DOS Reports on Conditions at the New Orleans Passport Office

From the 9/7/05 State Dept. Daily Press Briefing:

MR. MCCORMACK: Good afternoon. I have a couple items to start off with and then I'd be happy to get into your questions.

The first one concerns our New Orleans Passport Agency. I know that this has been a topic of some interest among the press corps. And I would like to report that all the materials in that passport agency have been collected and are now on their way to another location. This includes all the personal documents and applications that people have provided the passport agency. This was a result of some great teamwork among different government agencies and here in the State Department, led by Assistant Secretary Maura Harty, who headed up this effort. She was here in Washington overseeing the activities in the field. And I know that there will probably be some questions among the applicants who have materials and applications that were sent to the New Orleans Passport Agency.

And one thing I'd like to update them on is that recent applicants should be receiving postcards this week from the Bureau of Consular Affairs notifying them of disruptions and possible delays caused by Hurricane Katrina. The postcard advises those who plan to travel within the next six weeks to contact the National Passport Information Center at 1-877-487-2778. Obviously, we will make every effort to reach out to those individuals at the best possible addresses for them. But if there are any people that are listening, they can call that number and talk to the National Passport Information Center about getting their passport in the next six weeks.