VZCZCXRO1363
PP RUEHAST RUEHCN RUEHGH RUEHHM RUEHLN RUEHMA RUEHPB RUEHPOD RUEHTM
RUEHTRO RUEHVC
DE RUEHBJ #0686/01 0760902
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
P 170902Z MAR 09
FM AMEMBASSY BEIJING
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC PRIORITY 2915
RHMFIUU/DEPT OF ENERGY WASHINGTON DC PRIORITY
RUEATRS/DEPT OF TREASURY WASHDC PRIORITY
RUCPDOC/DEPT OF COMMERCE WASHDC PRIORITY
RUEHC/DEPT OF LABOR WASHDC PRIORITY
RUEHRC/DEPT OF AGRICULTURE WASHDC PRIORITY
RUEAIIA/CIA WASHDC PRIORITY
RHEHNSC/NSC WASHDC PRIORITY
INFO RUEHZN/ENVIRONMENT SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY COLLECTIVE
RUEHOO/CHINA POSTS COLLECTIVE
RHMCSUU/FBI WASHINGTON DC
RUEHIN/AIT TAIPEI 7185
RUEHMO/AMEMBASSY MOSCOW 9244
RUEHKO/AMEMBASSY TOKYO 2460
RUEHNE/AMEMBASSY NEW DELHI 4782
RUEHTV/AMEMBASSY TEL AVIV 2132
RUEHLN/AMCONSUL ST PETERSBURG 0021
RUEHCI/AMCONSUL KOLKATA 0037
RUEHCG/AMCONSUL CHENNAI 0235
RUEHBI/AMCONSUL MUMBAI 0124
RUEHJM/AMCONSUL JERUSALEM 0702
RUEHGP/AMEMBASSY SINGAPORE 9600
RUEHRH/AMEMBASSY RIYADH 0655
RUEHGB/AMEMBASSY BAGHDAD 0206
RUEHKA/AMEMBASSY DHAKA 0449
RUEHAD/AMEMBASSY ABU DHABI 0254
RUEHJA/AMEMBASSY JAKARTA 1947

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 03 BEIJING 000686 
 
STATE FOR CA/VO/L/C, EAP/CM, EEB/CBA, EEB/ESC, ISN/CB, L, OES 
STATE PASS NASA/OFFICE OF EXTERNAL RELATIONS FOR A/S O'BRIEN 
TOKYO FOR NASA ATTACHE TILMAN 
 
SENSITIVE 
SIPDIS 
 
E.O. 12958:  N/A 
TAGS: CMGT CVIS ETTC OEXC ECON ENRG EINV TRGY KNNP KSCA
CH 
 
SUBJECT: Mantis 2008 (1 of 2): More Workload, More Waiting in 
Beijing 
 
REF: A) 08 Beijing 0016; B) State 021417; C) 08 BAGHDAD 3537, 08 
DHAKA 1201, 08 ABU DHABI 1356, 08 JAKARTA 2173, 08 RIYADH 1747,08 
AIT TAIPEI 1688; D) State 7490; E) CG Donahue 12 March 2009 email 
 
BEIJING 00000686  001.2 OF 003 
 
 
NOT FOR INTERNET DISTRIBUTION 
 
This is an action request.  See paragraphs 12. 
 
¶1. Summary:  This cable summarizes Beijing's 2008 Mantis Security 
Advisory Opinion (SAO) review.  In 2008, overall SAO Mantis volume 
increased by 10 percent, and wait times quadrupled to 16 weeks for 
SAO clearance.  End Summary. 
 
------------------------------- 
2008 in Review:  By the Numbers 
------------------------------ 
 
¶2.  (SBU) In calendar year 2007, Beijing processed 20,120 total 
SAOs, of which 11,310 Mantis SAOs.  In calendar year 2008, Beijing 
processed 12,562 Mantis SAO cases, an increase of 10% over the 
previous year.  In 2008, 62 percent of Beijing's SAO volume was 
Mantis SAOs.  Post annually reports on Mantis trends for the year 
prior (Ref A). 
 
¶3.  (SBU) According to CCD records, in calendar year 2008, Beijing 
received 77 "Objection" responses from the Department citing INA 
section 212(a)3A, compared with 54 in 2007 and 30 in 2006.  These 
refusals represent .7 percent of all Mantis cases.  Of refusals in 
2008, 37 were B1/B2 travelers, 33 were J1 scholars, 5 were F1 
students, and 2 were I visas. 
 
-------------------------------------- 
2008 and Beyond:  Post Efforts / Resources 
-------------------------------------- 
 
¶4.  (SBU) Beijing NIV unit's biggest challenge continues to be the 
facilitation of SAOs.  In 2008, Mantis SAO growth outpaced that of 
overall applicant increases.  As reported in Beijing's 2008 Consular 
Workload Statistics Summary, Post dedicates 5 Entry Level Officers 
(ELOs), 6 Foreign Service Nationals (FSNs), and 4 Eligible Family 
Members (EFMs) to support the SAO portfolio.  2008 and 2009 have 
brought unique challenges.  Historically, SAO processing times have 
averaged 3-4 weeks; however, current processing times have stretched 
to four months for B1/B2 applicants.  This fluctuation negatively 
impacted our customers in 2008, as thousands of business people, 
government officials, and students missed their travel dates.  NIV 
works endlessly through radio messages, web chats, and our website 
to advise the public to apply early.  During summer 2008 applicant 
volume peaks, our Consular Information Unit (CIU) received an 
average of 50 inquiries per day from applicants subject to SAOs on 
the status of their visa application, an increase of 100 percent 
over 2007.  In addition, visa adjudicating officers spent vast 
amounts of valuable interview time educating the public and calming 
irate applicants who do not understand why they cannot travel 
despite applying months in advance. 
 
¶5.  (SBU) Starting in May 2009, Beijing will again open early summer 
 
BEIJING 00000686  002.2 OF 003 
 
 
interview slots to graduate students who may require administrative 
processing.  We will continue to indicate in the Mantis prompt line 
if an applicant is a student or scholar with strict program start 
dates.  Post values recent feedback from the Department on Mantis 
SAO reform, and appreciates clearing partner commitment to clear 
students and scholars cases within 30 days of receipt of SAO 
requests (Ref B). 
 
¶6.  (SBU) Post will continue to process and submit a vast majority 
of all SAO requests to Washington within one day of completion of 
the application, and notes that the current lack of predictability 
in the process creates uncertainty for applicants, adjudicating 
officers and interested parties.  When posts cannot predict how long 
administrative processing will take, we may submit cases that have 
no realistic chance of clearing in time for travel. 
 
-------------------- 
2008 Special Projects 
-------------------- 
 
¶7.  (SBU) In February 2008, Beijing held a country-wide SAO 
conference, and greatly appreciated the attendance by former CA/VO 
Office Director Tim Smith.  In October of 2008, Beijing participated 
in a Digital Video Conference (DVC) with NIV sections in China, 
Russia, Israel, Taiwan, and India, the largest source countries for 
Mantis SAO applicants.  Sharing of best practices benefitted all 
participants, and Beijing appreciated senior consular leadership 
participation in the event.  Post appreciated reftels (Ref C) from 
other posts experiencing frustrating processing delays. 
 
¶8.  (SBU) In December 2008, Beijing submitted for CA consideration a 
detailed memo on possible resolutions to current negative SAO 
situation, and appreciates Department consideration of our suggested 
remedies. 
 
¶9. (SBU) Post appreciated briefings by DAS David Donahue during his 
February 2009 China visit on possible liberalizations in the visa 
validity for Mantis-subject applicants, and Beijing anticipates this 
will reduce volume in repeat SAOs. 
 
¶10.  (SBU) Beijing maintains an "Entities of Interest" list that in 
2008 was scrubbed and updated to reflect changes in the Chinese 
military-industrial complex and updated TAL. 
 
¶11.  (SBU) Post recognizes the limited resources available in 2008 
to the Department to process these increases in SAO demand, and the 
necessity of clearance through other agencies whose processes do not 
fall within Department authority.   We also would like to note with 
gratitude the tireless work of the CA/VO/L/C Mantis unit, 
particularly Eric Knechtges and Colette Lankford, in pursuing and 
processing an unprecedented number of clearances in 2008.  Further, 
Post thanks the Department for guidance contained in Ref D. 
 
----------------- 
¶12.  Action Requests 
----------------- 
 
 
BEIJING 00000686  003.2 OF 003 
 
 
¶A. Beijing requests more detailed and frequent guidance from CA/VO 
on the process and wait times of SAO approvals, including updated 
guidance on post check eligibility and information requested of 
applicants now that Mantis B1/B2 applicant receive 12 month, 
multiple entry visas. 
 
¶B.  Post also notes a significant increase in requests for more 
information on cases submitted for an SAO from the Department (at 
times several months) after the initial SAO is submitted.  Post 
always includes all standard supporting documents in our SAOs, and 
we have noticed from "needs info" responses increased requests for 
information not readily available to the applicant, creating a 
time-consuming chain of communication from the Department to us to 
the applicant to the U.S. inviter, back to the applicant, back to 
us, and back to the Department.  We request feedback on ways to 
reduce these time consuming requests. 
 
¶C.  (SBU) Post requests increased feedback and communications on 
refusals from ISN and CA/VO/L/C to enable post to make better 
decisions on which cases should be submitted for Mantis SAOs. 
 
¶D.  (SBU) Post requests updated public language from the Department 
on SAO processing changes so that we can disseminate more 
transparent communications to all parties, including to applicants 
themselves and for use in embassy-wide conversations/meetings (Ref 
E).  Multiple student blog sites in China are dedicated to tracking 
the progress of SAO applicants and include detailed information on 
technical research plans of applicants.  A carefully crafted set of 
talking points should be used in communicating to scientific and 
technical background applicants.  We request language be revised and 
cleared for public use at the soonest date. 
 
¶E.  (SBU) We request CA/VO and ISN support and attend another annual 
Mantis SAO Conference in Beijing in spring 2009. 
 
¶F.  (SBU) Cooperation across Mantis posts should continue in 2009, 
and Beijing invites suggestions from all addressees on 2009 Mantis 
SAO Conference agenda items to further cooperation in 2009. 
 
¶G.  (SBU) Post also requests the creation of a new statistical 
report in CCD that will allow Post to search by visa class, date, 
SAO type and status. 
 
Piccuta