November 20, 2015

The Honorable Charlie Baker
Governor

Commonwealth of Massachusetts
State House

Of?ce of the Governor, Room 28]
Boston, MA 02133

Dear Governor Baker:

In response to ongoing discussions by governors across the country regarding our
refugee resettlement program, we would like to describe for you in detail the rigorous
security vetting process refugee applicants undergo, particularly as it pertains to the
population of refugees ?eeing from the conflict in Syria.

In short, the security vetting for this population?the most vulnerable of
individuals?is extraordinarily thorough and comprehensive. It is the most robust
screening process for any category of individuals seeking admission into the United
States. The process is multi-layered and intensive, involving multiple law enforcement,
national security, and intelligence agencies across the Federal Government. Additional
precautions have been added with regard to Syrian refugees. We continually evaluate
whether more precautions are necessary.

Today, the world faces an unprecedented outpouring of more than four million
refugees from Syria, presently in Turkey, Lebanon, Jordan, Iraq, Egypt, Europe, and
beyond. A number of nations, including our closest allies, have pledged to share some of
this responsibility and accept Syrian refugees into their borders. For example, the new
government of our neighbor to the north, Canada, has pledged to accept 25,000 Syrian
refugees this calendar year. President Hollande of France, while his country reels from
the terrorist attacks of last week, subsequently reiterated his nation?s commitment to
accepting Syrian refugees.

The Honorable Charlie Baker
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Meanwhile, our Government has pledged to increase the number of Syrian
refugees we will accept, from approximately 1,682 last ?scal year to at least 10,000 this
?scal year. This represents a modest commitment by our Government to accept less than
one percent of the approximately four million Syrian refugees in the world.

Further, it is important to note that the overwhelming majority of Syrian refugees
we have accepted and will accept are families, victims of torture, and children. We have
prioritized the most vulnerable of Syrian refugees for resettlement?which means those
who are the principal victims of the violence perpetrated by both the Assad regime and
ISIL in Syria. A very small proportion of these refugees have been or will be adult males
who are not accompanied by children norjoining family in the US, and those adult
males who are accepted will generally be especially vulnerable individuals, such as
survivors of torture, LGBT individuals, or those with disabilities.

A refugee applicant cannot be approved for travel and admission to the
United States until all required security checks have been completed and cleared. Bottom
line?under the current system, if there is doubt about whether an applicant would pose a
security risk, that individual will not be admitted to the United States as a refugee. Below
is a detailed description of the process for vetting refugees.

First, many candidates for refugee resettlement in the United States are
interviewed by the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) to
determine whether they meet the de?nition of refugee?Le, persons who have been
persecuted, or have a well-founded fear of persecution, based on political opinion, social
group, race, religion, or nationality.

In the interview, UNHCR identi?es any ?red flags? which would render
individuals ineligible for resettlement under our laws and security protocols. UNHCR
also screens applicants to determine whether they fall within the priorities the
United States has established for resettlement?those refugees who are deemed most
vulnerable. Examples of priority pro?les include families, unaccompanied children,
victims of torture, and individuals with family ties in the United States.

Second, a refugee applicant is referred by the UNHCR to the United States along
with a package of information. At that point, the State Department takes over the
process. Resettlement support centers, operated by faith-based and international
organizations contracting with the State Department, ?rst interview the applicant to
con?rm information about the case and collect any identification documents and aliases
used by the refugee applicants and initiate security checks, which are exclusively
conducted by the US. Government. These interviews provide the U.S. Government a
very useful tool for gathering information about a potential refugee that may not already
exist in a database.

The Honorable Charlie Baker
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For every single refugee applicant, the Department of State conducts biographic
checks of the refugees primary name and any aliases against its Consular Lookout and
Support System database (CLASS). CLASS includes watchlist information from the
Terrorist Screening Database (TSDB), the Drug Enforcement Agency, the Terrorist
Screening Center and Interpol, including criminal history, immigration history, and
records of any prior visa applications submitted by the applicants. Significantly, for
individuals meeting certain criteria, the Department of State also requests a Security
Advisory Opinion name check against law enforcement and intelligence databases. In
addition, the Department of State initiates an interagency check against intelligence
community holdings, including the National Counterterrorism Center. These enhanced
biographic checks are conducted for all refugee applicants within a designated age range,
regardless of nationality. This vetting occurs throughout the process.

Third, refugee applicants screened by the Department of State are then referred to
the United States Citizen and Immigration Services (USCIS) at the Department of
Homeland Security (DHS), where USCIS oversees rigorous refugee status interviews and
additional security vetting. Security checks are an integral part of this process.

USCIS collects biometric information, consisting of ?ngerprints, for each refugee
applicant, ages 14 to 79. USCIS coordinates the screening of refugee applicant
?ngerprints against the vast biometric holdings of the Federal Bureau of Investigation?s
Next Generation Identi?cation system, and Automated Biometric Identi?cation
System (IDENT). Through IDENT, applicant ?ngerprints are screened not only against
watchlist information, but also for previous immigration encounters in the United States
and overseas?including, for example, cases in which the applicant previously applied
for a visa at a US embassy.

Working with the Department of Homeland Security, the Department of Defense
augments biometric screening on refugee applicants of all nationalities who fall within
the prescribed age ranges by checking the ?ngerprints of refugee applicants against their
own database.

At the same time, a team of highly-trained USCIS refugee of?cers is responsible
for personally conducting the refugee status interviews. These of?cers undergo ?ve
weeks of specialized and extensive training that includes comprehensive instruction on
all aspects of the job, including refugee law, grounds of inadmissibility, fraud detection
and prevention, security protocols, interviewing techniques, credibility analysis, and
country conditions research.

Before deploying overseas, of?cers also receive additional weeks of pre-departure
training, which focuses on the speci?c population that they will be interviewing, detailed
country of origin information, and updates on any fraud trends or security issues that

The Honorable Charlie Baker
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have been identi?ed. Of?cers conducting interviews of Syrian applicants now undergo
an additional one?week training focusing on Syria-speci?c topics, including classi?ed
intelligence brie?ngs.

USCIS has of?cers providing intelligence-driven support to adjudicators to
identify threats and lines of inquiry, as well as watchlisting and dissemination of
intelligence information reports on applicants determined to present national security
threats. Every of?cer?s decision, whether it is to approve or deny a refugee?s application,
is reviewed by a supervisor. Refugee status is granted by USCIS only after supervisory
review, once the application is deemed complete. Applications are often placed on hold
until supplemental information is obtained.

Fourth, before an approved refugee arrives in the United States, US. Customs and
Border Protection at DHS receives a manifest of all refugees who have prior
approval to travel to the United States. CBP receives this manifest eight days before a
refugee?s scheduled travel. The agency performs initial vetting before they arrival at a
Port of Entry, then conducts additional background checks of these subjects upon arrival.

Fifth, and ?nally, the Department of State and the Department of Health and
Human Services work together to determine an appropriate resettlement site in the
United States, tranSport the refugee, and provide services to help the refugee make the
transition to self?suf?ciency and become contributing members of the community.

We want to emphasize that no one has a right to be resettled in the United States
as a refugee. All refugees, including Syrians, may only be admitted the United States
after USCIS receives all the security checks run by the intelligence and law enforcement
communities and all issues are resolved. With every refugee application, the burden of
proof is on the refugee must show that he or she quali?es for refugee
status. The law requires the applicant to provide information that establishes their
identity and allows us to assess whether they present a security risk to the country. If the
expert screener fails to be satis?ed on either score, the applicant will not be resettled in
the United States.

Our multi-agency system for vetting refugees is strong, and it has been
signi?cantly enhanced over the past few years. Indeed, applicants for refugee admission
are screened more carefully than any other type of traveler to the United States. We have
tremendous faith in this system?s ability to detect, investigate, and disrupt terrorist
plotting in this country, as it has done repeatedly. With these measures in place, we
believe that we are able to both protect the American people and maintain this Nation?s
long standing position as the world?s beacon of hepe and freedom.

The Honorable Charlie Baker
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Our highest priority is the protection of the American people. We look forward to
continuing to work with you to ensure our Nation lives up to its humanitarian heritage

while keeping the American people safe.

Sincerely,

A. .
John F. Kerry  Jeh Charles Johnson