1. What is the one major gap in the U.S.’s security framework, according to experts?

2. a) What is the 9/11 Commission (What is its role)?
b) After finding that 5 of the nineteen 9/11 terrorists had overstayed their visas, what recommendations for strengthening national security and preventing another attack did the Commission make?

3. What law did Congress pass 12 years ago in 2004?

4. Describe the problem with the current visa system.

5. Who does ICE focus on from the approximately 415,000 people who overstay their visas each year?

6. a) Define implemented.
b) Describe the system that was implemented in 2006.

7. CBS News reports in paragraph 6:

"Congress has been proposing solutions to the issue for decades now, but the issue took on greater urgency after 9/11 when it was discovered that several of the hijackers had taken advantage of this security gap."

a) What is your reaction to this information?
b) Ask a parent the same question.

8. From paragraphs 12-14:

What’s been harder is putting in place the “exit” piece, for a whole host of reasons. It’s not for lack of trying: Congress passed legislation in 2004 requiring the implementation of a biometric entry/exit system. Still, 12 years later, actually implementing that system has remained elusive — though experts say technological advances mean it’s on the horizon -- at least for people arriving by air.

There’s widespread consensus that such a program needs to be put in place, but it’s been much more difficult to do in practice than it is to support in theory. One House aide noted that it’s not a partisan issue: various proposals for implementing the system have received broad bipartisan (both Democrats and Republicans) support. “If it was easy, it would have been done already,” the aide CBS News.

a) What do you think? Are these just excuses? Is this incompetence or an unsolvable problem? Explain your answer.
b) How important do you think it is to close this visa loophole? Explain your answer.
c) Which presidential candidate do you think will do a better job with this? Explain your answer.
d) Ask a parent the same questions.