EVENTS

Date:	Thursday, March 4, 2004
Time:	12:30 PM -- 2:00 PM
Location:	Wohlstetter Conference Center, Twelfth Floor, AEI 1150 Seventeenth Street, N.W., Washington, D.C. 20036

March 2004
Fortress America?

New restrictions on travel to the United States are a cause of much irritation in the New Europe. Citizens of countries that have supported America in the war in Iraq are being fingerprinted and photographed on arrival in the United States, while visitors from countries where many radical Islamists reside--such as France and Germany--can enter without visas and without such treatment. Chaired by former United States senator Fred Thompson, the New Atlantic Initiative's March 4 discussion focused on how foreign policy is affected by homeland security.

C. Stewart Verdery Jr.
Department of Homeland Security

Under the US-VISIT program, all visitors to the United States--except those from Canada, Mexico, and twenty-five other countries in the visa-waiver program--are fingerprinted and photographed upon arrival to the United States. The program aims eventually to follow the same procedures at land and sea ports, as well as have an exit regimen that will allow U.S. authorities to track departures and expired visas. Although the program is only two months old, it has already processed 1.8 million people and netted more than 150 watch-list hits. Those travelers who were stopped included convicted drug traffickers and rapists.

Determining who must submit to the screening is not an arbitrary decision or one based on an ally's loyalty, but rather on clearly defined standards. Countries that have had more than 3 percent of their visa applicants refused are barred from the visa-waiver program. Central and Eastern European states do not fulfill the criteria. Israel, also a close American ally, was turned down from the program. The current review of the visa-waiver program might lead to a change in status for some EU states.

By October of this year, US-VISIT will require citizens of visa-waiver countries to have new biometric passports. Those who do not possess them by then will be treated just like the other travelers. At this stage it is important for the United States and the EU to agree on one biometric standard--otherwise border authorities will need fifteen or more different types of readers to gather the necessary information.

Steven Brill
Verified Identity Pass, Inc.

The provisions of US-VISIT are nothing new. In 1996, Congress passed the Entry-Exit program to be administered by the Immigration and Naturalization Service, but it proved to be a failure. The consolidation of law enforcement agencies into the Department of Homeland Security, however, made such criteria more feasible.

To enhance US-VISIT, authorities should start issuing voluntary identity cards to American citizens and residents.  The cards would contain biometric information and enable their holders to pass through fast lanes at airports. The identity card system could also replace the numerous security systems now in use for the protection of government and private facilities.

Jonathan Faull
European Commission

Several years ago Europe was accused of being a fortress, and Kofi Annan called EU border procedures "de-humanizing." But now, on the basis of the Schengen agreement, the European Union is ridding itself of internal borders between its member states while strengthening security at external borders and improving cooperation between law enforcement and judicial agencies.

The US-VISIT program has been a remarkable success. However, some EU countries may be unable to issue biometric passports by October. The European Union's fifteen current members enjoy visa reciprocity with the United States, but most of the ten countries that will join the EU on May 1 do not. The United States has to take these countries' complaints seriously. Once the new EU members join the Schengen regime, which will happen in 2006 or 2007, the United States should apply the same standards to all of the EU states. If the American authorities continue imposing visa requirements on some EU member states after that date, the EU will have to react by imposing visa requirements on Americans traveling to Europe. It is extremely important for American authorities to keep the European partners informed of any new policies.

Radek Sikorski
New Atlantic Initiative

While Americans visiting Poland are allowed to travel freely, Poles coming to the United States must apply for a visa from American consulates and pay a non-refundable $100 fee. The official reason for keeping Poland out of the visa-waiver program is that too many Polish visa applications are turned down. But it is a solipsistic argument: American consuls decide how many visas they grant and how many they decline. If they were to issue more visas, Poland--an important American ally in Iraq--would satisfy the requirement.

In addition, the current border control regime does not necessarily stop the terrorists. Al-Qaeda members from Britain or France could still enter the United States almost as easily as they did before September 11--they are not required to get a visa nor go thorough the process of being fingerprinted and photographed. Thus, the visa-waiver program should not be based solely on the 3 percent visa refusal rate. It should be adjusted to consider other factors such as the number of radical Islamists residing in the given country, its foreign policy vis-à-vis the United States, and the attitude which it has taken on the war on terror. If these adjustments were made, American allies would feel that they are treated fairly.