Preventing terrorists from crossing borders is a key element of international counter-terrorism efforts.

(CNSNews.com) – Preventing terrorists from traveling freely has been identified as an important component in securing the U.S. homeland, but a Government Accountability Office (GAO) report has identified four “key gaps” undercutting the efforts of America’s foreign partners to prevent terrorist travel overseas.

While the United States is taking action to “close key gaps” in foreign countries’ ability to deter terrorists’ travel overseas, problems such as miscommunication and overlap still exist among U.S. agencies undertaking those efforts, according to the June 2011 report.

It said the U.S. “lacks a performance measure to assess government wide progress in closing the key gaps in foreign countries’ capacity to prevent terrorist travel overseas.”

“Terrorist travel” is defined by the GAO as “the movements of known or suspected terrorists overseas, crossing international borders outside of the United States by land, sea, or air.”

“Inhibiting the movement of terrorists across international borders is a key part of the U.S. strategy for protecting the United States and its interests abroad,” the report stated.

“Although [federal] agencies have implemented significant new domestic programs to prevent terrorists from entering the United States, events of the past few years illustrate that the international travel system is only as secure as its weakest link,” it continued.

“As a result, the United States seeks to enhance the capacity of its foreign partners to prevent terrorist travel overseas, with agencies implementing a variety of programs and activities to close key gaps in our foreign partners’ capacity.”

The audit, entitled Combating Terrorism: Additional Steps Needed to Enhance Foreign Partners’ Capacity to Prevent Terrorist Travel, identified four critical gaps in the capacity of foreign countries to prevent terrorist travel that could affect U.S. security. They relate to:

-- Limited information sharing within foreign governments about known and suspected terrorists

-- Failure to fully address the use of fraudulent travel documents abroad

-- Ensuring security in the issuing of passports

-- Combating corruption in the issuing of passport and in immigration agencies abroad

The GAO said foreign countries cooperating with the United States often “lack a database system with terrorist screening information.”

For example, although Pakistan has a centralized fingerprint database, the information is not shared across all law enforcement agencies. This makes the database less comprehensive, hindering Pakistani officials’ attempts to prevent potential terrorists from traveling.

A former Pakistani government official told the GAO that fraudulent British passports were the most prevalent fake travel documents in Pakistan.

“Since British citizens are not required to obtain visas to travel to many countries, a terrorist could use one of these fraudulent passports to travel to many countries without further background checks that would occur through a visa adjudication process,” the report said.

The GAO reported further that in some foreign countries corrupt immigration officials allow terrorists to pass through checkpoints.

“Corruption in passport issuance agencies can allow potential terrorists to obtain genuine passports under a false identity or blank passports that can be easily manipulated.”

U.S. Embassy officials in Kenya told the GAO that such false passports can be bought for “just a few hundred dollars in some cases.”

The embassy officials also described to the GAO how “illicit travel facilitators are known to stand outside the airport and indicate to corrupt immigration officials through the window which individuals they should let pass without checking their passports.”

Regarding U.S. efforts to deal with the four problem areas, the GAO reported that “three of the four key gaps – sharing information about known and suspected terrorists, addressing the use of fraudulent travel documents, and ensuring passport issuance security – have been the subject of some programs and activities.”

“However, with regard to U.S. programs addressing the use of fraudulent travel documents, we found potential for overlap and duplication of effort, as multiple agencies that fund and implement numerous training courses do not always coordinate their activities,” it said.

“While the U.S. government has many efforts aimed at helping foreign countries to combat corruption, none focus on the fourth gap of corruption related to passport issuance and immigration agencies.”

The audit, conducted from July 2010 to June 2011, asserted that ensuring foreign countries are capable of deterring terrorist travel is important for securing the U.S. homeland.

According to the 9/11 Commission report, “constraining the mobility of terrorists is one of the most effective weapons in fighting terrorism,” the GAO noted.

In the course of its audit, the GAO visited Kenya, Pakistan, the Philippines, and Thailand to obtain examples of U.S. efforts to prevent terrorist travel.

The GAO audited efforts abroad by the State, Defense, Homeland Security and Justice Departments as well as the U.S. Agency for International Development and the National Counterterrorism Center.