Obama Freezes Budget for Counter-Terrorist Visa Security Program, Despite Underwear Bomber and Fact That Only 14 of 57 ‘High Risk’ Consulates Are Covered
- Penny Starr - CNSNews.com
- May 6, 2010
(CNSNews.com) – Four months after the attempted Christmas Day bombing of Northwest Flight 253 over Detroit and nine years after the Sept. 11, 2001 terrorist attacks, only 14 of the 57 U.S. consulates identified as being at “high risk” for potentially providing visas to terrorists have been furnished with units of the Department of Homeland Security’s Visa Security Program (VSP).
President Barack Obama, meanwhile, is planning to freeze the program’s budget for fiscal 2011.
The VSP, established by the Homeland Security Act of 2002, puts Department of Homeland Security officials in the field at U.S. consulates to vet the backgrounds of people applying for U.S. visas. DHS uses a broader range of databases than the State Department to review the backgrounds of visa applicants. Also, many policymakers believe DHS officials tend to be more security-minded than State Department consular officers when reviewing visa applications.
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