The visa waiver program between the United States and Europe means that Europeans coming to the US for short periods of time are not required to possess a visa. With American paranoia about Europe-grown terrorism, they’re wondering if the visa waiver program isn’t making it easier for potential terrorists to enter the country.

Officials in the US say that the waiver program would stay in place, but travellers may be required to give personal details before setting out, so US immigration would be able to do a screening before the passenger even landed in the country.

Michael Chertoff, the head of homeland security said, “One of the things we’ve become concerned about lately is the possibility of Europe becoming a platform for a threat against the United States.

We have the Visa Waiver Programme, which allows most Europeans who come to be tourists to come without visas. That creates a very small window of opportunity to check them out. Secondly is that we have watched the rise of home- grown terrorism. The terrorists are increasingly looking to Europe as both a target and a platform for terrorist attacks. So a lot of what we are trying to do is find a way to better vet people coming in from Europe without impeding the flow of travel or trade.”