In “The Toothless Visas Viper” in The American Thinker today, Pamela Geller explains what the tough new visa regulations don’t do:
[…] In the wake of the Christmas Day bomber’s attempted attack, the U.S. Visas Viper terrorist reporting program criteria have been broadened.
The Visas Viper program is used by the Department of State and other national agencies to place on “watch lists” known or suspected international terrorists in both unclassified and classified government lookout systems such as CLASS (Consular Lookout and Support Systems).
So it’s a good thing that Obama is broadening the criteria for reporting terrorists in this program, isn’t it? Actually, no. Make no mistake: It is not going to help in any way whatsoever. Obama’s “tough” new criteria don’t let us filter out potential terrorists using minimal profiling criteria.
The vast number of bureaucracies involved already render the “watch list” process a tangled inter-agency web. And it is simply ridiculous how Visas Viper, the main system that we use to try to prevent terrorists from obtaining visas, uses such vague and toothless criteria — even after Obama’s “reform.” How vague? How toothless? Under the present system, people who express anti-American sentiments can fly. People who contribute money to identified terror organizations can fly, no problem. People who associate with known terrorists, but have done nothing further to support terrorism, can also fly. Even people who claim to be members of a terrorist organization but have done nothing to further support terrorism can fly.
This is insane. Isn’t membership in a terror organization support of terror?…