2013.
Question 2a. What would be the challenges in coordinating these two
processes and what resources would be required?
Answer. U.S. passports and Global Entry have differing periods of
validity: the U.S. passport is valid for 10 years and Global Entry is
valid for 5 years. This may cause confusion with the U.S. citizen
traveler trying to determine when to renew the Global Entry
registration, which agency to renew with, and how much the renewal will
cost.
Fees for U.S. passports are collected domestically and overseas.
They include two Department of State retained components in addition to
a portion of the application fee that is remitted to the Treasury. The
execution fee for first-time passport applicants is retained by the
acceptance agency or, when applying at a Passport Agency, is retained
by the Treasury. If the Department of State were to also collect a
Global Entry fee from passport applicants, the additional fee
collection would further complicate an already complex accounting
process and is likely to have Economy Act implications, under which any
agency performing work for another must be reimbursed. It may also
cause additional work for adjudicators in both the Department of State
and U.S. Customs and Border Protection, who would also be required to
determine whether the proper fees have been paid.
If U.S. passport and Global Entry applications were submitted
simultaneously, both agencies' intake procedures would need to be
radically modified. Ninety percent of domestic passport applications
are received and initially processed through Treasury's lockbox
collection service. We are not sure that the lockbox function could
handle the extra workload imposed by combining application processes.
What we can consider doing initially is to provide a link from the
State Department's travel website (http://travel.state.gov) in sections
covering, ``Apply for a New Passport'', ``Before You Go'', and
``Traveler's Checklist'' to DHS's Global Entry site, www.cbp.gov/
global-entry/about/. The website entry could contain the required
disclaimer that approval for a passport does not guarantee Global Entry
enrollment.
______
Response to Written Question Submitted by Hon. Bill Nelson to
Michael Stroud
Question. What percentage of visa applicants are rejected because
of national security concerns? Are the U.S. intelligence services
evaluating these applicants?
Answer. DHS defers the response to the State Department, which is
in charge of issuing visas and making determinations on visa
applications.
______
Response to Written Questions Submitted by Hon. Richard Blumenthal to
Michael Stroud
Question 1. Recent surveys by major travel organizations suggest
that a significant number of visitors to the U.S., in some surveys as
high as 20 percent, return home discouraged from ever returning to the
U.S. because of what they view as long wait times for processing at
domestic U.S. airports. What efforts are underway to address this
problem and bring down the processing lines at U.S. airports?
Answer. The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) has developed and
deployed a traveler satisfaction survey to benchmark passenger
satisfaction and U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP)
professionalism at the top 20 airports. Two customer service surveys
were conducted, by a third party (MedForce Government Solutions and LMI
under contract to CBP), in November 2011 and August 2012 respectively.
The surveys include questions developed in conjunction with the travel
industry representatives, and the results were very instructive with
regard to CBP performance. The survey results indicated broad
satisfaction with the professionalism of CBP personnel and overall
passenger wait times. For CBP the results of those surveys have been
instrumental in continuing efforts to improve the passenger experience
and to provide a welcoming environment for arriving passengers.
Currently, DHS is developing and reviewing plans to capture traveler
satisfaction metrics through the annual survey, to commence by the end
of Calendar Year 2014.
Question 2. As I understand, the U.S. is one of the few developed
nations that does not have an accurate system to determine visa
overstays, a fact that stands in the way of achieving significant visa
reforms. Could you comment on the status of efforts to improve the
tracking of overstays?
Answer. Unlike many other countries, the United States did not
build its airports and other border ports of entry with ``exit'' in
mind, specifically the ability to collect data from individuals
departing the country.
Over the past decade, the Department of Homeland Security built the
capability to collect biographic data on individuals entering and
exiting the United States through our air and sea ports of entry,
through regulations mandating data collection by commercial air and sea
carriers along with private airline pilots. DHS receives this
information and subsequently matches the exit information to data
collected at entry, along with other DHS information, in order to
identify individuals who overstayed their authorized period of
admission. Beginning in 2010, the Department embarked on a multi-year
plan to enhance its existing biographic exit program to allow for real-
time tracking and sanctioning of overstays.
As part of this plan, various DHS Components have been and are
currently strengthening systems and algorithms in order to improve the
accuracy of data and automate the previously manual processes for
identifying overstays.
The improvements have already resulted in greater confidence in the
data.
Question 3. Many opponents of visa and immigration reforms that I
support have cited the lack of a biometric entry/exit system as a
reason for opposing reforms. I think everyone agrees with the need to
keep better track of who is entering and exiting the country, and to
crack down on visa overstays, but we shouldn't let disputes over the
best approach prevent progress in other areas. That said, I understand
that DHS has been testing a biometric system. Can you provide an update
as to the status of these efforts?
Answer. The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Science and
Technology Directorate (S&T) and the U.S. Customs and Border Protection
(CBP), in collaboration with the National Institute of Standards and
Technology (NIST), are conducting testing of biometric technologies in
three different phases: a laboratory environment using simulated data
to test the efficacy of the specific technology; in a scenario-based
setting testing utilizing test volunteers in a simulated operational
environment to test the combination of the technology and the current
or proposed operational processes and during an operational field trial
using actual travelers in a commercial airport environment. This effort
is the basis of the Apex Air Entry/Exit Re-Engineering (AEER) project.
The Apex AEER project is working to re-engineer both air entry and
air exit operations in order to: (1) increase the capacity to screen
travelers entering the United States to meet the increasing traveler
volumes (i.e., 4 percent-5 percent annual growth) and to minimize
traveler wait times; and (2) to identify a cost-effective concept of
operation (CONOP) to biometrically confirm the departure of travelers,
required to provide biometrics, from U.S. airports.
Over the next two years, the Apex AEER program will develop, test,
pilot, and evaluate integrated approaches to determine how new
technologies and processes can expedite the screening of travelers.
The Apex AEER Project will have three phases of evaluation to
determine the best performing technology capabilities for integration
into current airport entry and exit processes:
Laboratory testing to ensure biometric devices can perform
with current air entry/exit operations, and to determine the
biometric device applicability for each CONOP (Q3 FY14)
Scenario-based testing to validate technologies and CONOPs,
assess system performance, and mitigate impacts to operational
processes (Q4 FY14 through Q3 FY15)
Field trial period at one of the top ten air ports of entry
to determine the performance of a complete biometric exit
system under real world conditions. Site preparations and
surveys starting Q3 FY15 followed by on site testing through Q2
FY16 through early Q3 FY16.
S&T will deliver a business case framework, including a methodology
and criteria for the assessment and selection of proposed biometric/
non-biometric solutions to CBP. The framework will be an input for the
purpose of informing business process transformation, system
development, and technology acquisition.
In addition to the partnership with S&T, CBP is also planning to
run two field tests of biometric exit technology and processes, each at
a single port of entry, during FY 2015.
DHS currently operates a biographic-based entry and exit recording
system, Advanced Passenger Information System (APIS). APIS is a widely
used electronic data interchange system that allows carriers to
transmit traveler data to CBP. APIS data includes passenger information
that would be found on the face of a passport, such as full name,
gender, and country of passport issuance. APIS will note when a visitor
overstays the terms of their admission into the United States. This
overstay information would be accessible by a CBP officer upon entry
inspection which may result in the traveler being denied access into
the United States. A biometric exit recording capability would be in
addition to this already functioning system and would provide the
ability to biometrically verify a foreign national departed the United
States within or outside their initial terms of admission determined by
their visa type or the visa-waiver program as applicable.
______
Response to Written Questions Submitted by Hon. Brian Schatz to
Michael Stroud
Question 1. According to your written testimony, the Departments of
Commerce and Homeland Security have started to develop a national goal
for reducing wait times at U.S. ports of entry and improving service
levels for international arrivals. What specific steps will the
Department take moving forward to support this effort?
Answer. DHS and its component agencies, along with representatives
from the Department of Commerce, the White House, and travel industry
stakeholders have been working collaboratively to develop a national
goal to improve customer service levels during the entry process, as
directed in the President's Memorandum dated May 22, 2014,
``Establishing a National Goal and Developing Airport Specific Action
Plans to Enhance the Entry Process for International Travelers to the
United States.'' We have received robust participation from the private
sector, working collaboratively with airlines, resort operators, hotel
operators, airport operators, and travel industry associations,
including the U.S. Travel Association, Airports Council International-
North America, Airlines for America, International Air Travel
Association and the Global Business Travel Association. As of the end
of July, we have hosted stakeholder input sessions in 17 U.S. cities
and 3 separate national level engagements in Washington, D.C. to work
on developing the national goal. We will continue our work over the
next couple of months and will report our results to the President by
September 19, 2014.
Question 2. What steps has the Department taken to improve the
customer service experience across its agency components that interact
with the traveling public? How will the Department ensure that this is
a priority for its agency components?
Answer. DHS and its component agencies Customs and Border
Protection (CBP) and Transportation Security Administration (TSA) have
made great strides in recent years in improving customer service levels
for passengers. One key factor in the improvements has been increased
cooperation between DHS, its components, and travel industry
stakeholders, mainly airport authorities and airlines.
These partnerships have shown dramatic results. At Dallas/Fort
Worth International Airport (DFW) and Chicago O'Hare International
Airport (ORD), a combination of measures, such as Automated Passport
Control (APC) kiosks, Trusted Travel Programs like Global Entry, and
reimbursable service agreements, reduced international passenger
arrival wait times by nearly 40 percent on average over 12 months.
These efforts reduced more than half the percentage of travelers
waiting over 30 minutes, resulting in a new average wait time through
border security of 15 minutes.
ORD has seen passenger growth of 7 percent this year--the second
fastest growth of any top 10 airport--and has partnered with CBP on
improved queuing, signage, passenger flow, Global Entry, and
critically, APC kiosks. The results have been dramatic.
At DFW, international arrivals have grown 16 percent over the past
year and 39 percent over the last four years, the most of any top 20
airport during that stretch. The airport partnered with CBP not only on
queuing, signage, passenger flow, Global Entry, and APC kiosks, but
also on a reimbursable agreement for enhanced CBP services. As in
Chicago, the results have been tremendous.
Through close partnerships between airports and industry, examples
like ORD and DFW that are taking the transformative steps to improve
wait times for international arrivals, can become more common place.
The initiatives below set forth the key areas for progress this year to
continue to improve service levels, engage actively with the travel and
tourism industry, and keep pace with the critical growth in
international travel.
Automating Traveler Processing through the Expansion of Automated
Passport Control Kiosks
Automated Passport Control (APC) kiosks provide touch screen
technology to allow passengers to scan their passports and enter their
customs declaration information. Provided through public-private
partnerships with airport authorities, these kiosks expedite air
passenger inspection for U.S. and Canadian citizens at participating
airports. APC kiosks reduce officer interaction to approximately 30
seconds (from 55 seconds) while increasing security by allowing
officers to focus on the interaction with the passenger. In the past
year, 15 airports have already deployed the technology, with plans for
another 10 to join by the end of the year. A number of these 15
airports, including John F. Kennedy International Airport (JFK),
Chicago O'Hare International Airport (ORD), Dallas/Fort Worth
International Airport (DFW) and Orlando International Airport (MCO),
have experienced reductions in wait times of 30 percent or more since
the APC kiosks have been installed.
Expanding Trusted Traveler and Expedited Clearance Programs
The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) has developed and is
expanding popular Trusted Traveler Programs. At the end of 2013, more
than 2 million people had access to Trusted Traveler Programs, a nearly
60 percent increase from the previous year, and over 30 million
passengers received TSA Pre3TM expedited screening at more
than 115 domestic airports in partnership with participating U.S. air
carriers and CBP.
Trusted Traveler Programs
Global Entry: More than 2.3 million people have access to CBP Trusted
Traveler Programs, including Global Entry, which allows expedited
clearance for pre-approved, low-risk air travelers upon arrival in
the United States. Global Entry is available at 47 airports and the
kiosks have been used more than 8 million times. U.S. citizens,
U.S. lawful permanent residents, and nationals of seven other
countries are eligible for Global Entry. In Fiscal Year 2013,
Global Entry and NEXUS air kiosks usage increased 34 percent over
Fiscal Year 2012 (3.3 million vs. 2.5 million uses).
Expedited Screening Programs
TSA Pre3TM: Since the inception of TSA
Pre3TM on October 4, 2011, over 200 million passengers
have received some form of expedited screening at more than 115
participating domestic U.S. airports in partnership with
participating U.S. air carriers and CBP.
Currently, there are 10 U.S. airlines participating in TSA
Pre3TM: Alaska Airlines, American Airlines, Delta Air
Lines, Hawaiian Airlines, JetBlue Airways, Southwest Airlines, Sun
Country Airlines, United Airlines, U.S. Airways, and Virgin
America. On April 29, 2014, Air Canada became the first foreign-
owned air carrier participating in TSA Pre3TM. TSA is
working with a number of other foreign-owned airlines to expand
international air carrier participation. In addition, the TSA
Pre3TM application program provides travelers with an
additional method for enrolling in a Department of Homeland
Security (DHS) trusted traveler program, even for individuals who
do not have a passport. To date, there have been more than 397,000
enrollments in the TSA Pre3TM application program and
there are more than 296 enrollment centers across the country where
interested travelers may apply. Through expansion to more airlines
participating in TSA Pre3TM and enrollment opportunity,
TSA increases passenger exposure and availability to the program
and, as a result, greater opportunity for providing customer
service.
In addition, TSA has maintained ongoing outreach to customers through
CBP and participating airlines. TSA has expanded outreach and
communications more broadly to include:
Dedicated TSA Pre3TM web pages on the Internet
sites for all 11 participating airlines.
TSA Pre3TM-related articles in several in-
flight magazines and employee newsletters.
Direct airline messaging about TSA Pre3TM to
passengers via e-mail, signs posted at ticket counters and
in airline lounges, and pop-up messages on check-in kiosks.
TSA Pre3TM-specific signage provided by
airports to include directional signs as well as `call to
action' banners regarding the TSA
Pre3TM enrollment process.
Co-marketing agreements with American Express Card
Services and Sabre Travel Network to promote TSA
Pre3TM enrollment direct to customers and
through travel managers.
TSA Pre3TM information and assistance for
travelers through TSA Contact Center representatives.
Public-Private Partnerships
In FY 2013 and FY 2014, the Administration has requested, and
Congress has granted, new legal authorities for CBP to enter into
partnerships with state, local, and private sector entities so that
increased CBP inspectional services could be provided on a reimbursable
basis at U.S. ports of entry upon request. In FY 2013, the CBP
Reimbursable Services Program was established under the authorities
provided in Section 560 of the Consolidated and Further Continuing
Appropriations Act, 2013, which authorized the Commissioner to enter
into a maximum of five reimbursable services agreements (RSAs) for CBP
enhanced inspectional services by December 31, 2013. To determine which
locations would be selected for agreements, CBP reviewed applications
submitted by private sector and government entities and selected the
following stakeholders to participate in the program:
Dallas/Fort Worth International Airport;
The City of El Paso, Texas;
South Texas Assets Consortium;
Houston Airport System; and
Miami-Dade County.
Early indicators demonstrate that these partnerships can have a
meaningful impact on service levels at the locations where the
stakeholders have requested increased services. Within the first six
months of this program, CBP provided an additional 7,000 CBP officer
assignments and opened primary lanes and booths for an additional
18,000 hours at the request of our reimbursable services partners.
In January 2014, CBP received authority under Section 559 of the
Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2014, which more broadly authorized a
five-year pilot program to permit CBP to enter into partnerships with
private sector and government entities for certain reimbursable
services. CBP received 25 reimbursable services applications in 2014,
of which 16 were tentatively selected for new partnerships. These
include (by environment):
Air:
Los Angeles World Airports
San Francisco International Airport
Greater Orlando Aviation Authority
McCarran Airport
Denver International Airport
Sea:
Penn Terminals, Inc.
Independent Container Line, Ltd.
Network Shipping Ltd.
Greenwich Terminals LLC
Gloucester Terminals LLC
Turbana Corporation
Interoceanica Agency, Inc.
Diamond State Port Corporation (Port of Wilmington,
Delaware)
Port of Houston Authority
Broward County (Port Everglades)
Land:
South Texas Assets Consortium)
______
Response to Written Questions Submitted by Hon. Brian Schatz to
John P. Wagner
Question 1. Industry stakeholders have said that the Model Ports of
Entry program has not been implemented consistently across all 20
airports. Please explain what steps U.S. Customs and Border Protection
has taken to ensure that the program has been fully implemented.
Answer. There have been tremendous advances since the Model Ports
of Entry pilot program was launched in 2006 at Houston and Dulles
airports. In 2008, U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) used $40
million made available by Congress to expand the Model Ports of Entry.
Using these funds, CBP expanded the program to the 20 U.S international
airports with the highest number of foreign visitor arrivals (annually
as of August 2007), developed new directional signage, installed audio
and video technology to display arrival information and welcome
messages, developed airport primary wait time reporting, implemented a
national survey, and implemented the Passenger Service Manager program
to the top airports.
In addition to the improvements that were made as a result of the
Model Ports of Entry program, several best practices were implemented
that are still prevalent across the airports today. For example, all
the CBP ports continue to have regular and reoccurring meetings with
airport stakeholders to examine the process and implement programs such
as ``One-Stop'' and ``Express Connect.'' One-Stop and Express Connect
reduce wait time by removing a segment of the traveler population from
the queue, which results in a lower number of travelers in line,
reducing the overall wait time and facilitating the entry process for
admissible travelers.
Question 1a. What has U.S. Customs and Border Protection done to
continue to improve the program and make the traveler entry experience
more welcoming since it began in 2006?
Answer. International air travel to the United States has grown by
4 percent per year since 2009, rising to a record level of 94 million
international arrivals in 2013. In Fiscal Year 2014 to date,
international air travel has grown at a rate of almost 6 percent, and
aviation industry associations, carriers, and aircraft manufacturers
are predicting 5 percent growth per year through 2020. These travelers
are critical to the U.S. economy, with each visitor spending an average
of $4,500 per visit at American hotels, shops, restaurants, and other
businesses while in the country thereby contributing to economic
growth.
The President launched a National Travel and Tourism Strategy in
2012 and set an ambitious goal of attracting and welcoming 100 million
international visitors annually by the end of 2021. Two years later, we
are on track to meet this goal, in part due to the actions taken to
expand our ability to attract and welcome visitors by improving the
international arrivals experience, while maintaining the highest
security standards. As part of this strategy, CBP has pursued an
aggressive plan over the last several years to optimize the
international arrivals process and speed travelers to their
destinations in the United States. CBP is revolutionizing operational
processes through automation, innovation, and Trusted Traveler
Programs; employing a rigorous approach to identify the staffing needed
to effectively carry out CBP's increasingly complex mission at the
Nation's ports of entry; and exploring public-private partnerships to
support growing passenger volume, expanded services, and facility
growth. CBP has also been actively engaged with travel industry
stakeholders on several key initiatives, including Automated Passport
Control (APC) kiosks, Trusted Traveler Programs like Global Entry,
Mobile Passport Control, and reimbursable service agreements.
In addition, CBP is using the initiatives below to continue to
improve service levels and keep pace with the critical growth in
international travel.
Air Egress Transformation
CBP has been engaged in business transformation efforts aimed at
streamlining and establishing a safer and more efficient arrival
process and enabling officers to focus on their primary law enforcement
mission rather than administrative tasks. As part of the business
transformation efforts, CBP is exploring options to modify the current
egress process.
Traveler Satisfaction Surveys
DHS has developed and deployed a traveler satisfaction survey to
benchmark passenger satisfaction and CBP professionalism at the top 20
airports. Customer service surveys, with questions developed in
conjunction with the travel industry, were conducted by a third party
in November 2011 and August 2012. The results of the two surveys were
very instructive with regard to CBP performance. Contrary to the media
narrative, the results indicated the public's broad satisfaction with
the professionalism of CBP personnel and overall wait times. For CBP,
the results of those surveys have also been instrumental in continuing
efforts to improve the passenger experience and provide a welcoming
environment.
Passenger Service Manager
The CBP Passenger Service Manager (PSM) plays a crucial role in
responding to traveler complaints or concerns; oversees issues related
to travelers requiring special processing; provides recommendations for
improvement of traveler processing and professionalism; provides
training to managers, supervisors, and officers on customer service and
professionalism issues; and promotes public awareness of the CBP
mission through distribution of public information bulletins,
brochures, and comment cards. The PSM program is being implemented at
over 300 ports of entry.
Question 2. As U.S. Customs and Border Protection works to expand
Global Entry, there may be opportunities to explore innovative methods
for enrolling new, eligible U.S. citizens. To what extent has U.S.
Customs and Border Protection and the U.S. Department of State
considered the feasibility of coordinating the Global Entry application
process with the U.S. passport renewal process?
Answer. U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) is committed to
expanding the pool of Trusted Traveler program applicants. More than
2.3 million people have access to CBP's Trusted Traveler Programs,
including Global Entry, which allows expedited clearance for pre-
approved, low-risk air travelers upon arrival in the United States. CBP
has worked with the Department of State (DOS) to include a pamphlet
that details the benefits of Global Entry and TSA
Pre3TM with each new passport issued. The pamphlet provides
additional information to individuals who may be interested in applying
for Global Entry. Given differences in eligibility criteria, a U.S.
citizen may be eligible for a passport but not necessarily eligible to
be a member of a Trusted Traveler Program.
Question 3. In your written testimony, U.S. Customs and Border
Protection and the U.S. Department of Homeland Security acknowledge the
benefits of establishing preclearance to reduce wait times at ports of
entry. What steps is U.S. Customs and Border Protection taking to add
preclearance facilities at additional overseas airports?
Answer. Beginning in October 2014, U.S. Customs and Border
Protection (CBP) intends to partner with interested stakeholders to
expand preclearance operations to new locations. As part of this
expansion plan, CBP developed a public document titled ``Preclearance
Expansion Plan--Fiscal Year 2015 Guidance for Prospective Applicants''
that outlines the details on the process and requirements for
applicants who are interested. In coordination with CBP, airport
authorities will have the opportunity to design a preclearance model
that accommodates their airport's unique operating environment and
service goals, while satisfying the requirements of the preclearance
process. CBP will evaluate and prioritize an initial set of potential
preclearance locations and, following the necessary approvals to
negotiate, may begin formal preclearance negotiations in early 2015.
Question 3a. What is the status of U.S. Customs and Border
Protection expanding preclearance to Japan?
Answer. On April 22, 2014, U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP)
met with Minister and Head of Chancery Hideaki Mizukoshi and
accompanying dignitaries at the Embassy of Japan in Washington, D.C.,
to provide an overview of preclearance and CBP's requirements for
expansion of preclearance. The Minister expressed interest in the
concept of preclearance, but noted facility, law enforcement, and cost
concerns. In October 2014, CBP executive leadership will meet with host
government officials and airport stakeholders in Japan to outline the
preclearance expansion plan and address any potential concerns or
questions.
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