Delayed visa revocations a problem, GAO says

Government Accountability Office officials said Tuesday that delays are continuing in the government's visa revocations of terrorist suspects.

In a follow-up report to a critical GAO report on weaknesses in the visa revocation system issued a year ago, GAO discovered in a review of 35 cases between October and December 2003 delays of months before revoking visas.

Testifying before the House Government Reform National Security Subcommittee, officials of the Homeland Security and State departments, as well as the Terrorist Screening Center, said they have taken action this year for more coordination.

The GAO report said State Department officials deliberated more than six months before deciding to revoke one visa. In another case, it took more than 17 months between the recommendation to revoke a visa and the actual revocation.

Said National Security Subcommittee Chairman Christopher Shays, R-Conn., "Discussions of a regulatory change to permit removal of an alien holding a revoked visa seem stuck in a legalistic and bureaucratic quagmire."