MALKIN: FREE PASS FOR TERRORISTS

Syndicated columnist Michelle Malkin says despite increases in border security after 9/11, terrorists can still get into the country without a visa. The problem is with the Transit Without Visa Program. "Even worse [than Visa Express] is the continued existence of the Transit Without a Visa program, available to travelers around the world, which completely eliminates the need for potential terrorists to gain a visa to enter the U.S. Who needs Visa Express when you can go visa-less?" Malkin cites an Inspector General report that identified serious security lapses after 9/11 in the TWOV program. (The Stein Report has also received emails about the program from concerned INS employees). Malkin also points to the "Operation LAX Lounge" investigation, as an example of the system's vulnerability. "However, no action, immediate or otherwise, has been taken to restrict or shut down the Transit Without a Visa program. Representatives of the transportation industry protested to federal investigators that terminating this fast-lane foreign-tourist program would be 'inconvenient to the traveler,'" she writes.

Malkin's new book, Invasion: How America Still Welcomes Terrorists, Criminals and Other Foreign Menaces to Our Shores, is available from Amazon.com