Consular Lookout and Support System explained

The Consular Lookout and Support System (CLASS) is a system supporting the U.S. Department of State Bureau of Consular Affairs: it assists in decisions for visa and passport issuance and helps establish a person's eligibility for overseas services. It is used by U.S. Department of State passport agencies and consular posts as well as U.S. Department of Homeland Security and other border inspection agencies to perform namechecks on visa and passport applicants to identify individuals who may be ineligible for issuance or require other special action. Potential reasons for ineligibility include past criminal or terrorist activity.[1] [2] [3]

History

CLASS has been used since before the September 11 attacks of 2001. According to a report in October 2002: "The State Department indicated that at most overseas posts, consular officers relied primarily on the CLASS name check system to detect possible terrorists and did not place a special emphasis on using other elements of the visa process ..." The CLASS name check was historically done after reviewing the applicant's passport and other documents, and after an optional interview.[4]

In the years following the September 11 attacks, more efforts were made to add more information to CLASS. The number of namecheck records in CLASS increased fivefold from 48,000 in September 2001 to approximately 260,000 in June 2005, according to consular officials. Also, as of fall 2004, CLASS had approximately 8 million records from the FBI. The Department of State also established a direct computer link with the FBI's National Crime Information Center (NCIC) to have information sent from NCIC to CLASS on a daily basis. However, the absence of specific information in CLASS about the nature of crimes (which made it difficult to distinguish between serious and minor crimes) made it hard for consular officers to use CLASS for rapid visa processing as of 2005.[5]

Privacy Impact Assessments about CLASS have been published periodically, including in 2016[2] and 2018.[1]

Details

Child systems

CLASS includes the following child systems:[1]

Data sharing with other systems

Data from the following systems is forwarded to CLASS for namecheck purposes; in addition, information about visa refusal is also forwarded to CLASS from the visa or passport office:[1]

Information from the following law enforcement agencies may be forwarded to CLASS:[1]

CLASS shares information with the following agencies, all via the Consular Consolidated Database (CCD):[1]

See also

Notes and References

  1. Web site: Consular Lookout and Support System (CLASS) PIA. September 1, 2018. April 30, 2021.
  2. Web site: Consular Lookout and Support System (CLASS) PIA. May 24, 2016. April 30, 2021.
  3. Web site: Immigration: Visa Security Policies. Wasem. Ruth Ellen. November 18, 2015. November 21, 2017. Congressional Research Service.
  4. Book: Border Security: Visa Process Should Be Strengthened As an Antiterrorism Tool. United States Government Accountability Office. October 13, 2002. 9780756732219. April 30, 2021.
  5. Web site: Border Security: Strengthened Visa Process Would Benefit from Additional Management Actions by State and DHS. September 13, 2005. April 30, 2021.

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