Posted on: Thursday, January 8, 2004
EDITORIAL
New security system should not be a barrier
A new airport security screening system that went into effect Monday is touted as technology that will keep our borders open to visitors rather than shutting them out.
Let's hope that is how it will work. Hawai'i, as much as any state, knows that free and relatively unfettered travel is crucial to our economic well-being.
The program requires visitors from all but 27 nations to get their fingerprints scanned and photographs taken before entering the country. The fingerprint and photo will then be compared against a computerized database of terrorists, those with criminal records and other undesirables.
It is likely that the system will catch more routine criminals than terrorists, at least in the start, since relatively few terrorists have been previously exposed to law enforcement.
Another concern is that legitimate travelers who have a criminal record may find it difficult to enter the United States. This program must be administered with fairness and understanding to the individuals affected.
There are also some substantial loopholes in the program. It is in operation at 115 airports and 14 major seaports, but those are clearly not the only routes of entry into the United States. It also has different rules for those entering from Mexico and Canada. Canadians, for example, can pass freely into the United States simply by showing some form of identification.
It is interesting to note that 27 countries have been exempted from this program, providing their residents have obtained a machine-readable passport. Most of those countries are in Europe; only three are in Asia: Brunei, Japan and Singapore.
Since Hawai'i depends heavily on tourism from Asia, one hopes the exemptions will quickly be extended to other friendly countries in the region, including South Korea.
In fact, if this screening program proves to be as efficient as has been claimed, it might eventually replace an arduous and time-consuming visa application system that was initiated in the wake of heightened security concerns.
Visitors from most of Asia must make a personal appearance for an interview before being granted a visa. This has discouraged both business and pleasure travel.
If we knew that undesirables could quickly be identified and processed through the quick fingerprint and photo routine, there would be no need for the exhaustive in-country review.
No one argues against the need for increased security. The trick is to achieve the highest level of security consistent with our continuing need to have borders that the rest of the world can comfortably and safely cross.
