Department of Homeland Security (DHS) became concerned that terrorists may had been planning to exploit the U.S. visa system... So why are we hinging the program’s expansion and U.S. public diplomacy on an unrealistic and expensive measure that will provide little added security?

According to the State Department, the J-1 visa Summer Work Study program, which allows foreign students to work in the United States for a few months, is meant to promote “lasting and meaningful relationships” between the students and Americans.

Four hundred foreign students complained to the State Department that the Hershey chocolate company abused a foreign-exchange program to put them to work packing chocolate and stashed them in overpriced company housing that leaves them only $40 to $140 for a week's work.

Anyone attempting to visit the United States as a student, businessman or tourist knows that getting a visa can take weeks or months, and involve several visits to a U.S. embassy or consulate. U.S. officials say they are aware of the need to improve visa and other services for visitors, and that they are making concerted efforts toward that end.

Citing an opportunity to advance our national security, economic competitiveness and public diplomacy, the U.S. Travel Association has urged President Obama to discuss prospects for including Brazil and Chile in the Visa Waiver Program (VWP) when he visits South America this month.

President Ma Ying-jeou says that the European Union's decision to waive visa requirements for Taiwanese visitors is the best validation of the island's soft power. The president was speaking in a meeting with Harvard University Professor Joseph Nye on Wednesday.

Taiwan's representative to Malaysia on Friday urged the Southeast Asian country to grant Taiwanese citizens visa-free privileges as a gift to mark the 99th anniversary of the founding of the Republic of China, which falls on Oct. 10.

When a program can increase U.S. security and counterterrorism efforts and benefit the American economy at a time of a struggling recovery, you have hit a double jackpot. And when the program—in this case the United States Visa Waiver Program (VWP)—is also an effective public diplomacy tool for improving the image of the U.S. abroad, it is a triple jackpot.