Visa Waiver Program

[IACSP]

Why doesn't this current U.S. Administration focus on reviewing the Visa Waiver Program in order to make the United States more secure? Right
now it is a major loophole in our security. Background information is below:

Our nation nearly suffered the tragedy of fatalities at the hand of a suicide bomber in the skies over the United States this past Christmas.





Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab, the terrorist who attempted to destroy the airliner this past Christmas was operating in conjunction with al-Qaeda and but for the failure of the high- powered explosive he was carrying to explode, the headlines around the world would have carried the horrific news of hundreds of innocent airline passengers losing their lives in a mid-air explosion much the same way as the passengers of Pan Am 103 were slaughtered as their airliner flew above Lockerbie, Scotland on December 21, 1988 which resulted in the death of 259 people on the airliner including its crew and 11 people on the ground upon whom the debris from that Boeing 747 fell.


The unsuccessful bombing of the Delta airlines flight also paralleled the effort by the so-called "Shoe Bomber" Richard Reid to detonate explosives that were concealed in his shoe on December 22, 2002 as American Airlines Flight 63, a Boeing 767 airliner in which he was a passenger cruised over the Atlantic Ocean, en route to the United States from Paris, France to its intended destination of Miami, Florida. In the aftermath of his attempt to destroy the airliner and all of the people onboard over the Atlantic Ocean, the decision was made to divert the airliner to Logan Airport in Boston, Mass. Reid claimed to have been operating at the behest of al-Qaeda.


Richard Reid is a citizen of Great Britain and as such was eligible to seek to enter the United States under the auspices of the Visa Waiver Program. The most recent attack committed this past Christmas was attempted by a Nigerian citizen, Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab who, unlike Reid was required to first obtain a visa in order to apply for admission into the United States.


Because he required a visa to enter the United States, if he had been unable to obtain a visa, he would not have been able to get on board the airliner he was determined to destroy in midair.


While it is possible that when Mr. Abdulmutallab applied for his visa our intelligence officials had no knowledge about him or his nefarious plans, but I am frankly, not convinced of this. His visa, from what I have read in the various newspaper accounts of his attempted attack, had been issued in 2008. I have a number of questions that should be of great concern to Ms Napolitano and others in our government, including President Obama, but no one seems to be the least bit interested.


The focus of the media appearances and press releases seems to be on the methods by which passengers boarding airliners are screened to make certain that they don't bring explosives onboard airliners. There is also some concern about information sharing and the "No Fly" list. but where is the concern about the fact that an al-Qaeda operative had been able to secure a visa for the United States?


Why is there no mention of the process by which visas are issued?


The 9/11 Commission, with the benefit of "20/20 hindsight" made much of the program that had been known as "Visa Express" in which travel agencies were able to literally send boxes of passports to the United States Embassies and Consulates in order to secure visas for their clients without their clients having to show up at the visa issuing post for an interview.


The process by which visas are issued is supposed to provide a layer of protection for our nation and our citizens. Any security expert will tell you that security measures work best when they are layered. Security experts will also tell you that the best place to construct a fence to protect your property is at the furthest extremity of the property you are trying to secure against an attack. By requiring visas, our country, in effect, moves its secure perimeter out to the visa issuing post located at a Consulate or Embassy.


However, if the process by which applications for visas are adjudicated is flawed, then the benefits to be gained through this process are gratly diminished or eliminated altogether.


Yet it is being ignored by Ms Napolitano and, thus far, by every other member of the administration who spoken to reporters.


Don't misunderstand what I am saying- the measures that are discussed in the press release below are worthwhile, but the omission of any mention of the visa process is disturbing to me. Also, the presumption is being made that the lessons to be taken away from this attempted attack deal solely with keeping the bad guys and their explosives off of airliners. I certainly believe that these are important goals.


But, what I want to know is why is no one asking the obvious questions about what might have happened had Abdulmutallab decided to not attempt to destroy the airliner in mid-flight but was rather, intent on entering the United States and carrying out an attack inside the United States? The only reason that he was immediately identified as a terrorist is that he attempted to detonate a bomb on an airliner.


If his goal was to simply enter our country and embed himself in a community inside the United States and bide his time as he or his cohorts sought to decide upon a target in our country and attack such a target at a later date, then he might well have been admitted into the United States and under such circumstances would have been working towards a terrorist attack inside our country that could have had a devastating impact on our nation and our citizens.


Secretary of Homeland Security is the boss to whom the officials at CBP (Customs and Border Protection) and ICE (Immigration and Customs Enforcement) answers to, but Napolitano's failures to address the critically important missions of both CBP and ICE along with the visa issuing process leave me astonished!


The President had referred to the attempted Christmas attack as an "isolated" incident. How isolated an incident was it? Consider that both Pan Am 103 and the airliner that Reid had attempted to destroy over the Atlantic Ocean both took place in the Middle of December, perhaps because this is the time Christians celebrate Christmas and Jews celebrate Chanukah.


All three attacks sought to destroy airliners in flight.


Additionally we have seen several other terrorist attacks including the shooting incident at Fort Hood inside the United States that was carried out by U.S. Army Major Nidal Malik Hasan, on November 5, 2009 in which 13 soldiers were killed and 30 were wounded.


I find it impossible to understand how the Christmas attack is an "isolated incident" as the President' claimed.


The point is that the threat posed by terrorists is not limited to the destruction of airliners but certainly include the potential for massive casualties inflicted inside the United States as we saw on September 11, 2001.


The first step in the process of problem solving requires that the problems be identified. If Ms Napolitano is not even talking about the process by which aliens are vetted for visas to enter the United States and board airliners to come to the United States, then I am greatly concerned that she does not even understand the issues. How then will she correct what is broken if she does not even recognize that it is broken?


It is completely unacceptable that the Secretary of Homeland Security, the person to whom all of the employees of DHS answers, fails to demonstrate that she understands the role that agencies under her command must play to secure our nation against terrorists,


Any politician who refuses to work to secure our borders and create an immigration system that has integrity is either corrupt or too dumb to keep his (her) job. Any politician, irrespective of party affiliation who favors Comprehensive Immigration Reform and the outrageous betrayal that this would represent given the national security implications that this program would have, should be shown the door at the next election!


If you find yourself to be in agreement with this commentary, I ask that you forward it to as many of your friends and family members as possible and encourage them to do the same.


Next year each and every member of the House of Representatives is up for reelection. Later this year more than one third of the members of the United States Senate will have to face their constituents. They need to be reminded that they work for us, We the People!


However, the practice of good citizenship does not end in the voting booth, it only begins there.
The large scale apathy demonstrated by citizens of this nation has emboldened elected representatives to all but ignore the needs of the average American citizen in a quest for massive campaign funds and the promises of votes to be ostensibly delivered by special interest groups. There is much that we cannot do but there is one thing that We the People absolutely must do- we must stop sitting on the sidelines!













The collective failure of We the People to get involved in make our concerns known to our politicians have nearly made the concerns of the great majority of the citizens of this nation all but irrelevant to the politicians.I implore you to get involved!


Any American who has lost his job certainly has enough time on his (her) hands to get involved!


Any American who fears the loss of his job must make effective use of his spare time to make certain he keeps his job! (Remember, the job save may be your own!)
If this situation concerns you or especially if it angers you, I ask you to call your Senators and Congressional "Representative. This is not only your right- it is your obligation!
You need to politely but pointedly, demand to know what they are doing to protect our nation. You need to ask them how they are protecting you and your families. You can also forward this commentary to them.
All I ask is that you make it clear to our politicians that we are not as dumb as they hope we are!
We live in a perilous world and in a perilous era. The survival of our nation and the lives of our citizens hang in the balance
This is neither a Conservative issue, nor is it a Liberal issue- simply stated, this is most certainly an AMERICAN issue!
You are either part of the solution or you are a part of the problem!
Democracy is not a spectator sport!
Lead, follow or get out of the way!






-michael cutler-