INTERPOL Washington Assists the Republic of Panama to Enhance its Border Security Capabilities

INTERPOL Washington—INTERPOL Washington, the U.S. National Central Bureau (USNCB)—recently partnered with the U.S. Department of State to increase The Republic of Panama’s capacity to screen the illicit international travel of transnational criminals and terrorists. Under the U.S. State Department-funded Project TERMINUS, the Panamanian Government implemented an automated system for uploading its stolen and lost travel documents into INTERPOL’s Stolen and Lost Travel Documents (SLTD) database. This database serves as a searchable repository containing more than 120 million records accessible to law enforcement and border security authorities in all 195 INTERPOL member countries.

The Domestic SLTD Database (DSD) solution enabled Panama to quickly and easily establish a robust and feature-rich authoritative national database of stolen and lost travel documents to be managed by Autoridad de Pasaportes de Panama and the National Central Bureau (NCB) in Panama City.  The SLTD Uploader software solution automates the submission and management of Panama's stolen and lost travel document records in the global INTERPOL SLTD searchable database. This data management and automation solution was made possible by computer hardware and custom software developed, provided, and installed by the USNCB’s Border Security Division. This accomplishment is the culmination of more than three months of active collaboration between the USNCB, the U.S State Department, INTERPOL, and The Republic of Panama.

“Project TERMINUS is providing significant improvements in border security screening capacity for INTERPOL member countries around the world, including in our own hemisphere. Our partnership with the Department of State pays dividends every day as we continue to provide the advanced border security tools necessary to detect and deter transnational criminals.  Border security is a collective responsibility among nations, and the USNCB is pleased to be a leader in those efforts,” said USNCB Director Michael A. Hughes.

The Panamanian project is the latest in a series of successful SLTD access improvement projects under the Project TERMINUS initiative, each building on prior lessons learned.  In addition to The Republic of Panama, Partner Nations currently receiving assistance under Project TERMINUS include The Maldives, Indonesia, Malaysia, Nigeria, Uzbekistan, and Kyrgyzstan.

Established in 2015, Project TERMINUS is a partnership between the USNCB’s Border Security Division and the U.S Department of State’s Bureau of Counterterrorism. The mission of Project TERMINUS is to extend INTERPOL's I-24/7 secure, global police-to-police communications system in high-risk areas and select host nations globally.

INTERPOL’s SLTD database is a critical tool for combatting terrorism by preventing Foreign Terrorist Fighter (FTF) movements by identifying and interdicting FTFs and other transnational criminals using stolen, lost, or revoked documents such as passports, visas, and identity documents. By ensuring that law enforcement officers have access to INTERPOL’s I-24/7 system, front-line authorities can search and cross-check traveler data in a matter of seconds and share sensitive or urgent police information with their counterparts around the globe in real-time, 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.

A component of the U.S. Department of Justice, INTERPOL Washington, the U.S. National Central Bureau (USNCB), is the designated United States representative to INTERPOL on behalf of the Attorney General. It serves as the national point of contact and coordination for all INTERPOL matters, coordinating international investigative efforts among member countries and the more than 18,000 local, state, federal, and tribal law enforcement agencies.