Administration urged to put the brakes on visa waiver program

Sen. Dianne Feinstein, D-Calif., on Thursday urged the Bush administration to make major changes to a visa policy that lets citizens from certain countries travel to the United States without visas.

The senator said a new report by the Homeland Security Department's inspector general found "serious and pervasive problems" with the so-called visa-waiver program that pose grave security risks.

Feinstein said the Senate Judiciary Committee should convene oversight hearings to determine possible solutions to the problems and, if lawmakers cannot find remedies, decide whether to temporarily suspend the program. She also highlighted recent reports of lost and stolen passports from visa-waiver countries, arguing that the documents give terrorists an easy means to illegally enter the country.

But Homeland Security Secretary Tom Ridge said one individual from a visa-waiver nation recently was caught attempting to use a stolen passport.