Last December, the Homeland Security Committee, White House, State Department, and Department of Homeland Security (DHS) reached a bi-partisan agreement on the Visa Waiver Program Improvement and Terrorist Travel Prevention Act. This law strengthens the Visa Waiver Program and helps secure the homeland against the growing threat of foreign fighters with Western passports. This progress was quickly tarnished when Secretary of State John Kerry unilaterally sent a letter to the Iranian Foreign Minister indicating that he would use national security waiver authority – a power not granted to the Secretary of State – to exempt Iranian business travelers from following the law. DHS subsequently announced their implementation strategy, confirming that waivers would be used to exempt individuals, contrary to the law. This hearing will allow Members to question DHS and State Department Officials on their apparent willingness to break the law by using limited waiver authority to exempt large categories of people from the important national security provisions of the law.

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