Terrorist information sharing originating in countries participating in the Visa Waiver Program--under which foreign citizens are mostly exempt from having to apply for a visa to travel to the United States--remains mostly unimplemented, says the Government Accountability Office.

In a report dated May 5, GAO auditors say that of the 36 mostly European countries participating in the program, only 13 have established a procedure to share with the United States watch list information about known or suspected terrorists. Federal officials from the State and Justice departments said privacy and data protection concerns from participant countries was a reason for the delayed progress. Some countries have domestic laws limiting their ability to share information, they added.

Technical capability is another reason; terrorist watch list information can include biometric information such as fingerprints, but some participant countries lack the legal or technical ability to store such data, the report says.

None of the 36 countries have implemented a procedure to provide mutual automated access to their criminal databases, the report adds. Although 18 of the 36 countries have signed Preventing and Combating Serious Crime bilateral information sharing agreements, none have undertaken then networking modifications and system upgrades required to enable agreement, the report says.

Federal officials said network modifications to allow queries of Spain's and Germany's criminal databases should be complete in 2011, but added that the federal government is frequently not in a position to urge faster action abroad. Some participant countries require parliamentary approval before PCSC implementation can begin, and sharing sensitive personal information with the United States can be publically unpopular in participant countries even when law enforcement agencies have no reluctance. Also, the U.S. and the partner country must develop a common information sharing architecture.

For more:
- download the report, GAO-11-335 (.pdf)

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