Why Isn’t Obama Supporting the Visa Security Program?

Jena McNeill / May 07, 2010

Within a span of almost 6 months, there have been two near-miss terror attacks on U.S. soil—the Christmas Day plot and Saturday’s Times Square attempted bombing. The Obama Administration had emphasized, in its review of the Christmas Day terror plot that:

…despite several opportunities that might have allowed the CT community to put these pieces together in this case, and despite the tireless effort and best intentions of individuals at every level of the CT community, that was not done.

Despite this admission, the Obama Administration continues to drag its feet on beefing up the Visa Security Program—which puts homeland security officers at U.S. consulate offices to perform background checks on visa applicants. In fact the Administration has only deployed officers at 14 high risk countries (out of 57 likely candidates). (more…)