FederalDaily - September 12, 2007
State Continues to Add Passport Staff, Reduces Backlog
State Department officials announced Sept. 7 that the department has reduced the massive backlog of
passport applications that was threatening to swamp the agency this summer, restoring processing time
to the standard six to eight weeks. A flood of applications, stemming from new overseas travel regulations,
overwhelmed the agency earlier this year and significantly lengthened application processing time.
Officials said the department added staff to the processing efforts, and the agency was able to issue
about 16 million passports so far this fiscal year, which ends Sept. 30, compared to 12.1 million issued
in Fiscal Year 2006. In addition, the department said in a statement that it plans to expand passport
facilities and continue to hire more passport specialists. The expanded capacity is needed to meet
an anticipated increase in passport demand as passport requirements are extended to land and sea borders.
By January 2008, State officials said, the agency will have hired hundreds of new employees, and production
capacity at the National Passport Center in New Hampshire—the nation’s largest passport
facility—will have doubled. To see more, go to: www.state.gov/r/pa/prs/ps/2007/sep/91868.htm
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NTEU: Leaked Memo Highlights CBP Staffing Woes
A Customs and Border Protection (CBP) memo leaked to the news media underscores agency staffing problems
at the nation’s ports of entry, National Treasury Employees Union (NTEU) President Colleen Kelley
said in a Sept. 7 statement. The memo from an El Paso, Texas, CBP official reprinted in The Washington
Times delineated procedures to speed up inspections at the international border. The memo noted
that border officers are required to inspect all travelers “to the extent that this is operationally
feasible,” yet also instructs officers to vary inspection procedures as wait times grow. “It
looks like management wants to have it both ways—pressuring front-line workers to speed up passenger
and vehicle entry into the United States and maximize inspections,” Kelley said. The only viable
way to accomplish the agency’s dual roles of facilitating travel while ensuring the nation’s
safety is to fully staff ports of entry with trained CBP personnel, Kelley said. To see more, go to: www.nteu.org/PressKits/PressRelease/PressRelease.aspx?ID=1152
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DoD Publishes History of 9/11 Pentagon Attack
On the sixth anniversary of the 9/11 terrorist attacks, DoD announced the publication of new book
which provides a detailed, documented history of the Sept. 11, 2001, attack on the Pentagon. The book, Pentagon
9/11, went on sale on Sept. 11 at the Government Printing Office (GPO). Five authors, led by Office
of the Secretary of Defense Historian Alfred Goldberg, worked from more than 1,300 oral history interviews
to produce the narrative. The book also includes previously unpublished photographs, diagrams and illustrations.
The 250-page history costs $31, and is available from GPO at: http://bookstore.gpo.gov/collections/pentagon911.jsp
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