The Visa Waiver Program (VWP) is a program that expedites travel between the U.S. and 38 countries. Policymakers such as Senator Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.) and Representative Tulsi Gabbard (D-Hawaii) have attacked the VWP, with special attention to the expedited nature of the program. What the critics of the VWP fail to realize is that it is because of the increase in threat information sharing and effective screening of potential terrorists through the VWP that our friends and allies in Europe can easily travel to the U.S.
The VWP is most notable for its gains from cross-border tourism—as members of the program can travel to or from the U.S. for 90 days without a traditional visa. However, as a recent report highlights, the program is so much more.
For a country to be allowed into the VWP, it must meet a number of requirements. This includes a maximum visa refusal rate of 3 percent, the ability to issue biometric passports, and that the nation itself pose no threat to U.S. national security. Once admitted, countries must also share intelligence on suspected terrorists, exchange biographic and biometric data, and increase their own airport security.
Representative Gabbard recently suggested that the VWP be suspended for fear that foreign fighters with European passports can get on a plane to the U.S. “within hours.” However, if a potential terrorist were to make it through the airport, it would be more a matter of concern for U.S. intelligence agencies and not weakness on the part of the VWP.
First and foremost, members of the VWP must be approved via the Electronic System for Travel Authorization (ESTA), which checks the traveler through a variety of security databases. If the traveler were flagged through ESTA, they would have to go in for a face-to-face interview regardless. From there—anytime throughout buying the actual flight ticket, landing, going through immigration, biometric checks, and going through customs—each traveler is checked across a number of databases hosted by the State Department, FBI, and Department of Homeland Security.
Even Secretary of Homeland Security Jeh Johnson mentioned recently he does not think that the VWP should be eliminated—even temporarily.
The streamlining of threat information sharing and ability of the VWP to vet travelers in a timely manner allows the members of the VWP to travel to the U.S. and those in the U.S. to travel to other VWP countries. We should be looking to expand the VWP membership, and expand threat information sharing in the VWP, not looking to suspend or end the program itself.
