U.S. begs for passport workers

[sabra]

Source: WashTimes

The State Department has issued an urgent call to its diplomats worldwide to volunteer for monthlong assignments in U.S. passport offices, offering to pay their expenses if they return home and help clear a backlog of 3 million passport applications that has forced thousands of Americans to cancel trips abroad this summer.

In a cable to all Foreign Service personnel on Friday, Undersecretary of State for Management Henrietta H. Fore asked in a desperate plea for 100 diplomats with consular experience to "serve our citizens here at home" for the next two months.

"We are looking for two tranches of 50 Foreign Service officers each to staff passport-adjudication shifts, most of which will be afternoon-evening shifts," Mrs. Fore wrote in the cable, a copy of which was obtained by The Washington Times.

"Most volunteers will go to the National Passport Center in New Hampshire in the months of July and August. We may bring others to Washington."

Read more: http://www.washingtontimes.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070625/FOREIGN/106250023/1001

[underpants]

1. I think I will apply

I wonder what it pays. Not that I am a diplomat or anything but they clearly need the workers.

[MaineDem]

2. "Most volunteers will go to the National Passport Center in New Hampshire..."

They can work on campaigns in their spare time. :evilgrin:

[napi21]

3. What all is involved in issuing a passport?

As I understand it, most of the backlog is for people seeking PP's to travel from the US to Canada, Mexico, and the Bahamas. Wouldn't a simple background check to make sure there's no criminal record suffice? Why do they need Foreign Service people to do this? Why pay the extra money to bring them home and pay all expenses while here to do a job that seems could be done with a relative short amount of training? July & August would be the perfect time to hire 100 college students for summer work!

[aquart]

4. The new law is beyond stupid and endlessly shortsighted.

And expensive as hell, it now seems, too.

But then the people involved with it are also stupid and shortsighted.

How many Republicans had to change their vacation plans because of this?

[napi21]

5. I doubt there's been any info available for how many Pubs

had to change their plans v/s Dems, but if tradition is any basis, I'd say it would have been mostly Pubs. It's quite expensive to travel out of the Country, and they are after all the PARTY OF MONEY!!!!

[PaulaFarrell]

13. oh please

my mother has been planning to come to England for months, and applid for her renewal back in March. Sorry, she's not a 'PUB', just has her house paid off and lives simply and for the firs time in her life can afford a few luxuries. They have promised to Fed Ex the passport to her by Friday; if not she'll lose $1350 in non-refundable tickets. Gloat about that, would ya, a 78-year-old lady being stiffed. BTW, she loathes Bush.

[uppityperson]

16. Oh pshaw it's mostly republicans, with them being "party of money"

that is an awful lot of assumptions there. You could go with rebpublicans stay home while democrats travel and experience the world also. Broadbrushing doesn't often work.

[mcscajun]

8. The process of "passport adjudication" - not an entry-level job.

Passport Application and Approval Process:

The majority of passport applications are submitted by mail or in-
person at one of almost 7,000 passport application acceptance
facilities nationwide. The passport acceptance agents at
these facilities are responsible for, among other things, verifying
whether an applicant's identification document (such as a driver's
license) actually matches the applicant. Then, through a process called
adjudication, passport examiners determine whether they should issue
each applicant a passport. Adjudication requires the examiner to
scrutinize identification and citizenship documents presented by
applicants to verify their identity and U.S. citizenship. The passport
adjudication process is facilitated by computer systems, including the
Travel Document Issuance System, which appears on passport examiners'
screens when the adjudication begins and automatically checks the
applicant's name against several databases. Figure 1 identifies the key
computer databases available to help examiners adjudicate passport
applications and detect potential fraud.

-snip-

In addition, examiners scrutinize paper documents and other relevant
information during the fraud detection process, watch for suspicious
behavior and travel plans, and request additional identification when
they feel the documents presented are insufficient. When examiners
detect potentially fraudulent passport applications, they send the
applications to their local fraud prevention office for review and
potential referral to State's Bureau of Diplomatic Security for further
investigation.

http://www.gao.gov/htext/d05853t.html


This is one of many government functions I don't want to see in the hands of the lowest bidder, outsourced, or left in the hands of the "new kids on the block". When it comes to fraud detection, there is no substitute for experience.

[northzax]

15. as was said in #8

it's really not that simple. And, of course, the background check is irrlevant, you can certainly get a passport with a criminal record. Remember, once you have one, you are legally able to work in the US, vote, and travel to all the countries that the US has Visa waiver programs with with impunity. it really is a pretty powerful document.

[Paula Sims]

6. IF they return home??

". . .offering to pay their expenses if they return home . . ."

IF THEY RETURN HOME --- IF??? Is this another case of "oops, we don't have any jobs here but in Iraq. . ."


Paula

[fazoolius_2006]

7. Good, I need to get mine before I head overseas for work.

[greenissexy]

9. Interesting...

Why are they doing this internally rather than outsourcing to someone like Hallibutten(sic)? I would have thought Bush would have used this "Nazi papers" issue as an excuse to give yet more money to his friends. I wonder what Bush's real agenda is here.

[mainer]

10. But... don't we need those diplomats in Baghdad?

I thought Condie ordered them there! I imagine there are a lot of diplomats who'd much rather serve in New Hampshire.

[mhatrw]

11. Wasn't this one of the major problems we had with the Iron Curtain?

You know, that the citizens of the USSR were not free to travel where they pleased?

[Nikki Stone1]

17. Yes. And you bring up an interesting point

They can't outlaw travel but they can make it highly inconvenient to do so.

[tanyev]

12. Oh, now we need government services and employees, do we?

Careful! Will all the volunteers be vetted to make sure they are loyal Bushies?

[xxqqqzme]

14. I squeaked thru w/ my renewal.

Ten days after I sent mine in for renewal, the news broke about the 4 month backlog. I figured I wouldn't see my new passport before September...got it last Thursday - Whew!!!

[Coventina]

18. Er, doesn't this sound like a huge security hole?

A huge backlog of apps. People being begged to come and volunteer to help? Sounds like a recipe for terrorists getting passports to me.

:shrug:

[dkofos]

19. Maybe it wasn't such a good idea to outsource these jobs to the

private sector.