WASHINGTON (CN) - A program that waives the visa process for certain foreign travelers faced heavy scrutiny Thursday as members of Congress called for an overhaul to prevent the system's exploitation by terrorists.
Visa waivers allow citizens of 38 countries traveling to the United States for tourism or business trips lasting up to 90 days to forgo the lengthy process of applying for a visa.
Greater scrutiny of the program emerged after the Paris terror attacks and the shooting in San Bernardino last week, both of which were carried out by terrorists who pledged loyalty to the Islamic State.
While the Paris attackers are believed to have trained in Syria, U.S. investigators are still unsure whether the San Bernardino killers, Tashfeen Malik and Syed Farook, carried out a foreign plot or were merely inspired by ISIL's message.
A new wrinkle emerged this week when the FBI confirmed that Pakista-born Malik had radicalized at least a year before she came to the United States last year on a K-1 fiance visa. Farook was a U.S. citizen of Pakistani heritage, born in Illinois. Both were killed within hours of carrying out the deadly Dec. 2 attack on San Bernardino's Inland Regional Center.
With some worried about the adequacy of security screenings both for visa-waiver travelers and traditional visa applicants, the House voted Tuesday to bar travelers from Syria, Iraq, Iran and the Sudan - or anyone who has traveled to those countries in the last five years - from entering the United States through the visa-waiver program.
Iranian-American advocacy organization NIAC Action has denounced the bill as "discriminatory" and "draconian," saying it could trigger reciprocal restrictions.
At a hearing Thursday of the House Subcommittee on National Security, Ken Gude, a senior fellow at the Center for American Progress, cautioned members of Congress not to play politics of fear.
"What is unacceptable and dangerous to American security are the kind of rhetoric and policy proposals that attempt to exploit Americans' reasonable fears for political gain and try to push a jittery population toward increased hatred and prejudice," Gude said.
That kind of "sensational fear mongering" plays into the hands of Islamic State militants, he added.
Kelli Ann Burriesci from the Department of Homeland Security told the House Oversight and Government Reform subcommittee that the visa-waiver program is safe, but said it will still benefit from the overhauls outlined in the recently passed House legislation.
"Waiver does not mean waiving security," Burriesci said, adding that all visa-waiver-program travelers undergo extensive security checks before they can board a plane.
Upon their arrival, officers with Customs and Border Protection screen travelers again against domestic and international counterterrorism and law-enforcement databases, she added.
Visa-waiver countries are also required to share security information with U.S. intelligence officials about any threats their citizens pose, she said.
Burriesci noted that Homeland Security already strengthened the program after the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001 - ensuring that visa-waiver travelers fill out an online vetting form - the electronic system for travel authorization - before traveling to the United States.
That form collects biographic information, which gets vetted against U.S. intelligence databases, she said. The data collected gets vetted on a daily basis, Burriesci added.