Stolen Passports a Serious Concern for Visa Waiver Program
Senior DHS Official links security concerns to Visa Waiver Program
A senior official from U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) June 23 warned of the impact of stolen passports on visa waiver agreements between the United States and 27 other nations.
"The lost and stolen passport problem is the greatest security problem associated with the Visa Waiver Program. Our country is vulnerable because gaps in our treatment of lost and stolen passports remain," DHS Inspector General Clark Ervin said during a hearing of the House of Representatives Committee on International Relations. His remarks are based on an extensive DHS review of the program conducted over the last year.
The inspector general said there is documentation that "strongly suggests that stolen passports can be used successfully to enter the United States today."
According to Ervin, the Visa Waiver Program began in 1986 and enables most citizens of participating countries to travel to the United States for tourism or business purposes for 90 days or less without obtaining a visa.
The DHS inspector general addressed a number of security concerns with the Visa Waiver Program including the lack of a systematic process to check lost and stolen passport data against entry and exit information to determine fraud, and problems between the United States and visa waiver program countries in reporting stolen passports.
"One of the most significant corrective actions is the processing of visa waiver travelers through U.S. Visitor and Immigrant Status Indicator Technology (US-VISIT)," Ervin said.
He said DHS Secretary Ridge announced April 21 that individuals traveling under visa waivers would be processed through US-VISIT, a recently implemented program requiring travelers to be photographed and fingerprinted at the port of entry.
"A second and equally important concern from our report was the ill-defined process by which information about a country's stolen and lost passports are reported and disseminated among other countries," Ervin said, adding that the International Criminal Police Organization (INTERPOL) made plans to consolidate and regularize reporting of lost and stolen passports.
"This initiative, when fully implemented and when all nations participate, should be of great benefit by permitting automatic checking at the checkpoint or port of entry of whether the traveler is presenting a lost or stolen passport," he said.
The inspector general noted that even with the implementation of corrective measures, the Visa Waiver Program would always pose a security risk.
Certain members of Congress have called for a thorough review of the program, suggesting that its security risks might outweigh the benefits of facilitating travel between the United States and participating nations.
