Free Republic

Thursday, Aug. 14, 2003 12:30 p.m. EDT Malkin: Tom Ridge, Where Were You? Seething over Homeland Security tsar Tom Ridge's months-long failure to end travel programs that allowed foreigners to fly to the U.S. without visas, before finally suspending them, sharp-tongued columnist Michelle Malkin has a question for Tom Ridge in her latest column: "Why did it take so bloody long?" She also wonders why Ridge has not put a permanent end to the programs, instead of merely putting them on hold. Says Malkin: "The visa is supposed to be our government's best method for keeping out foreign menaces. Law-enforcement...

Danger of terrorists exploiting loophole known post 9-11, but no action taken Posted: August 6, 2003 1:00 a.m. Eastern By Paul Sperry © 2003 WorldNetDaily.com WASHINGTON – The Homeland Security Department says it has suspended the little-known federal Transit Without Visa program after learning al-Qaida plans to exploit the screening loophole to hijack planes by the end of summer. But the administration ignored several warnings after the Sept. 11, 2001, hijackings to close the loophole. The Transit Without Visa system, or TWOV, permits foreign travelers to stop briefly in the U.S. without visas before departing the U.S. for other countries....