US enacts tough new security measures on visitors, foreign student pilots

[R.A. Hettinga]

<http://www.channelnewsasia.com/stories/afp_world/print/113045/1/.html>

Channelnewsasia.com

Title
 :
 US enacts tough new security measures on visitors, foreign student pilots

 By
 :


 Date
 :
 23 October 2004 0853 hrs (SST)

 URL
 :
 http://www.channelnewsasia.com/stories/afp_world/view/113045/1/.html



 WASHINGTON: The United States on Friday tightened security measures on
foreign visitors and non-US citizens taking flying lessons.

 The Department of Homeland Security said foreign visitors seeking
admission under the Visa Waiver Program would need machine-readable
passports beginning Tuesday.

 Those not complying will get one free pass and a letter explaining the new
rules, with the one-time exemption noted in the visitor's permanent
computer record, said the DHS.

 A machine-readable passport carries an unalterable barcode containing a
wealth of encrypted information about the bearer, which an immigration
officer can read by scanning the document much like a supermarket checkout
clerk scans food prices.

 The new US passport requirement had been scheduled to take effect a year
ago but was extended to give VWP participating countries time to issue
machine-readable passports and inform their citizens of the new rules.

 Also, the Transportation Security Agency has begun requiring non-US
citizens seeking training at US flight schools to submit to fingerprinting
and provide security data for training on any type or size of aircraft.

 Following the September 11, 2001, terrorist attacks, the Transportation
Security Act mandated the Justice Department to do threat assessments on
non-US citizens seeking training on aircraft weighing 12,500 pounts or
more, including commercial aircraft.

 This month, new legislation transferred that responsibility to the
Transportation Security Administration and gave enforcers new teeth.

 "September 11 taught us that terrorists exploited the use of US flight
schools," said retired Admiral David Stone, Assistant Secretary of Homeland
Security for TSA. "Fortifying security by knowing who trains at these
schools is an integral part of our mission to secure the homeland."

 The 19 September 11 hijackers who commandeered four commercial airliners
and crashed them into the World Trade Center, the Pentagon and a field in
Pennsylvania trained at US flight schools.

 The tightened security program, the TSA said in a statement, "is designed
to prevent terrorists from receiving pilot training from flight schools.

 "As a prerequisite to flight training, non-US citizens must provide to the
TSA fingerprints, biographical information...and training specifics."

 The flight schools will have to provide the TSA with the student's photo
"to ensure the student reporting for flight training is the same individual
who successfully complete a security threat assessment," it said. - AFP

-- 
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R. A. Hettinga <mailto: rah at ibuc.com>
The Internet Bearer Underwriting Corporation <http://www.ibuc.com/>
44 Farquhar Street, Boston, MA 02131 USA
"... however it may deserve respect for its usefulness and antiquity,
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experience." -- Edward Gibbon, 'Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire'