stepping up that coordination. as we saw with the attack in mali, the terrorist threat goes beyond isil. this week i will sign legislation to sustain our support including air lift and intelligence to allies like france as we work together to root out terrorist networks in africa. we will do even more to prevent attacks at home. building on our recent intelligence agreement, the united states will continue to quickly share threat information with france and in the wake of paris and with the threats in belgium, there is also a growing recognition among european nations that they need to ramp up additional efforts to prevent the flow of foreign terrorist fighters. as part of that, i m calling on the european union to finally implement the agreement that s been long in the works that would require airlines to share passenger information so we can do more to stop foreign terrorist fighters from entering our countries undetected.
or she might act on it. again, they have no reason to believe there s an imminent threat. just the fbi saying to law enforcement agencies keep your guard up and be on the watch because we are in this heightened state of alert worldwide. tom, with the news of paris, i want to play something that president obama said this afternoon. you cover aviation for us. so this is what he focused on twice in the press conference today. president obama talked about monitoring airline passengers. i m calling on the european union to finally implement the agreement long in the works to require airlines to share passenger information so we can do more to stop foreign terrorist fighters fro entering our countries undetected. tom, i don t know, i heard this and thought don t we monitor people coming in from foreign airlines? we do. anybody who comes in must be is checked against the u.s. terror watch list, that database, supposed to happen
the recent french strikes in syria, and we are going to keep stepping up that coordination. as we saw with the attack in mali, it is attacks that goes beyond isille. and so we want to continue to lend intelligence and other air strikes to rout it out. we will do more to prevent attacks at home. building on the rekrecent intelligence agreement, the united states will quickly share threat information with france and in the wake of paris with the threats in belgium, there is also a growing recognition among the european nations that they need to ramp up additional efforts to prevent the flow of foreign terrorist fighters. as part of that, i m calling on the european union to finally implement the agreement long in the works that would require the airlines to the share passenger information to do more to stop
chuck, the reality is that something like only 2,100 syrian refugees have been resettled in this country through a very extensive vetting process that takes something like 18 to 24 months. the visa waiver program is something that we ve been focused on, frankly, since i ve been secretary because there are a number of foreign terrorist fighters who have gone into iraq and syria from countries in europe and elsewhere and so last year we enhanced the security of the visa waiver program. this is a program where people in certain countries can come here without a visa. and we ve been focused on enhancing the security of that. i ordered enhancements late last year then again in august and congress also is focused on this and i think that there are ways that congress should we eliminate the waiver program for a while?
for the refugee process? chuck, the reality is that something like only 2,100 syrian refugees have been resettled in this country through a very extensive vetting process that takes something like 18 to 24 months. the visa waiver program is something that we ve been focused on, frankly, since i ve been secretary because there are a number of foreign terrorist fighters who have gone into iraq and syria from countries in europe and elsewhere and so last year we enhanced the security of the visa waiver program. this is a program where people in certain countries can come here without a visa. and we ve been focused on enhancing the security of that. i ordered enhancements late last year then again in august and congress also is focused on this and i think that there are ways that congress should we eliminate the waiver program for a while?