Altogether, I had to wait 8 months for "administrative processing" to be completed before finally receiving my visa.
Count your blessings for having had your interview in October: you have nearly a year before fiscal year 2008 ends. That should be more than enough for administrative processing to be completed in most cases. Some people have their interviews in the last several months of the fiscal year and, as a result, may not have their administrative processing completed in time and won't be issued visas. Again, you should have plenty of time, so try not to worry too much about it.
I have posted on this issue before, so you might want to search this forum for my posts to get more information on administrative processing.
In summary, most likely, the reason you have to go through this process is that one or more matches were found in the CCD (Consolidated Consular Database). As a result, your application is now under review at the Department of State in Washington, DC. They may or may not also involve other federal agencies, such as the FBI. Statistically, people with common names are more likely to have their applications referred for additional administrative processing. People with certain Arabic and Hispanic names fall in this category. However, even quite unique names can find their way into the CCD. Also, in many cases, names are searched for phonetically, so having a weird spelling doesn't necessarily help.
Another reason for administrative processing could be if you have a degree or work in certain "sensitive" disciplines that appear on the classified "technology list".
