: Strengthen U.S. border security and protect U.S. citizens abroad.  

National security starts overseas and our aim is to create conditions that help secure U.S. borders and protect U.S. citizens abroad while facilitating legitimate international travel that builds the U.S. economy, strengthens formal and informal international partnerships, and protects U.S. interests abroad. Information gathered in pursuit of terrorist threats results in the discovery of known and suspected terrorist identities that populate U.S. government watch lists used to vet and screen prospective travelers to the United States. The Department enables its partners to disrupt TCOs involved in human smuggling as far from our borders as possible, and deters and prevents illegal immigration into the United States. Strengthening civil societies and deterring aggression overseas creates a more secure environment for U.S. citizens traveling and residing abroad. Data legally gathered across all mission spaces inform the content of consular messages to U.S. citizens as well as other audiences. Finally, cyberspace allows state and non-state actors to avoid physical borders and threaten critical infrastructure, which represent some of the most pressing risks to national security, economic security, and public safety. At home and abroad, the Department helps protect U.S. national borders through sharing of information within and between foreign governments by improving passport security and implementing effective visa adjudication processes that deny access to individuals who pose risks to U.S. national security. The Department’s diplomatic engagement on counterterrorism and homeland security increases two-way information sharing on known and suspected terrorists, risk-based border management, and threat-based security and border screening at all land, air, and sea borders to protect partner nations and U.S. citizens in those locations and to deter terrorist travel, including to the United States. In order to achieve this objective, the Department maintains information sharing programs with partner nations and security programs to build capacity of foreign government law enforcement partners and enhance information sharing among foreign partners. The Department works with international partners to increase their capacity to manage migratory flows, recognizing that strong rule of law restricts the environment in which potential threat actors can operate. Strategies for Achieving the Objective The Department of State will continue to enhance the refugee security screening and vetting processes. We will work with other agencies to establish a uniform baseline for screening and vetting standards and procedures across the travel and immigration spectrum. The visa application forms, as well as the adjudication and clearance processes, will conform to common standards for applications, official U.S. Government interactions and interviews, and systems checks as mandated. We will support our partners in their efforts to support refugees and migrants near their home regions through a variety of programmatic and bilateral diplomatic tools. The Department will continue to work with our international partners to exchange information on known and suspected terrorists and other threats to U.S. citizens at home and abroad. We will ensure that interagency and international arrangements are maintained and updated, providing the highest-possible degree of information sharing of terrorist and criminal identities. The Department will strengthen our partners’ abilities to provide security for Americans in their country by promoting increased cooperation with U.S. homeland security policies and initiatives. We will further refine safety and security information provided to U.S. citizens, which will help them to make more informed decisions about their travel and activities. The Department promotes information sharing and the widespread adoption of cybersecurity best practices to ensure all countries can implement the due diligence to reduce the risk of significant incidents from occurring. The Department will work with interagency partners and the transportation industry to enhance global transportation security. We will inform foreign partners of non-imminent persistent threats to spur international border and transportation security efforts, including implementation of international standards and recommended practices. We will continue to urge countries to employ threat-based border security and enhanced traveler screening; to improve identity verification and traveler documentation; and to use, collect, and analyze Advanced Passenger Information and Passenger Name Record data in traveler screening to prevent terrorist travel. Cross-Agency Collaboration The Department works closely with other U.S. government agencies, Congress, service organizations, advocacy groups, the travel industry, and state and local governments to advance the full range of consular and other activities in support of border protection. The following list highlights key external partners: • U.S. government agencies including DHS, Justice, DOD, and the Intelligence Community • Terrorist Screening Center • American Chambers of Commerce • Federal, state, and local governments • Travel and Tourism Community • Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Risk There may be a lack of adequate resources and cooperation to implement interagency initiatives. Foreign partners may be unwilling to share information because of differences in legal systems, regulations on protection of national security information, and privacy concerns.