The good news, he says, is that the problem is still fixable, and has some inexpensive solutions. By just extending the visa-waiver program to Brazil and Chile, he says, the United States could double visits from those countries in one year and quickly generate $10.3 billion in new tourism revenue while creating 95,100 new American jobs. The Travel Association has also proposed a simple, four-point plan for "common sense entry reforms" that Dow says would create an estimated 1.3 million new jobs and bring in $858 billion into the U.S. economy by 2020. He insists the entry reforms, visa waivers and other "trusted traveler" initiatives would not compromise U.S. national security, rather streamline it and let Homeland Security "focus more on finding bad guys rather than harassing the good guys." "If you want to find needle in haystack, you shrink the haystack," Dow says. But, he adds, "If you treat every traveler as a terrorist, [security work] becomes very difficult."

(c) Designation of program countries
(1) In general The Attorney General, in consultation with the Secretary of State, may designate any country as a program country if it meets the requirements of paragraph (2).
(2) Qualifications Except as provided in subsection (f) of this section, a country may not be designated as a program country unless the following requirements are met:
(A) Low nonimmigrant visa refusal rate Either -
(i) the average number of refusals of nonimmigrant visitor visas for nationals of that country during -
(I) the two previous full fiscal years was less than 2.0 percent of the total number of nonimmigrant visitor visas for nationals of that country which were granted or refused during those years; and
(II) either of such two previous full fiscal years was less than 2.5 percent of the total number of nonimmigrant visitor visas for nationals of that country which were granted or refused during that year; or
(ii) such refusal rate for nationals of that country during the previous full fiscal year was less than 3.0 percent.
(B) Machine readable passport program
(i) In general Subject to clause (ii), the government of the country certifies that it issues to its citizens machine-readable passports that satisfy the internationally accepted standard for machine readability.
(ii) Deadline for compliance for certain countries In the case of a country designated as a program country under this subsection prior to May 1, 2000, as a condition on the continuation of that designation, the country - (I) shall certify, not later than October 1, 2000, that it has a program to issue machine-readable passports to its citizens not later than October 1, 2003; and
(II) shall satisfy the requirement of clause (i) not later than October 1, 2003.
(C) Law enforcement and security interests
The Attorney General, in consultation with the Secretary of State - (i) evaluates the effect that the country's designation would have on the law enforcement and security interests of the United States (including the interest in enforcement of the immigration laws of the United States and the existence and effectiveness of its agreements and procedures for extraditing to the United States individuals, including its own nationals, who commit crimes that violate United States law);
(ii) determines that such interests would not be compromised by the designation of the country; and
(iii) submits a written report to the Committee on the Judiciary and the Committee on International Relations of the House of Representatives and the Committee on the Judiciary and the Committee on Foreign Relations of the Senate regarding the country's qualification for designation that includes an explanation of such determination.
(D) Reporting passport thefts
The government of the country certifies that it reports to the United States Government on a timely basis the theft of blank passports issued by that country.
(3) Continuing and subsequent qualifications
For each fiscal year after the initial period -
(A) Continuing qualification In the case of a country which was a program country in the previous fiscal year, a country may not be designated as a program country unless the sum of -
(i) the total of the number of nationals of that country who were denied admission at the time of arrival or withdrew their application for admission during such previous fiscal year as a nonimmigrant visitor, and
(ii) the total number of nationals of that country who were admitted as nonimmigrant visitors during such previous fiscal year and who violated the terms of such admission, was less than 2 percent of the total number of nationals of that country who applied for admission as nonimmigrant visitors during such previous fiscal year.
(B) New countries
In the case of another country, the country may not be designated as a program country unless the following requirements are met:
(i) Low nonimmigrant visa refusal rate in previous 2-year period. The average number of refusals of nonimmigrant visitor visas for nationals of that country during the two previous full fiscal years was less than 2 percent of the total number of nonimmigrant visitor visas for nationals of that country which were granted or refused during those years.
(ii) Low nonimmigrant visa refusal rate in each of the 2 previous years. The average number of refusals of nonimmigrant visitor visas for nationals of that country during either of such two previous full fiscal years was less than 2.5 percent of the total number of nonimmigrant visitor visas for nationals of that country which were granted or refused during that year.