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"A truism of crisis management is that most seemingly out-of-the-blue disasters could have been prevented if someone had paid attention..."

              Editorial, The New York Times, Dec. 19, 2007
 



"....We call on the American people to remember how we all felt on 9/11, to remember not only the unspeakable horror but how we came together as a nation - one nation. Unity of purpose and unity of effort are the way we will defeat this enemy and make America safer for our children and grandchildren."

              9/11 Commission Report, Executive Summary, Sept. 20, 2004
 


"For terrorists, travel documents are as important as weapons. Terrorists must travel clandestinely to meet, train, plan, case targets, and gain access to attack. To them international travel presents great danger, because they must surface to pass through regulated channels, present themselves to border security officials, or attempt to circumvent inspection points.

     In their travels, terrorists use evasive methods, such as altered and counterfeit passports and visas..."
             9/11 Commission Report, Section 12.4, Sept. 20, 2004



Introducing a secure electronic system to issue a visa ID card for a foreign visitor and periodically to validate the visa during the visitor’s in-country stay, using biometrics, smart-card and computer kiosk technologies
.
 

 


 

News Headlines [MM/DD/YY]

 

"Thwarted Travelers"
    The New York Times, 01/17/12

 

"U.S. Inquiry Traces Foreigners With Visas"
    The New York Times, 09/14/11


"INTERPOL chief says passengers at risk from passport theft and fraud"
   The Telegraph, 06/07/11

"Two French terror suspects arrested in Pakistan"
   AFP, 04/14/11

"The face of a [passport] system failure"
    The Boston Globe, 03/05/11

 

"Texas: Jordanian [overstayed visa] Sentenced in Bomb Plot"
    The New York Times, 10/20/10

 

"Official: Germans, Brits behind Europe terror plot"
    The Associated Press, 09/30/10

 

"As Some Young Muslims [from Germany] Turn to Radicalism, Concern Grows"
    The New York Times, 07/31/10

 

"CBP Officers at Hidalgo/Reynosa International Bridge Intercept Mexican Passport Stamped with Counterfeit U.S. Admissions Stamp"
    U.S. Customs and Border Protection, 03/19/10

 

"Two Suspects Entered U.S. After Killing in Dubai"
    The New York Times, 03/02/10

 

"Dubai Hamas assassination: a smiling killer and mystery of forged UK passports"
    Telegraph, 02/16/10

 

"Meet Mikey, 8: U.S. Has Him on Watch List"
    The New York Times, 01/14/10

 

"[Senator] Grassley calls for more visa screeners"
    The Washington Times, 01/12/10
 

"State Department failed to confirm terror suspect's visa [misspelled]"
    CNN, 01/08/10

 

"Homeland Security seeks volunteers for flights, embassies"
    CNN, 01/07/10


........... More News Headlines below ...........

 


 

U.S. Visitor Statistics

·          211 visa issuing posts worldwide 1
 

·          Over 1,600 consular officer positions 8

·          7.6 million visas issued in 2001 1
 

·          79% of issued visas for business and pleasure 1

·          4.6% of issued visas for special workers 1

·          4.2% of issued visas for students 1

·          500,000 immigrant visas issued 2

·          Nearly 600,000 foreign students in 2006-2007 6

·          Over 48 million overseas visitors 3

·          15 days was the average overseas visitor’s length of stay 3

·          82% of overseas visitors stay in a hotel / motel 3

·          28% of overseas visitors fly domestically 3

·          34% of overseas visitors rent cars 3
 

·          27 countries participate in the USA Visa Waiver Program 4


 

DHS Challenges

 

"Recommendation: Targeting travel is at least as powerful a weapon against terrorists as targeting their money. The United States should combine terrorist travel intelligence, operations, and law enforcement in a strategy to intercept terrorists, find terrorist travel facilitators, and constrain terrorist mobility."
             9/11 Commission Report, §12.4, Sept. 20, 2004

 

"Recommendation: Improved use of "no-fly" and "automatic selectee" lists should not be delayed while the argument about a successor to CAPPS continues. This screening function should be performed by the TSA, and it should utilize the larger set of watch-lists maintained by the federal government. Air carriers should be required to supply the information needed to test and implement this new system."
             9/11 Commission Report, §12.4, Sept. 20, 2004


"
Recommendation: The U.S. border security system should be integrated into a larger network of screening points that includes our transportation system and access to vital facilities, such as nuclear reactors. The President should direct the Department of Homeland Security to lead the effort to design a comprehensive screening system, addressing common problems and setting common standards with system wide goals in mind. Extending those standards among other governments could dramatically strengthen America and the world's collective ability to intercept individuals who pose catastrophic threats."
             9/11 Commission Report, §12.4, Sept. 20, 2004
 

"Recommendation: The Department of Homeland Security, properly supported by the Congress, should complete, as quickly as possible, a biometric entry-exit screening system, including a single system for speeding qualified travelers. It should be integrated with the system that provides benefits to foreigners seeking to stay in the United States. Linking biometric passports to good data systems and decision making is a fundamental goal. No one can hide his or her debt by acquiring a credit card with a slightly different name. Yet today, a terrorist can defeat the link to electronic records by tossing away an old passport and slightly altering the name in the new one."
             9/11 Commission Report, §12.4, Sept. 20, 2004

 

"Recommendation: The U.S. government cannot meet its own obligations to the American people to prevent the entry of terrorists without a major effort to collaborate with other governments. We should do more to exchange terrorist information with trusted allies, and raise U.S. and global border security standards for travel and border crossing over the medium and long term through extensive international cooperation."
             9/11 Commission Report, §12.4, Sept. 20, 2004

 

"Recommendation: Secure identification should begin in the United States. The federal government should set standards for the issuance of birth certificates and sources of identification, such as drivers licenses. Fraud in identification documents is no longer just a problem of theft. At many entry points to vulnerable facilities, including gates for boarding aircraft, sources of identification are the last opportunity to ensure that people are who they say they are and to check whether they are terrorists."
             9/11 Commission Report, §12.4, Sept. 20, 2004
 

Terrorism: Automated Lookout Systems and Border Security Options and Issues”, CRS Report for Congress (RL31019), June 18, 2001

1.       Increase difficultly to counterfeit and alter international travel documents.

2.       Increase entry / exit control mechanisms at international ports of entry.

3.       Increase staff and technology for consular services.

4.       Track the visa status and whereabouts of foreign students in the U.S.

BORDER SECURITY: Visa Process Should Be Strengthened as an Antiterrorism Tool”, GAO Report (GAO-03-132NI), October 2002

1.       Ensure that  visa operations are effectively contributing to the national strategy for homeland security.
 

2.       Ensure that law enforcement and intelligence agencies are promptly providing information to the State Department on persons who may pose a security risk.

 

 

Solution   (Patents Granted)

 

A smart-card is created and issued to the visitor prior to U.S. entry at a U.S. embassy or consulate.

 

Pertinent  visa information, including biometrics are embedded in the smart-card.

 

Cryptographic technology is used with the smart-card to maintain privacy, as well as to reduce fraud and other misuse.

 

The smart-card is used as the visitor’s official identification document (ID) whilst in the country, as well as to enter and leave the country.

 

The solution integrates with the Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) systems to validate periodically a long-term visitor’s (e.g. a student, or H1B visa holder, etc.) authorized stay within the country’s borders.

 

At specified intervals the long-term visitor registers with eVisa ATM kiosks. eVisa ATMs are placed at various secure locations within the country.

 

The eVisa ATM kiosks are securely integrated with the ICE database.

 

Other possible uses include a Fast-Track system for frequent international travelers and business travelers.

 

For more details please contact us, and please review the associated patents for further details.

 

 

Key Technologies

                   

     

Biometrics

Biometrics

Schedule

Travel Schedule

eVisa Kiosk

ATM Kiosks

eVisa ID Card

e-Visa Smart-Card

 

ceBerg's Patents:
 

  1. Method and system to issue an electronic visa of a foreign visitor at a country's foreign consular premises.
     
  2. Method and system to validate periodically the visa of a foreign visitor during the visitor's in-country stay.

 


 

Advantages

 

This technology provides a solution, using available technology to answer many of the challenges facing Homeland Security today - abroad and at home. 
 

The ceBerg solution prevents undesirables from entering the USA even before they board a US-bound flight.
 

Feature Benefit
Smart-Card Visa
  and Travel ID
  • Greatly reduces fraud.
     
  • Provides safety for the traveler.
     
  • Frequent traveler Fast-Track use.
     
  • Better integration with the TSA's No-Fly List.
     
Secure  Networks
  • Fast, error-free and secure visa application turnaround times.
     
Kiosk Check-In
  • Reduces illegal in-country disappearances.
     
  • Can be used at consulates during the visa application and issue processes.
     
  •  Reduces the need to increase multilingual consular staff.
     
 

 

Integrated
 Central Database

  • Reduces data-entry and non-English language translation errors.
     
  • Instantaneous risk assessment.
     
  • Intra-agency coordination.
     
Visa and  Fast-Track Fees
  • Self-funding solution.

 


 

ceBerg's solution answers the US Congress' challenge :

The challenge … is to provide for a level of border security that is commensurate with threats from abroad, while facilitating legitimate cross-border travel and commerce, as well as protecting civil liberties.
 

CRS Report for Congress (RL31019, 06/18/01)

Terrorism: Automated Lookout Systems and Border Security Options and Issues

and answers many of the 9/11 Commission Report's recommendations including:

Recommendation: Targeting travel is at least as powerful a weapon against terrorists as targeting their money. The United States should combine terrorist travel intelligence, operations, and law enforcement in a strategy to intercept terrorists, find terrorist travel facilitators, and constrain terrorist mobility.
 

9/11 Commission Report, Executive Summary (§ 12.4), Sept. 20, 2004


 

MORE News Headlines

 

"South Africa: Inquiry on Sales of Fraudulent Passports"
    Reuters, 12/11/09


"Brazil: 11 Arrested in Scheme for U.S. Work Visas"
    The New York Times, 12/08/09

 

"Italy: 17 Algerians arrested in terrorism probe"
    The Associated Press, 11/12/09

 

"Websites sell fake Aussie  passports [Australia, US Visa Waiver Program]"
    Australian Associated Press, 03/19/09

 

"GAO: Fake passports easy to get"
    CNN, 03/14/09


"Last-minute trips outlawed by new US travel red tape"
    The Independent (UK), 01/10/09

 

"US travel rules change for those not needing visas"
    The Associated Press, 01/09/09

 

"Chertoff: European terrorists trying to enter US"
    The Associated Press, 07/17/08

 

"Interpol Helps Detect U.S. Arrivals Who Use Fraudulent Passports"
    U.S.News, 07/09/08


"Homeland Security, airlines at odds over who should collect foreigner info"
   Medill Reports, 07/17/08
 

"Former U.S. prosecutor shows up on terror watch list"
    The Associated Press, 07/14/08

 

"U.S. terrorism watch list tops 1 million"
    Reuters, 07/14/08


"U.S. Consulate in Turkey attacked; 6 dead"
    The Associated Press, 07/10/08

 

"Lost Europeans [...fewer tourists in the US] "
    The Washington Times, 07/09/08


"Security Changes Are Likely To Create Visa Backlog [...at embassies and consulates]'"
    The Wall Street Journal, 06/23/08

 

"US tells [Visa-Waiver-Program] visitors they must register in advance'"
   The Financial Times (UK), 06/03/08


"French court jails seven for Iraq jihad network"
   AFP, 05/14/08

"British police arrest 2 men suspected of planning terrorist attacks overseas'"
   The Associated Press, 04/22/08


"Fingerprinting [on exit] plan could be costly to airlines"
    USA Today, 04/22/08

 

"Stolen hospital records sold to identity thieves"
    Daily News, 04/13/08

 

"Al Qaeda Says Behind Yemen Attack: Yemeni Official'"
    Reuters, 04/07/08

 

"Bombs Strike Upscale Area of Yemen City'"
   The Associated Press, 04/07/08

 

"U.S. charges Jamaican with bomb parts in luggage"
   Reuters, 04/02/08
 

"Interpol Warns on Use of False Passports"
    The Associated Press, 04/01/08


"Audit: FBI did shoddy job updating terror watchlist"
   CNN International, 03/18/08
 

"EU-US agree on visa waiver talks 4"
   BBC News, 03/13/08
 

"[US Military] Commander Warns of al-Qaida Threat to US"
   The Associated Press, 03/07/08

 

"Interpol alert on escaped [terrorist] suspect"
   BBC News, 02/29/08
 

"US to evacuate [embassy] staff from Serbia"
   BBC News, 02/22/08

 

"Intelligence Chief Cites Qaeda Threat to U.S."
   The New York Times, 02/06/08
 

"Where are the [100 missing foreign] workers?"
   WAFF 48 (NBC), 01/31/08
 

"U.S. says threat against airlines remains high"
   Reuters, 01/25/08
 

"After Raids, 14 Held in Spain 4 on Suspicion of a Terror Plot"
   The New York Times, 01/21/08
 

"Canadian 7 Qaeda bomb plotter gets life in U.S. prison"
   Reuters, 01/18/08
 

"U.S. says Europe 4 poses terrorism threat [to U.S.]"
   Reuters, 01/16/08
 

"US: Bomb Blast that Struck US Embassy Vehicle in Lebanon Kills 4"
   VOA, 01/15/08
 

"U.S. Diplomat, Sudanese Man Shot, Killed in Khartoum"
   Bloomberg, 01/01/08
 

"Passport Checks Disappear on East European Borders"
   Bloomberg, 12/21/07
 

"Open borders raise concerns in W. Europe 4"
   The Washington Times, 12/21/07
 

"Belgium 4 Arrests 14 in Terrorist Plot"
   The New York Times, 12/21/07
 

"Immigration official guilty in alien fraud"
   The Washington Times, 12/19/07

"London 4 airline bomb plot suspect escapes"
   Telegraph, 12/16/07

"Florida Man Convicted of Visa Fraud and Alien Smuggling Conspiracy Charges"
   PRNewswire-USNewswire, 12/09/07
 

"Ontario 7 ready to start producing licenses as passport alternative [for US entry]"
   Toronto Star, 11/16/07
 

"Students Warned of Problems in US Visa Renewal During Winter Break"
   Arab News, 11/13/07


"Study: Foreign Students Added [$14 billion] to Economy"
   The New York Times, 11/12/07
 

"A Call for Tougher Laws Against Fake ID Makers"
   The Westbury Times, NY, 11/09/07
 

"'Unwelcoming' US sees sharp fall in visitors [17%, $94 billion] since 9/11"
   AFP, 11/01/07
 

"US immigration 'worst in the world'"
   Times Online, 10/25/07

 

"White House: Al Qaeda trying to boost efforts in US"
   Reuters, 10/09/07
 

"Vienna 4 [US] 'embassy bombing' foiled"
   BBC News, 10/01/07
 

"Personal data collection protects privacy, says U.S. Homeland security chief"
   The Canadian Press, 09/26/07
 

"Swedish 4 Man to Face Charges in U.S. of Aiding Terrorists"
   The New York Times, 09/26/07
 

"Watch list hobbled by data errors" 5
   Government Computer News, 09/17/07
 

"New Terrorism Case Confirms That Denmark 4 Is a Target"
   The New York Times, 09/17/07
 

"Terror suspect mistakenly let go in N.J."
   UPI, 09/12/07
 

"9/11 video 'martyr' lived in S. Fla., was a Marlins fan"
   The Miami Herald, 09/12/07
 

"Analysis: A third of U.S. watch list wrong" 5
   UPI, 09/10/07
 

"Europeans 4 Get Terror Training Inside Pakistan"
   The New York Times, 09/10/07
 

"German 4 Officials Arrest Three Men on Terrorism Charges"
   VOA, 09/05/07
 

"Danish 4 police arrest 8 Muslims in alleged bomb plot"
   Reuters, 09/04/07
 

"Two Men Indicted In Florida On Explosives Charges'"
   FBI, 08/31/07


"Earlier Terrorist Screening to Begin for Flights Into U.S.'"
   The New York Times, 08/10/07


"U.N. worker accused of helping aliens enter U.S. illegally'"
   The Associated Press, 08/06/07

 

"U.S. airports warned of possible attack 'dry runs'"
   Reuters, 07/25/07
 

"Name of boy, 8, on U.S. terror list'" 5
   UPI, 07/19/07
 

"Europeans 4 Fear New U.S. Requirement Could Hurt Travelers"
   The New York Times, 06/18/07

 

"Officials Raid Illegal-Document Operation"
   The New York Times, 04/26/07

 

"Keeping out more than terrorists"
   The Economist, 02/08/07

 

"Italians 4 and French 4 may need US visas from this week"
   Reuters, 10/25/05

 

"Report Finds U.S. Failing on Overstays of Visas"
   The New York Times, 10/22/05

 

U.S. Calls Release of JetBlue Data Improper
   The New York Times, 02/21/04

 

Criminal Aliens At Large A ‘Crisis’
   The Washington Times, 02/11/04

 

U.S. Wants to Place Its Own Inspectors at Airports Abroad
 The New York Times, 03/02/04

 

House Panel Told Visa Demand Will Surge as Nations Miss Security Deadline
 The New York Times, 03/05/04

 

U.S. Embassy Official Took Bribes for Saudi Visas
   The Associated Press, 05/21/02


Some 9/11 Hijackers Got Into the U.S. With Fraudulent Visas
   The Associated Press, 01/26/04

 

9/11 Hijackers Used Doctored’ Passports
   UPI, 01/27/04

__________________________________________

1 “Border Security”, GAO-03-132NI (10/2002)

2 “Terrorism..”, CRS Report for Congress RL31019 (06/18/01)

3 “Key Facts About Inbound Tourism”, OTTI (1999)

4 USA Visa Waiver Program (2007)

5 DHS Traveler Redress Inquiry Program

6 Report On International Educational Exchange (2007)

7 Western Hemisphere Travel Initiative, WHTI (2007)

8 Office of Fraud Prevention Programs Bureau of Consular Affairs U.S. Department of State (2007)

 

   
 
 

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