U.S. Customs and Border Protection's Global Entry program is a smashing succcess. I have been a member for a few years, and have personally experienced its principal benefit of rapidly and easily clearing Customs upon arrival in the United States. Applicants must first pass a comprehensive background investigation Not everyone gets accepted, however, and for those people who have applied and been denied, there is an appeal process.
Have you heard of the Global Entry program operated by U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP)? If you are one of the 100,000 U.S. citizens or permanent residents who are members, then congratulations to you. If you are one of the millions of international travelers who do not like to wait in long lines at U.S. Customs when arriving at an airport in the United States after a long intercontinental flight, I have got a deal for you.
When the International Olympic Committee selected Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, over Chicago, to host the Summer Olympics in 2016, I was surprised and disappointed. When the media started to report that one of the factors that led the Committee members to not vote in favor of the United States was our security policy toward international visitors, I was intrigued. When I read that Secretary of State Hillary Clinton had previously promised the Committee that the White House would set up a special office to oversee a host of federal agencies to make sure the customs and immigration process would be streamlined so athletes and other visitors would have no trouble getting to the games, then I realized something was seriously wrong.