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Posted on 04/02/2004 1:12:42 AM PST by JohnHuang2
Terrorists might be able to slip through U.S. borders using visas meant for visitors participating in cultural, arts or sports events, says the FBI.
In a bulletin issued yesterday to 18,000 state and local law enforcement agencies nationwide, the agency did not identify the source of the intelligence or give specific evidence, the Associated Press reported.
"Recent intelligence indicates that terrorist groups may be interested in exploiting cultural visa programs to infiltrate operatives and support network into the United States," the bulletin says, according to the AP.
U.S. officials point out spies and defectors have used foreign sports teams or other entourages to gain entry into the country, and some visas have been sold to others.
But many more visas are granted each year to tourist and business visitors, Kelly Shannon, spokewoman for the State Department's Bureau of Consular Affairs, told the AP.
About 41,500 special visas were issued in 2001, she said, compared to millions issued to regular visitors.
The special visa process begins with petitioning the Homeland Security Department then having each person interviewed, fingerprinted and photographed by the State Department.
A database of known terrorists and other criminals is used to flag suspicious applicants, who then are run through additional national security databases.
The checks are expected to become easier and faster after separate U.S. terrorist screening lists are merged into a single Terrorist Screening Center.
Also, the FBI wants to have its massive fingerprint database of criminals and terrorists more accessible to agents at U.S. frontiers.
"The net is getting tighter," Bill Strassberger, spokesman for U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services, told the AP. "It's harder to slip through."
As WorldNetDaily reported, last August the Homeland Security Department suspended the little-known federal Transit Without Visa program after learning al-Qaida had plans to exploit the screening loophole to hijack planes by the end of summer.
But the administration ignored several warnings after the Sept. 11, 2001, hijackings to close the loophole.
The Transit Without Visa system, or TWOV, permits more than a million foreign travelers each year to stop briefly in the U.S. without visas before departing the U.S. for other countries. They thereby avoid U.S. screening. The program accounts for roughly 5 percent of all foreign-national traffic to the U.S. through airports.
The federal government, even after Sept. 11, left it up to the airlines to police such passengers arriving at the nation's international airports. It's been their responsibility to guard and escort them in transit and confirm that they actually departed the country on connecting flights.
But many passengers "escape" the airport and enter the country illegally.
I am shocked, I tell you. I did not think terrorists would stoop this low. (sarcasm off)
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