White House follows Rep. Miller’s lead on anti-terrorism program

The White House announcement on Tuesday that they will
tighten the visa waiver program for travelers, a move to prevent overseas terrorists
from entering the U.S., is a major step toward the new travel restrictions that
Congresswoman Candice Miller has been pushing on Capitol Hill.  

The Obama administration will require greater
information-sharing by European nations to ensure that terror suspects on “no
fly” lists cannot board a U.S.-bound airliner.

Miller’s legislation, which would take additional steps,
has already received unanimous, bipartisan approval from the House Homeland
Security Committee.

“This issue is ripe, as we say here on Capitol Hill,” she
said.

White House officials acknowledged the changes announced
are limited and they will need congressional legislation to implement the
tighter controls that are envisioned.

Added airport security
Miller seeks to alter airline industry practices among
the 38 countries – mostly European nations – that participate along with the
U.S. in the visa waiver program. Travelers in those countries can stay in a
participating nation for up to 90 days without obtaining a visa.

“… Many (of those) countries’ … citizens have been, and
are being, recruited by ISIS.  For example, Abdelhamid Abaaoud, the
suspected mastermind of the horrific attacks in Paris, was a citizen of Belgium
– a participant of the U.S. visa waiver program,” Miller wrote in a guest column published by The Hill last week. 

“Although we know the Department of Homeland Security
continuously vets all visa applicants against our terrorism databases, we also
know that we do not routinely get the critical information we need to identify
and stop foreign fighters bound for the U.S.”

DHS Secretary Jeh Johnson, who supports Miller’s bill, will
ask Congress for the authority to increase maximum fines against airlines to
$50,000, from $5,000, for failing to verify a traveler’s passport, the
administration said. The FBI and the Department of Homeland Security will launch
a 2-month study of the waiver program.

Visa-waiver travelers dwarf refugees

Some experts warn that the congressional emphasis since
the Nov. 13 Paris attacks on the potential pitfalls of 10,000 Syrian refugees
coming to America misses the mark. The visa waiver program allows 20 million
foreigners a year to travel to the United States without facing any significant
security clearances.

Unlike the screening of refugees, which requires several
in-person interviews and an extensive background check, a process which can
take 18 to 24 months, the visa waivers rely on computerized programs to quickly
clear travelers on flights bound for the United States.

Striking a balance

House Republican leaders want to require that all
visa-waiver countries issue electronic passports with built-in computer chips,
that they report all lost and stolen passports to Interpol, and that passenger
lists be screened against the Interpol database of missing passports, according
to the New York Times.

“Working with Congress, we can put legislative teeth in
our existing enhancements, and possibly make others,” Johnson said last week.

Special scrutiny for Syria, Iraq travels
The upgrades announced by the administration on Monday
include new restrictions on travel to the U.S. among those who have recently
visited Syria or Iraq, the primary areas of operation for ISIS.

That change is similar to a pending, bipartisan Senate
bill that would ban anyone who traveled to Syria or Iraq in the last five years
from coming to the U.S. through the visa waiver program. They could visit only
by going through the traditional visa process, which includes an in-person
interview at a U.S. embassy or consulate.

The bill requires additional information from travelers
before they arrive in the U.S., to include fingerprints and photographs. The
bill would require all individuals using the visa waiver program to have a
passport with an e-chip to store biometric data.