The Government Accountability Office has made a series suggestions on how the Department of Homeland Security could specify time frames to implement information-sharing agreements for participants of the Visa Waiver Program and determine whether countries should continue in the VWP.
GAO said in a report published Monday that 38 countries agreed to the VWP terms to report lost and stolen passports, share identity information about known or suspected terrorists and criminal history information.
More than one-third of the participants do not comply with the stipulations to exchange identity and criminal history information of the program.
U.S. agency officials noted that access to this information would help national security concerns, the report said.
DHS required VWP participating countries to implement the terms of the agreements in August 2015 and Congress passed a law in December 2015 to fully implement information-sharing requirements before participating in the program.
