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The Visa Waiver Program allows citizens of 22 European nations plus Australia, Brunei, Japan, New Zealand and Singapore to enter the US for up to 90 days without a visa. In 2002, in the flood of security concerns, Congress passed legislation requiring those visitors to use new passports with (supposedly) more secure means of identification and tracking such as digitized facial recognition and fingerprints. They were supposed to be in use by October 26 of this year.

Washington, April 21 (New York Times) - The Bush administration sent two of its top officials to Congress on Wednesday to argue for giving 27 allies more time to develop high-technology passports for security screening, rather than forcing their citizens to apply for United States visas until the new passports are available.

Secretary of State Colin L. Powell and Homeland Security Secretary Tom Ridge told the House Judiciary Committee that most of the countries needed two more years to develop the passports....

[Mr. Ridge] and Mr. Powell outlined other reasons for seeking the extension, including the impact the current deadline would have on the American tourism industry and on consular staff offices suddenly facing a surge in visa requests. Mr. Powell said failure to move the deadline would lead to five million additional applications, a 70 percent increase in demand for nonimmigrant visas and certain delays in processing that would discourage people from visiting the United States.

In other words, faced with the choice between protecting "national security" and protecting the tourism industry, the bucks have to keep flowing. We can invade Iraq, we can imprison Muslims without trial, we can deport them for the tiniest offenses, but dammit, we are not going to hinder some European business executive on holiday!