Abby Lackman is an outstanding officer. As Deputy Unit Manager for Chengdu’s Fraud Prevention Unit (FPU), Abby distinguished herself as an innovative leader, and a sharp policy advocate, allowing us to advance core U.S. border security interests in a resource-constrained environment. She displayed a demeanor and actions that were already at the level I would expect to see in a mid-level officer. I strongly recommend her tenure and promotion now.
Understanding China’s enormous visa and immigration services industry is crucial for consular officers to successfully vet travelers to the U.S., yet our limited resources often hamper our ability to fully analyze this industry. Taking initiative, Abby designed a large consular project and utilized the Virtual Student Federal Service (VSFS) program to obtain 3,200 no-cost student intern research hours to conduct Chinese-language internet research on the visa broker industry. Abby’s project was one of the most sought after across VSFS. Accordingly, she expanded the project’s scope to cover all of Mission China, supervising 10 interns on behalf of all China posts. Her initiative demonstrated creative problem solving while maintaining an emphasis on the highest priorities of the current administration to do more with less. Abby’s analysis of and reporting on the project findings highlighted potential vulnerabilities in the visa process, such as blatant misuse of the intracompany transfer visa and intentional resume sanitizing to avoid additional scrutiny. Her work directly contributed to improving U.S. border security by enhancing Post’s and Mission China’s ability to detect fraud in the visa industry, better understand and respond to the myths that surround the application process, and strengthen our ability to prevent malafide travelers from securing travel documents to enter the U.S. In recognition of her work on this creative project, I nominated Abby for a meritorious honor award. As Deputy Fraud Prevention Manager, Abby developed a keen eye for fraud indicators and an ability to maximize the impact of our understaffed section. …show more content…
She identified more than 100 malafide travelers linked to several different fraud rings resulting in Post revoking more than 100 issued visas and preventing dozens more from acquiring visas in the future. Abby applied her fraud prevention acumen during a month-long stint with Consular Affair’s Consular Integrity Division (CID). The CID Chief praised her work, stating, “Abby did an outstanding job. She picked up on the work very quickly and in a short time, contributed to our mission in a meaningful and impactful way, assisting us to identify and terminate employment for five malfeasant consular employees at three overseas posts.” Abby regularly provided targeted training to adjudicators – improving their fraud prevention intelligence and empowering them to make better, more efficient adjudications. Abby also became Post’s expert on our visa applicant prescreening process, a technology which uses data analytics to identify potential fraud indicators prior to applicants’ interview. She streamlined the entire process and took charge of an impactful validation study to ensure that FPU’s resources were being used effectively. As a result of her efforts, our unit was adjusted our parameters to improve prescreening accuracy which significantly enhanced our ability to thwart ill-intentioned travelers from abusing the visa to engage in criminal activity or illegally immigrate to the U.S. An expert communicator, trainer, and reporting analyst, Abby knows how to tactfully deliver information to diverse audiences and in diverse settings. Accordingly, I relied on
Understanding China’s enormous visa and immigration services industry is crucial for consular officers to successfully vet travelers to the U.S., yet our limited resources often hamper our ability to fully analyze this industry. Taking initiative, Abby designed a large consular project and utilized the Virtual Student Federal Service (VSFS) program to obtain 3,200 no-cost student intern research hours to conduct Chinese-language internet research on the visa broker industry. Abby’s project was one of the most sought after across VSFS. Accordingly, she expanded the project’s scope to cover all of Mission China, supervising 10 interns on behalf of all China posts. Her initiative demonstrated creative problem solving while maintaining an emphasis on the highest priorities of the current administration to do more with less. Abby’s analysis of and reporting on the project findings highlighted potential vulnerabilities in the visa process, such as blatant misuse of the intracompany transfer visa and intentional resume sanitizing to avoid additional scrutiny. Her work directly contributed to improving U.S. border security by enhancing Post’s and Mission China’s ability to detect fraud in the visa industry, better understand and respond to the myths that surround the application process, and strengthen our ability to prevent malafide travelers from securing travel documents to enter the U.S. In recognition of her work on this creative project, I nominated Abby for a meritorious honor award. As Deputy Fraud Prevention Manager, Abby developed a keen eye for fraud indicators and an ability to maximize the impact of our understaffed section. …show more content…
She identified more than 100 malafide travelers linked to several different fraud rings resulting in Post revoking more than 100 issued visas and preventing dozens more from acquiring visas in the future. Abby applied her fraud prevention acumen during a month-long stint with Consular Affair’s Consular Integrity Division (CID). The CID Chief praised her work, stating, “Abby did an outstanding job. She picked up on the work very quickly and in a short time, contributed to our mission in a meaningful and impactful way, assisting us to identify and terminate employment for five malfeasant consular employees at three overseas posts.” Abby regularly provided targeted training to adjudicators – improving their fraud prevention intelligence and empowering them to make better, more efficient adjudications. Abby also became Post’s expert on our visa applicant prescreening process, a technology which uses data analytics to identify potential fraud indicators prior to applicants’ interview. She streamlined the entire process and took charge of an impactful validation study to ensure that FPU’s resources were being used effectively. As a result of her efforts, our unit was adjusted our parameters to improve prescreening accuracy which significantly enhanced our ability to thwart ill-intentioned travelers from abusing the visa to engage in criminal activity or illegally immigrate to the U.S. An expert communicator, trainer, and reporting analyst, Abby knows how to tactfully deliver information to diverse audiences and in diverse settings. Accordingly, I relied on