EU citizen will soon need VISA for US

[molly bloom]

Originally posted by Alexander's Horse
what happened to the spirit of Ellis Island

It's in Guantanamo Bay awaiting trial as an illegal alien with possible terrorist connections.

[TCO]

Originally posted by Sikander


Perhaps we should allow the SEALs and the CIA to switch jobs? The CIA did a good job taking over Afghanistan, while the SEALs seem to take a lot of casualties whenever they take the field. Plus I'm sure that the SEALs couldn't possibly do a worse job in many ways than the CIA has running aspects of our intelligence operations.

1. I'm addressing the intelligence gathering and analysis, not covert military operations. But if you want to segue, there was an interesting article in Proceedings on this. (Not covering comparison of performance, but more covering some limitations of capability, lack of airlift, etc.)

2. My point is more related to difficulty in managing a function in government where you need top performance. My concern is that CIA is full of sycophant middle managers and such, rather than people who eat and sleep the profession. (I suspect NASA has the same problem.)

3. Added on to that, we have an endemic American problem in not learning languages and other cultures well. Look at how Americans cluster close to the PX when abroad.

-------

But I am using FHA analysis.

[Alexander's Horse]

nothing wrong with sycophant middle managers....

[Kropotkin]

This is not really a big deal. It's been going on for ages - as some people have already pointed out. Countries that do not feel that this is very urgent doesn't really feel like changing everything as fast as the security-crazy americans (at the same time, out of personal experience, the security of Newark International Airport seems pretty easy going compared to Arlanda outside Stockholm). It will cost money and mean some work. So they ***** a bit about it for a couple of years. A few years after the change have been implemented, no one will really understand what the fuzz was all about.

Meanwhile, 12-year olds like TCO have something to write about on their favorite forum. It's all water under the bridge.

[Sikander]

Originally posted by Alexander's Horse
nothing wrong with sycophant middle managers....

Yes, self-absorbed upper management could not get along without them.

[Dr Strangelove]

Hey this law is nothing. According to the local paper soon American citizens will need a passport in order to re-enter the US from Canada and Mexico. I wonder if this will withstand a Supreme Court challenge?

[Rufus T. Firefly]

Originally posted by Dr Strangelove
Hey this law is nothing. According to the local paper soon American citizens will need a passport in order to re-enter the US from Canada and Mexico. I wonder if this will withstand a Supreme Court challenge?

I don't see why not. Right now, technically, you have to be able to prove that you're an American citizen (or legal permanent resident) to re-enter the US from Mexico or Canada. There are several different documents that are acceptable as proof of citizenship, but the problem is that none of them, except a passport, is particularly secure or difficult to duplicate (I used to use my voter's registration card, which was merely typed on a piece of stiff paper, much like a Social Security card).

And just a guess: if the Feds succeed in pressuring the states into adopting secure, biometric drivers licenses, they'll probably demand that the licenses also contain citizenship info, in which case they'll be used as a substitute for passports for North American travel.

[DanS]

Originally posted by Kropotkin
This is not really a big deal. It's been going on for ages - as some people have already pointed out. Countries that do not feel that this is very urgent doesn't really feel like changing everything as fast as the security-crazy americans (at the same time, out of personal experience, the security of Newark International Airport seems pretty easy going compared to Arlanda outside Stockholm). It will cost money and mean some work. So they ***** a bit about it for a couple of years. A few years after the change have been implemented, no one will really understand what the fuzz was all about.

Meanwhile, 12-year olds like TCO have something to write about on their favorite forum. It's all water under the bridge.

Minus the TCO part, I agree with this. It's just jawboning on the part of the US. Squeaky wheel getting the grease, etc. If our congress thinks it will work to be squeaky, then I'm all for it.

[DanS]

(I suspect NASA has the same problem.)

NASA has a lot of problems, this being one of them. This deserves its own thread.

[Rufus T. Firefly]

I had to bring this thread back from the dead. Ladies and Gentlemen, I give you the current administration; not just blowhards and bullies, but incompetent blowhards and bullies:

U.S. will not be able to read high-tech foreign passports
By Greta Wodele, National Journal's Technology Daily

The United States will not be prepared to read high-tech passports of foreign visitors this fall, even if Congress does not extend the deadline for certain foreign countries to have the imbedded biometric technology.

"We will not make that deadline," Elaine Dezenski, acting assistant secretary at the Homeland Security Department's border and transportation security directorate, told the House Judiciary Subcommittee On Immigration, Border Security and Claims during a hearing Thursday. Dezenski said the department would not have enough passport readers deployed to every port of entry by Oct. 26, 2005.

That date reflects a one-year extension approved by Congress last year requiring every country participating in the "visa waiver" program to have facial recognition technology imbedded into passports or other travel documents by this fall.

Many of the 27 countries in the program have said they would once again need another extension to meet the October deadline. Dezenski said 80 percent of travelers from visa waiver countries would not be in compliance. The European Union has asked Congress to extend the deadline until Aug. 28, 2006.

But House Judiciary Committee Chairman James Sensenbrenner, R-Wis., has said recently it is unlikely that Congress would support another extension, arguing several members of the European Union could have used a "less technically ambitious approach" to fulfill the biometric passport requirement.

Other lawmakers, both Republicans and Democrats, on the Judiciary panel argued Thursday for an extension.

Dezenski said Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff would meet with Sensenbrenner next month to discuss the issue. Last year, the department asked for a two-year extension, but Congress only provided one extra year. Former Secretary of State Colin Powell said last year the Bush administration asked for two years out of prudence to help ensure that the secretary would not later have to ask for a second extension.

The visa waiver program, which includes close U.S. allies like Australia and the United Kingdom, allows foreign visitors to travel to the United States for tourism or business for 90 days or less without obtaining visas.

Supporters of an extension argue that visa-waiver countries contribute billions of dollars to the U.S. economy each year. Without an extension, U.S. consular offices overseas would have to begin issuing more than 5 million more visas, which would create backlogs and long lines at consular offices.

Europe, you may commence sneering in 3. . . 2 . . . 1 . . . now

[Kuciwalker]

*cries*

[Rufus T. Firefly]

Almost missed this...

Originally posted by DinoDoc
Lazy Euros.

[Ned]

I really would'nt worry. Sensenbrenner is the right wing lunatic who was so bold as to hold up the new Director of National Intelligence legislation for a clause that would have required some proof of being legally in the United States in order to get a driver's license. He was so far off the beaten path on this crazy scheme that even the president was against him.

Pay no heed. Congress is not about to allow this lunatic to harm economic relations with Europe. When there is a choice between economic and security, you can be assured you know where your American congressmen is.

[Spiffor]

/me sneers

[Atahualpa]

But House Judiciary Committee Chairman James Sensenbrenner, R-Wis., has said recently it is unlikely that Congress would support another extension, arguing several members of the European Union could have used a "less technically ambitious approach" to fulfill the biometric passport requirement.

Yeah... as if he just forgot that the EU would want a standard of this over all their member countries and not having country X doing things different than country Y.

*sneers*