The Consular Lookout and Support System (CLASS) is a system supporting the
U.S. Department of State
The United States Department of State (DOS), or State Department, is an executive department of the U.S. federal government responsible for the country's foreign policy and relations. Equivalent to the ministry of foreign affairs of other ...
Bureau of Consular Affairs
The Bureau of Consular Affairs (CA) is a bureau of the United States Department of State reporting to the under secretary of state for management. The mission of the Bureau is to administer laws, formulate regulations and implement policies re ...
: 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
The United States Department of Homeland Security (DHS) is the U.S. federal executive department responsible for public security, roughly comparable to the interior or home ministries of other countries. Its stated missions involve anti-terr ...
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.
History
CLASS has been used since before the
September 11 attacks
The September 11 attacks, commonly known as 9/11, were four coordinated suicide terrorist attacks carried out by al-Qaeda against the United States on Tuesday, September 11, 2001. That morning, nineteen terrorists hijacked four commer ...
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.
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.
Privacy Impact Assessment A Privacy Impact Assessment (PIA) is a process which assists organizations in identifying and managing the privacy risks arising from new projects, initiatives, systems, processes, strategies, policies, business relationships etc. It benefits variou ...
s about CLASS have been published periodically, including in 2016
[ and 2018.][
]
Details
Child systems
CLASS includes the following child systems:[
* eCLASS and iCLASS: These are the namecheck search engines that use a normalized and indexed Oracle database along with an array of Intel-based servers and intelligent load balancers to achieve the required throughput.
** eCLASS performs namechecks against lookout databases.
** iCLASS is used to vet electronic Diversity Visa (eDV) applicants and perform ]Consular Consolidated Database The Consular Consolidated Database (CCD) is a database used by the Bureau of Consular Affairs under the United States Department of State, that has over 290 million passport records, 184 million visa records, and 25 million records of U.S. citizens ...
(CCD) queries.
* CXI consists of various components that provide database interfaces with agencies outside of the State Department as well as overseas and domestic internal sources whereby these organizations can provide and receive updates to namecheck data.
* webCLASS is used to perform a required namecheck from any authorized user on the Department of State OpenNet system through the website driven namecheck system.
* Telecommunications Manager (TCM) is a software application that serves as a connection point (middle-tier) between Consular Affairs (CA) client systems and the namecheck system database, Consular Lookout and Support System (CLASS). TCM performs two main functions: translation and routing.
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:[
* Non-Immigrant Visa (NIV): Visa query, bi-directional flow
* Immigrant Visa Overseas (IVO): Visa query, bi-directional flow
* ]Consular Consolidated Database The Consular Consolidated Database (CCD) is a database used by the Bureau of Consular Affairs under the United States Department of State, that has over 290 million passport records, 184 million visa records, and 25 million records of U.S. citizens ...
(CCD)
* American Citizen Services (ACS): Passport query, bi-directional flow
* Independent Namecheck (INK): Namecheck query, bi-directional flow
* Travel Document Issuance System (TDIS): Namecheck query, bi-directional flow
* Passport Lookout Tracking System (PLOTS): Namecheck query, bi-directional flow
* Tracking Responses and Inquiries for Passports (TRIP): Passport query, bi-directional flow
* Passport Information Electronic Records System (PIERS): Passport and Consular Lost and Stolen Passports (CLASP) query, bi-directional flow
* Passport Records Imaging System Management (PRISM): Passport query, bi-directional flow
* Diversity Visa Information System (DVIS): Visa query, bi-directional flow
Information from the following law enforcement agencies may be forwarded to CLASS:[
* ]Interpol
The International Criminal Police Organization (ICPO; french: link=no, Organisation internationale de police criminelle), commonly known as Interpol ( , ), is an international organization that facilitates worldwide police cooperation and cri ...
* United States Department of Health and Human Services
The United States Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) is a cabinet-level executive branch department of the U.S. federal government created to protect the health of all Americans and providing essential human services. Its motto is ...
(HHS)
* U.S. Department of Homeland Security
The United States Department of Homeland Security (DHS) is the U.S. federal executive department responsible for public security, roughly comparable to the interior or home ministries of other countries. Its stated missions involve anti-terr ...
(DHS)
* United States Marshals Service
The United States Marshals Service (USMS) is a federal law enforcement agency in the United States. The USMS is a bureau within the U.S. Department of Justice, operating under the direction of the Attorney General, but serves as the enforc ...
(USMS)
* Federal Bureau of Investigation
The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) is the domestic intelligence and security service of the United States and its principal federal law enforcement agency. Operating under the jurisdiction of the United States Department of Justice, ...
(FBI)
* Terrorist Screening Center
The Terrorist Screening Center (TSC) is a division of the National Security Branch of the Federal Bureau of Investigation. It is the duty of the TSC to identify suspected or potential terrorists. Though housed within the FBI, the TSC is a mult ...
(TSC)
* Drug Enforcement Administration
The Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA; ) is a United States federal law enforcement agency under the U.S. Department of Justice tasked with combating drug trafficking and distribution within the U.S. It is the lead agency for domestic en ...
(DEA)
* Treasury Enforcement Communications System (TECS)
* Social Security Administration
The United States Social Security Administration (SSA) is an independent agency of the U.S. federal government that administers Social Security, a social insurance program consisting of retirement, disability and survivor benefits. To qualify ...
(SSA)
* Internal Revenue Service (IRS)
CLASS shares information with the following agencies, all via the Consular Consolidated Database The Consular Consolidated Database (CCD) is a database used by the Bureau of Consular Affairs under the United States Department of State, that has over 290 million passport records, 184 million visa records, and 25 million records of U.S. citizens ...
(CCD):[
* Interpol: Lost and stolen passport information is sent to Interpol for the international database of Stolen and Lost Travel Documents (SLTD).
* Treasury Enforcement Communications System (TECS): TECS is used extensively by the law enforcement community and at ports of entry to identify individuals and businesses suspected of or involved in violation of federal law. CLASS updates TECS in real time with visa refusals and lookouts, foreign lost and stolen passports, and U.S. lost and stolen passport.
* ]National Counterterrorism Center
The National Counterterrorism Center (NCTC) is a United States government organization responsible for national and international counterterrorism efforts. It is based in Liberty Crossing, a modern complex near Tysons Corner in McLean, Virginia ...
(NCTC)
* Canada Beyond the Border (BtB): CLASS provides a service that allows the Immigration Refugees and Citizenship Canada (IRCC) to run namechecks against CLASS and receive a filtered response, that includes information on foreigners of mutual interest to the US and Canada.
* Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) Brady Act: CLASS sends a list of persons who have renounced US citizenship to the National Instant Criminal Background Check System
The National Instant Criminal Background Check System (NICS) is a background check system in the United States created by the Brady Handgun Violence Prevention Act (Brady Law) of 1993 to prevent firearm sales to people prohibited under the Act. ...
(NICS).
See also
* Consular Consolidated Database The Consular Consolidated Database (CCD) is a database used by the Bureau of Consular Affairs under the United States Department of State, that has over 290 million passport records, 184 million visa records, and 25 million records of U.S. citizens ...
References
{{reflist, 30em
Consular affairs
Visa policy of the United States
Immigration policies in the United States