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Security Advisory Opinion (SAO) or Washington Special Clearance,〔 〕 commonly called security clearance, administrative clearance, or administrative processing,〔 〕 is a process the United States Department of State and the diplomatic missions of the United States use in deciding to grant or deny a United States visa to certain visa applicants. The process involves sending a request from the visa issuing post to the Department of State's headquarters in Washington, D.C., to investigate an individual's case for possible espionage, terrorism, and illegal export of technology out of the United States.〔 〕 Apart from the Department of State, the process involves other agencies of the federal government of the United States, especially those under Department of Homeland Security. Some of the agencies involved are: FBI, CIA, Drug Enforcement Administration, U.S. Department of Commerce, Department of Treasury's Office of Foreign Assets Control, and the Department of State's Bureau of International Security and Nonproliferation. The process may also include checking with Interpol.〔 〕 SAOs have been the source of long delays for determining if a non-U.S. citizen should be issued a visa or not. As a result, United States Government Accountability Office found in a report dated February 2004 that "students and scholars with science backgrounds might decide not to come to the United States, and technological advancements that serve U.S. and global interests could be jeopardized" as a result. In mid-2003, SAOs were submitted for about 2% of the applicants.〔 The Department of State processed 245,000 SAOs in FY 2006, and has processed over a million SAOs in the period from September 2001 to May 2007.〔 〕 ==Types== There are various types of SAOs, usually named after various animals, with two named after legendary characters. As of August 2006, these included: * Visas Mantis: potential illegal transfer of sensitive or dual-use technology, which was introduced in 1998〔 〕 * Visas Bear: for foreign government officials, representatives to international organizations, and their families * Visas Donkey: name hits, certain nationalities * Visas Merlin: refugees and asylees * Visas Eagle: certain nationals of Cuba, China, Iran, Russia * Visas Condor: certain nationalities, introduced in January 2002 * Visas Hawk: for immigrant visas * Visas Viper: for suspected terrorists〔(【引用サイトリンク】url=http://www.state.gov/documents/organization/146390.pdf )〕 There are also other types of SAOs used for notifying the Department of State about visa issuance and that the applicant will be traveling to the United States, including: * Visas Horse: diplomatic visa holders of certain nationalities * Visas Pegasus: officials of Commonwealth of Independent States〔 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Security Advisory Opinion」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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