Should have been done right after 9/11. I'm amazed, though not surprised, that this is still going on. By far my biggest disappointment in Bush is his failure to take meaningful action on immigration. He had a historic opportunity to change immigration policy after 9/11, and totally flubbed it.
It might be useful for the programs to continue, as long as the State Dept is supervising every single application and visit. They're evidently doing that now, but perhaps not doing enough follow-through. We don't really know.
At least, the 30-day rule could be changed to 1-week - we can see that worked well in this case. What's important is to have accurate info on those who are visiting as students. Just as important is knowing who those students are associating with, once in the U.S.