In the summer of 2011, along with United States Deputy Assistant Secretary of State Brenda Sprague, he announced that Secretary of State Clinton has authorized the opening in 2012 of a U.S. Department of State Passport Office in San Juan, to serve Puerto Rico and the United States Virgin Islands, the first such office in the Caribbean ever. Due to the temporary closure of the Roberto Sánchez Vilella Government Center's North Tower by the EPA in 2012, the ribbon-cutting ceremony was pushed back beyond McClintock's incumbency as secretary of state. Until 1985, the federal agency authorized the Puerto Rico State Department to issue United States passports, but since then had only allowed it to operate a passport acceptance agency.