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Memo of State Department IG Interview of Consular Officer Who Issued Visa To 9/11 Hijackers Mohand Alshehri and Majed Moqed
Memo of State Department IG Interview of Consular Officer Who Issued Visa To 9/11 Hijackers Mohand Alshehri and Majed Moqed
DEPARTMENT OF STA TE
BROADCASTING BOARD OF GOVERNORS
Memorandum of Conversation
Visas for the 9/11 Hijackers US Embassy Madrid. Spain January 24.2003
Subject Office Date
Official Inspector
1. Were you the officer who issued nonimmigrant visas to Mohand Al Shehri on October 23,
2000 and Majed Moqed on November 20, 2000 at Riyadh?
Yes.
3. Does the computer record indicate whether the CLASS lookout system procedure was
followed in this case?
Yes, it does.
There were "hits," which I reviewed, but these responses were for persons with different names
and dates of birth.
No. 1 would have written some notes on the application forms if I had.
We only interviewed Saudis if there was a previous denial of a visa application or if there was
something wrong with the application. We were issuing visas to all Saudis unless there was an
indication of some difficulty, an unusual problem case.
Policy was that we did not interview Saudis. They rarely applied themselves, but often sent their
:; application by an expediter, or their drivers. Unless there was a problem, we issued the visa.
\e interviewed only a handful of Saudis. They never overstayed in the USA and never worked
\.
\ learned this from the more-experienced visa officers when I first arrived at post, including my
supervisor,[\
\. Were you personally given any instructions by your supervisors or superiors about asking
\s to appear in person for an interview?
\Probablynot.
11. If so, what was the policy at post regarding travel agency procedures?
We use expediters which were informal travel agents, and some applicants also brought in their
oWn applications.
13. Would a personal interview of this applicant have possibly led to a refusal of this visa, and
why?
No. In| |they would have been denied. Given their ages, we would have denied
their applications.
14. If you interviewed this individual, what details can you recall?
N/A.
Only student visa applicants were asked to provide supporting documents. When we did base an
issuance on supporting documents we kept Xerox copies in the file with the application.
16. If so, can you recall any details of the documents that were presented?
N/A.
9/11 Working-level Employee
17. Y/hat specific elements obtained from the interview or the application convinced you that
this applicant was entitled to a visa?
iwas trained bj j a junior officer at Riyadh, for a week. We looked at cases together,
and he taught me the job. The NTV section was very busy, and though applications were not
always complete, or signed, we issued visas anyway.
18. Did you have sufficient time to conduct the interview or review the application to your
satisfaction? If not, how much time would you have preferred?
I had enough time, although we were overworked. I had to work very hard, including during my
lunch break, and I also worked late in the evenings. We tried to maintain a one-day visa
turnaround.
19. Were there sufficient officers, interview windows, work space and support staff at post to
conduct personal interviews of every visa applicant?
20. Would any other elements have helped you make a different decision regarding the
applicant's eligibility for a visa, and why?
Even if we had more time and interviewed these people, we still would have issued visas to
them. Where I worked previousl^f | young single males would have been refused visas
under 214 (b). These two guys would not have passed through the) Consulate.
21. Did your superiors ever discuss the post's NIV refusal rates in general with you?
No.
22. Did your superiors ever counsel you to raise or lower your own refusal rate?
No. I was told I was doing a good job when my performance was evaluated, and I am proud of
the work I did.
23. Did you or anyone in the consular section conduct NIV return validation studies? If not, why
not?
I was told there had been a study once. Saudis were believed to be no threat for NTVs; they
would not overstay their visits or work.
I don't, although I took an Arabic language course at Riyadh. I had to use FSN translators for my
interviews.
_..•-''9/11 Working-level Employee
N/A.
26. Do you consider that the training you received in the Department to carry out your visa
adjudication responsibilities was adequate?
Yes. I attended the consular training course at FSI and spent 1Y 2 years adjudicating Visas irij _ |
and H [from October 1999 to June 2000.
27. If not, what additional training would have enabled you to do a better job?
Language training would have been nice. I had to use a translator whenever I did an interview.
We were focused on anti-fraud work, and using an interpreter was difficult.
28. What other comments would you like to make at this time regarding this visa case?
There were times when I was the only visa officer. We all worked lots of overtime. Consul
General Tom Furey even helped out on the weekends, peeling and sticking visas in passports. I
recall adjudicating about 28,000 or 29,000 visas at Riyadh.
I am very unhappy. I had only two of them (the terrorist hijackers), but it could have been all 19.
In the future, I dont want to adjudicate visas. I'd rather be a Visa Assistant.