guest: that is right. there was an overall decline, especially after 2005 or 2006. the number is that 10,000 students, one way we report campus crimes. time anddecreased over a lot is due to the drop at institutions, so this is one of the most commonly reported crimes. it does not involve physical confrontations. however, we have seen an increase in reported sex offenses and you see that on the bottom line that has increased over time. it is difficult for us to tell to what extent if this is in an increase in incidence or more people coming forward and reporting the incidents have occurred. there are a lot more people coming forward. host: you have 30 seconds to

give this your assessment of what we are talking about. guest: i want to clear up what tom said. i do think the increase we are seeing with special assaults is in part at least to increase in awareness and reporting. much with title ix, violence against women's act and it requires causes to take an active role in promoting awareness about the different ways that have been reporting sexual assault and other crimes. i think that is part of what we are seeing. host: unfortunately, we are out of time. thank you for being on "washington journal" this morning. he will take you now, live, the international center for studies with a forum going on. this is live coverage. officials from u.s. and canada are talking about the benefits and challenges of international passengers. event was scheduled

before the unfortunate events in paris in november and before the scrutiny, travel security programs have been under the media, the american public, from talk shows, congress, and we have been debating around issues of travelers, biometric information, bilateral and multilateral security agreements and privacies. expect in the next week that congress will enact legislation for a visa waiver program and a bill that will include new funding requirements for agencies such as water protection, psa and the state department. today's event is meant to provide insight into the preclearance program operated by cdp and 60 locations around the world. under preclearance, we agreed that u.s. immigration and customs officers are stationed overseas to allow for all security immigration checks to be done before passengers board

airplanes and reach the united states. these treaties and book a complicated issues for law enforcement authorities, operations, deployment of officers and airport and airline processes. began 60 years ago in toronto and we would like to expand to additional locations in asia, europe to provide unmatched benefits were security, travel facilitation and passenger convenience. we have an excellent panel discussing these issues. first, howard and president, and ceo of the greater toronto airport authority. he has been with toronto since 2012 and previously served in hong kong airports. the business director of clearance operations and dhs. he has been a pre-leader ensuring facilitation. our third speaker will be director of governing affairs

for air canada. one of the most active users of the preclearance program in north america, including flights in the reagan airport. lassa, paul, a principal and ceo strategy security and and produces served as homeland security advanced research project where he was the head of r&d for dhs. each will make remarks of maybe eight minutes to 10 minutes and we will use the remaining minutes for questions and answers from the audience. for those of you on social media, i encourage you to use the handle @csihomeland. welcome and i hope you enjoyed the discussion. howard, the floor is yours. [applause] howard: good morning, ladies and gentlemen. thank you for coming. topic to helptant

economic development of both our countries. i would like to acknowledge monique smith, who is the principal and representative from washington, i would like to welcome her for attending the function today. i need to figure out how to work this. falling backwards and off the stage. i have done this before. there it is. travel is what ports and railway stations used to be in the past. their travel is now the defining transportation of our air. it is hard to see. it is dark down there. i think preclearance between canada and the u.s. is in important part to ensure economic benefits and activity is realized by both countries.

the speaker have listened to has said that traditionally, competition was between countries, regions, and now they are talking about spikes. i think that is a consultants way of getting more money to explain what spikes are in regions instead of countries, but what it means or what they are trying to say, if you are one of the spikes, to be one of the spikes and maintain been one of the spikes, the government should correct the rest of the spikes around the world. i always loved this math from nasa. you can see economic development just looking at the lights at night. obviously, one big economic region is the northeast of north america. airports service that region along with three other,

chicago and new york. statistic ia simple pulled up. between the three airports, therefore flights a day going to --jing, six flights a day four flights a day shanghai, four flights to beijing -- six flights to beijing. the flights help this whole and enhanceop economic activity between north america and asia. none of us have enough flights to provide what all the business which is direct and frequency. they want choices and direct flights throughout the day. one-stop is preferable and overnight sometimes because you have other activities during the day, but the combination of the frequency between their airports in this region i think will be

providing that kind of connectivity to the rest of the world. what will help and ensure this region and the two countries fly? we must ensure safe flying and control during the two countries. these countries have a long history. the 200 year history. has theory of which longest and defended border. 50 years ago, i remember going to a land for a -- a conflict crossing and you keep going but today you have to produce passports. 60 years ago, in recognition of first easing of the flow passengers coming and going between the countries was set up. 60 result of all of that serves the now

cities of direct flights. what happens if there is no preclearance? pearson can only serve 27. derek service creates economic benefits to some of those countries or cities. they attract a lot of canadian tourists to come. and use the facilities, especially when it gets -20 up north. travel andf ease of secure travel allows both countries to benefit from economic activities happening between the two countries. in talking to some clearance people, we found that having preclearance in canada is also very efficient.

the airport has almost a help affected where we bring from canadahrough and internationally, they get cleared they are and then they can be dispersed back to the states. we are the fourth largest air entry point into the usa. we are just behind miami, new york and los angeles. we clear all but 6 million passengers a year. if you take the same number and this person throughout various stations in the u.s., it probably will not get as bigger bang for the buck as pearson allowing the hubbing affect to bring people through. we are proud to say to talk about the preclearance process to ensure the same level of security, same level of

protection as anywhere else at any airport in the u.s. where are we today in terms of preclearance? profile ofrowth transporter traffic. traditionally when you do this, there is a lovely line, but we know a line does not go that way. curverld is almost an "s" instead of a line. now in a huge growth mode and you can see that we are reaching almost six lane passengers. the number of officers have not increased. secondly, working with u.s., we also have an implement technology that allows it to be more effective and efficient. , what do we see

coming over the next 18 years? people andange of services, especially now that we are going to service the economy and more people want to travel. the demand for past productivity will continue and at an aggressive pace. as you can see, we taper them down into the future. is, whyg people say don't we continue to use technology to handle this? certain things get away and i don't think you can solve all the problems with automation. certain things, for good people on theneed ground and you need people to look people and i get a feel -- in the eye and get a feel for

the person. no matter how much technology you can use, we need to enhance the human power resource on the ground in order to make sure that the flow is efficient, effective and to make sure it is safe. one of the things i am asking today and while we bring it down, you can see the future demand is coming, and the fact that we cannot automate anything or everything, and i know that is a big push and the current president has said one of the key economic drivers for the u.s. is to bring in tourism and business, and my position, at my request of the u.s. partner is to ensure that your fourth-largest entry point into the u.s. has as good experiences as other into points. -- as other entry points. this is what we do not want to

happen. ♪ processis a metering where we are exceeding passengers based on departure time to ensure all flights depart as scheduled. >> it is not easy. there, here,up over tre, and it is frustrating. what time is it now? it is about five to 8:00 and we are still at security, forwarding has not started and it is line up to line up to line. howard: -- listeningank you for to me and i think the key is working together to ensure that the economic benefits in this global economy will ensure our come back into this region and to do that, we need to ensure that seamless travel between the

two countries. thank you very much. [applause] murray, the floor is yours. thank you for your gracious introduction and good afternoon. good morning, everyone. i would like to thank my fellow panelist for the precipitation -- for the participation. i am delighted to be here for this discussion and i appreciate the opportunity to talk about preclearance operations. and what we envision for the future. the primary mission of u.s. customs and border protection is to safeguard the american people. beyond their borders through preclearance and protect the american public from terrorism. preclearance supports the

extended border strategy and part of delivered border strategy preventing terrorists, criminals and other national security threats from 40 commercial aircraft and onto the united states. preclearance places the united states most effective counterterrorism asset, train law-enforcement officials, at the point of protecting the public and ensuring foreign airports meet security standards. our current air preclearance was implemented for the first time in the air environment in toronto in 1952. since then, we have had great expand to other locations. we are at 15 other airports, halifax, montreal, vancouver and winnipeg in canada, but we are also in ireland, dublin, shannon, the caribbean's, wasuda and the most recent in january 2014. preclearance provides security

for aircraft and passengers as a list more timely information on travelers flight patterns to enable interception of threats. preclearance is critical to the continued efforts to enhance national security and facilitate growing international travel and commerce and increase the process growing numbers of arriving international travelers abroad and at domestic gateways, which is essential to the u.s. economy and global commerce. 2014,-- in fiscal year preclearance process approximately 16.4 million travelers representing 50.3% of the total travelers of all ports of entry. four part ofmber the topline ports of receiving passengers internationally and in preclearance, we do have six locations in the top 25 of those

that process international travelers. addition, approximately 10,000 the jewels were intercepted and refused admission to the united states in that fiscal year. ultimately preventing order at locations, cost savings to u.s. taxpayers, carriers and approximately 12% of all terrorist screening database persons are intercepted through preclearance. today, we are focusing on u.s.-canada preclearance relationships. i would be remiss if i did not mention the u.s. cooperates with canada on bilateral enforcement matters. sharek closely to assess joint threats, leveraging existing partnerships between government agencies and the collaboration is more critical in light of the evolving security threat, including the

emergence of the foreign fighters and what is occurring in europe. we have determined that preclearance is national security imperative and an essential part of the extended force strategy. dhs secretary johnson announced the united states to enter into negotiations to expand our for norance to attend reports. the 10 identified include brussels, belgium, the dominican andblic, japan, amsterdam spain,herlands, norway, , turkey, london and manchester airports. in 2014, nearly 14 million passengers traveled to the united states from these 10 airports. the process was announced last

september, 2015, and we began this process out of interested airports who submitted letters of interest to participate in preclearance opportunities. more than two dozen foreign airports responded worldwide. that is what the secretary determined the 10 locations cap discussions with these countries and airports. havend the department collaboration with stakeholders and aviation industries. they made the final airport determination with the security administration and the department of state used in the valuation poll. the primary purpose of the evaluation poll is to examine security impact, which is why the security impact is what the criteriaortion of the evaluated. they also recognized the importance of other factors, including facilitation. and severaltates

other countries are currently in active negotiations and discussions, which include the provision for reimbursement. the preclearance reimbursable model is one example of public-private partnerships which they are working to increase efficiencies and standards in the face of continued growth in the aviation sector. states and canada share the longest international border in the world, stretching more than 5500 miles am a but we share more than the border. nearly 100 tenley and people traveled back and forth between united states and canada every year. nearly 100 million people travel back and forth between the united states and canada every year. we expect the middle of lawful travel and commerce. secretary johnson and the canadians public safety administer signed an agreement which combined preclearance

concepts for land, rail, marine and air modes that once ratified and implemented to proceed the existing agreement from 2001. that agreement was implemented prior to the prior agreement and the 2011 attacks. cbp and canadian preclearance officers mutually have agreeable areas. they knew what agreement will enable cbp to seek full reimbursement and discuss expansion locations and services. the land, rail, marine air agreement offers the option to convert existing locations to full locations such as those in pretoria harbor, the real that

crosses from vancouver -- the real across his from vancouver into washington state. the land hacker mail marine agreement is the path forward for a renewed agreement between the united states and canada as a build on our strong and mutually beneficial relationship. once the land-rail-marine-air discussion comes, it will have the extension of services. the key for canadian preclearance efforts is the ratification for this agreement. it enhances national security by allowing the united states and international partners to join the identify risks and increases international law enforcement collaboration to grow stronger. we believe with the agreement and a continued partnership with airports like toronto pearson, we can move forward. thank you for your time. i look forward to the questions following.

[applause] >> thank you for those comments fitti, to our for coming in this morning. the process was wonderful this morning, actually, as well , the direct flight to reagan airport. it was wonderful. as a foreign carrier, we are proud of that route and we continue to look forward to operating it. ok, here we go. before i start, i would like to from theique smith embassy, my fellow staff and you are very much. i would like to provide an overview of their canada and how preclearance impacts our airlines.

this could be extrapolated to other canadian carriers, but i will refer and focus on my own for today's purposes. thank you. air canada is canada's largest airline and provider of passenger service in canada. it is the largest over the and the.s. border international markets to and from canada. in 2014, air canada and air canada express very close to 38 million passengers, a 3 million passenger increase of 2013. fairly significant for an airline our size. than 200a offers more destinations on six continents. i believe one of the few airlines in the world that operates on six continents and we are proud of that, a recent addition to our network. alliancemember of star and we employed a total of 28,000 people around the world, making us in the top 20 airlines -- top 20 largest airlines in

the world and somewhere in between 13 and 50 based on passenger volume -- 13 and 15 based on passenger volume which is significant considering canada's population. of course, all canada flights to the united states are precleared by cbp. air canada enjoys wonderful relationship with cbp and the professionalism is incredible. program, canadian air industries would be an entirely different place, so we do appreciate our relationship. we are also very proud of air moment, we average year-over-year at 10% increase in the international and transporter services right now. you can imagine that this provides challenges were not only ourselves, our company, but the air force services that

support us, including cbp and pearson and other airports. that, i should have been reading. to give you an idea, we currently serve 84 routes and we have plans to expand, so this is our reach is in the united states. 2014, air canada grew the capacity to the united states by 10.2%. this year, we have increased capacity by 13.7%. for a6, we are planning 14% increase in capacity by adding 13 new routes. fairly ambitious. here are the 13 new routes we are adding beginning december 2016. some of these routes are the

first times the markets will be connected by air. for the economies of the canadian city and the american city as well as to those beyond, as howard mentioned, some of the inbound traffic that kenexa through hubs, particularly at pearson -- that through hubs, -- that reallys through hubs, it at pearson and they are the key to economic growth. i just wanted to show you a breakdown of our flights in the united states from toronto, serving 51 routes, pearson by far is our largest base into the ,nited states, for montreal also serving international traffic from europe as well, and from vancouver.

we have some transpacific traffic that connects into the united states from there as well, including canada, of course. here is another visual representation of our position in the transporter market. like i said earlier, we are the providing airr service into the united states. literally, we would like to grow this piece of the pie and we intend to do so. preclearance now, to give an idea of the number of flights impacted i u.s. cbp -- impacted by u.s. cbp related delays, and we have this chart and i do not mean -- that comes out sounding very aggressive -- if you look at how these numbers are trending, and this may not seem like -- certainly if you

look at november 2014, .6 flights delayed -- this is probably not a very worrying number, but as you start to go down, you can see some rapid increases in delays affecting more and more passengers. is notue is that this trending in the direction that we want. to be fair, our volume and a passenger increases are increasing and that adds stress to the system. we have worked together with technology and efficiencies of pearson and cbp, but really, we have gotten to a point now where technology, if i can use my travels this morning through pearson asked in a sample, the system works very well. this morning, i traveled before the morning peak, so i had a wait whichnute short

is reasonable, but when you walk we are almostks, running out of room for more, and at some point i think what we are faced with and it was alluded to, we need to make entriesnes and those through screening more efficient, so at this point, people are prepared at the kiosk with the use of technology, but we get to the officer stations and there is a shortage of officers, and that is really get the problem with delays. really get the problems with delays. these delays have impacted other parts of the operations, they increase passenger the satisfaction and more importantly for us, as we try to go pearson as her hub and increase our other airports, some passengers choose to avoid

it entirely, and that is something we want to avoid in both interests of our national economies. said, that is my presentation. thank you very much. i did want to mention one last time that we do enjoy working with cbp and we look forward to continuing that. [applause] >> paul will be our last speaker and get ready for your chance of questions in a couple of minutes. we look forward to your remarks. paul: thank you and i appreciate the opportunity to be here. panelistsot of great here and i'm more of a technology person. keep it in the back of your mind when i talk that i may bring up things that make you uncomfortable. the idea is how do we process

seen 2 billion more passengers in 20 years? to expect to see that level of custom?rowth in cbp is processing probably not. it will not keep up. i want to take a step back before i talk about that and preclearance and talk about major league baseball. i have to figure and how to even sparks, too, i have to maximize revenue. -- how to sneak in spikes, too, i have to maximize revenue. i worked with them to develop screening. usually, they spoke screens and we started talking with officials in baseball, and each stadium has its own culture, but one of the things they're concerned about is the anxiety people feel when they go through screening. here time -- everyone always figures up, when this might fly, or didn't have, and you worry if you are delayed or you will make it or if you will be backed up. and they do is felt

not want that when you go to a sporting event. you do not want to feel anxiety. can i bring this water bottle or not? those kinds of things. working with that paradigm that we could really look at for our standard security processes we see in tsa, cbp, in airports. how can we take that paradigm and reduce that anxiety level? we make security more frictionless but not lower our standards but increase times? that is a paradigm, and to do that, we have to change the way we do business. tsa made a huge leap implementing risk-based screening. most of the group is pre-check or global entry to go through screening faster. i will say that cbp was a leader of this with their global entry program, implementing prescreening before it existed.

the nexto take that to step. what is the next step in risk-based screening, not just for tsa and entry, and what you technologies, implement two allows to take the next step? what are those technologies that we can export to other countries and their preclearance operations to make that security more frictionless? head of r&d for dhs and i worked to try to push new technologies into place. i will say that cbp is excellent at their job. i think the best in the world but they are resistant to change because what they have works. why would you change if what you have works? we will be put in this situation, the u.s. and economic partners worldwide, where we will have to change because it will be too high. what can we do to maintain that security level? i think taking proactive steps oflook at that risk and some what we will be looking at our standard.

we are going to bring that through quickly. we can implement other biometrics that could be quicker and build the database, so we can read their iris and get the information. i can pull that up and the agent can read that passenger. the other thing that might be more controversial and make you uncomfortable, and i agree with you, howard, when you talk about seeing that person in the eye and getting a feel, but if we can implement technology linked with risk-based screening, two people from canada need to have the same scrutiny if they're not global entry? to have a process that does not require you talked in and you can do this risk-based approach? the u.s. citizen may be able to do with the web-based interview, so if you think about this, is it possible to have a centralized core of cbp agents, 200, sitting in a call center somewhere and they can dynamically allocate across any airport to slowing and now you

have all lanes open and it is a pass for u.s. citizens that are web-based and are doing interviews and a web-based manner when you have the officers processing those who may not qualify or for foreign nationals coming in. we have datae that sharing agreements that allow canadians to do that web-based screening? the idea is how to increase manpower, stop utilization rates at airports, leveraging analogy. what other options are therefore allowing people to get a better experience to experience that frictionless? travelre people who only relatively frequently and do not want to pay for pre-check or global entry, but they are low risk. a way to have them to share some of that personal information with some level of check that allows them to go through a decreased level of screening, that random aspect.

those make people uncomfortable. how do i know i know i'm getting the same level of security if i will lower level screen? that is where i think or study needs to be done because we are at a higher risk environment, so you have these two competing interests where the risks are going up, the slow was going up, and the resources may not be. we are going to see a significant economic impact if we do not figure out how to do this. i do think that there are opportunities or technology to help. utilizing, not necessarily brand-new technology, but using existing technology in different ways and the rigid ways to increase -- our utilization rate and be more dynamic and how we apply a staffing levels across the enterprise. hopefully, we can touch on the discussion. thank you. [applause] stewart: the floor is yours. if you could identify yourself for questions and if you would

like to direct them to any particular panelist or everybody, that is fine. please, remember, this is not a time for speeches but questions. i have a few, but i would like to do it open to the floor. in the front, i believe there are microphones to be passed around and if you could use that, great. hello, i am a reporter for "usa today." i think the controversy with the last tree clearance expansion dealt more with airline ,ompetition and reimbursement but i wondered, could you say anything about what affect terrorist attacks have had -- the paris attacks have had on the expansion of the tenured ands -- of the 10 new sites could you give us an idea of when they will be approved? murray: thank you, outside of

the expansion process, we received further interest because of that we did in 2015 with the evaluation. there is a general interest of other airports that established to be a part of this because i think that airports think there is a business case, but we know that there is a national security case and that is why abu dhabi stood out in 2014. the results are indisputable. 12% stated, approximately of those individuals are intercepted by preclearance officers. we have 600 officers at these was a greatnd it success in the national security aspect to open up abu dhabi, even though us-based air

carriers had extension to that but we learned we did the evaluation process and that's why we had discussions. moving forward, it will take careful negotiations with countries because we have to be invited, asked by the countries to set up and we need to fit into the business plan of the airports. if we were to do that further and potential is there for further expansion because there is such a great interest in this, we have to look to see how we can figure out, the public-private partnerships, how to put officers there and come up with further technology like putting mpc in airports on top of apc and incorporating biometrics into the process. having said that, we have had great success. we are in the works on the current process with those 10 airports. there is great interest in

expanding further. stewart: a quick follow-up, have you seen the increase in the temple of the discussions since harris or is it a steady in moving along for discussions? murray: i think there is a general interest here in washington and seeing what has occurred in europe and the mass migration and seeing how we can better secure the homeland's and preclearance that we had to let all the dobby and having discussions with the current dhabi and having discussions with the current airport, there has always been interest from airports and maybe even more interest between the countries in order to partner up with the u.s. government further. stewart: other questions from the audience? in the back?

ted: thank you. from the council of foreign relations. i'm hesitant to ask what happened with the detroit wednesday bridge, but what is the arrangement for preclearance? is that all cbp budget by benefit or do airlines and pay a portion of the cost for operations? will it be different with some expansion taking place? >> we do share the border with canada and i spoke about the vancouver rail and we also have a cruise ship program in vancouver, so there is interest by other sectors of travel between canada and the united states. the only mechanism or the most efficient mechanism for us to take into consideration of expansion is the reimbursement. appropriations provide for

positions inall the united states, so as every single officer is invaluable for all the sectors cbp covers and trade and see court operations, land operations, we have a bandwidth issue as far as people who sign up. it was not so long ago that congress supported the agency and our fight and discussion were additional personnel, and we have 2000 officers that were in the process of filling, but growth continues to occur and not only in the air environment that land sectors. in order to move forward knowing that this is dhs imperative to extend borders as far as possible and to be able to have that face-to-face encounter with a person, the best mechanism to do so is through public-private partnership of reimbursement and

associated with appropriated dollars. >> [indiscernible] murray: as far as sea, that is mostly from the private sector as to how that will be applied. , at a current existing locations, the business is finding a way, whether it is through companies applying travel classes -- travel passes, but we are at six different companies. each of the countries find a way to support our operations because the u.s. government and cbp is not pay for the in thates we operate they provide the facility. you discussions as far as what you are speaking of our personnel discussions.

stewart: does anyone want to add? what would it take for an airport or airline to want to invest their own money to have more officers or howard -- eight higher level of service? howard: i think as murray mentioned today, we are paying for the facility and we are investing heavily, not just to ensure the facility is secure but to improve the facility. throughout regular mechanisms as he talked to the carriers who want it, it is charging mechanism that we will take. that is what we have been doing in the past. how do we recover the cost? two passengers carriers, so that is a mechanism. this new discussion of enhancing what the that is country has to decide and sign off on and we decide what you will charge them.

stewart: another hand in the back, somewhere. with good morning, i am astrophysics, we design and manufacture security systems and we are in the middle of the deployment for cbp, replacing your x-ray machines. my question is about what you said about screening remotely -- remotely screening passengers into the country. do you see a day when all checked baggage is screened and you see those digital images being shared with cbp officers in the u.s. and connecting airports so their bags can be reclaimed and you can go to your next flight? paul: i do. i think that is a great model that needs to be followed. you are putting together a process that uses existing technologies but maximizing the efficiency. can we have those officers linked those bags that are

linked to that person so in the present them to the officer, they can pull up the x-ray without having to go through or a targeted out the rhythm that gives a different color pass on the go through so they don't have to be checked. then you can say, in the screening approach, there are certain rates that occur for passengers checked bags and those passengers that are pre-checked, their bags get checked, and kelly link that passenger to that bag so that when it goes to the x-ray, it gets a preclearance type check so they focus on high risk bags. that linkage is something tsa is working to try to gather all the security systems, and then they try to create that linkage back to cbp. that is a policy issue, but i think there are departments moving in that direction. stewart: i also know howard and toronto has had innovative

screening technology, but i don't know if either one wants to jump in. highlight -- murray: pearson is redesigning terminal three and a lot of renovation is going on. part of that is we have the baggage information system. this was a measure put in place about 10 years ago and it was a means to meet the principles to be for instructional processes, but have a better passenger experience and efficiency for the baggage handling, making to the baguettes from point to point, but a lot of the screening standards and their partners with tsa, and not speaking on behalf of tsa, but understanding that tsa and dhs stick to have the equivalent screening standards and it is a big key to making sure that the

baggage has more throughput from the origination united states without duplicate standards. within cbp, we are looking at some concepts to increase our technology to have the images be a part of processing summer to the concept -- somewhere to the concert that was spoken of to where we de-escalate the need to check tags more throughout -- checked bags more throughout the process. more technology corporation is something we are currently working on. we are testing at a couple of locations right now. think he mentioned about the change in pearson, which i think will help a lot of passengers traveling through into the u.s., again, the following your lead and we are in a process for

passengers, when they travel to the u.s. to canadian city, also can enjoy where they do not have to pick up their bags again. as bags are being screened with an image, they can pass an officer and they can call back to inspection if needed. i think both countries are implementing the process to transfer passengers between the two economic regions and it is a lot more hasslefree. stewart: a separate question, we talked about security issues, but what do here at u.s. economy is about the value of flights coming in, especially smaller cities that would not have the ability to have cbp presence and this may be their only international access, myrtle beach, kansas city, anything you would like to add? for airlines,n especially air canada, we see it within their own country and increasingly more in smaller willmarkets where cities

come to us for service to connect the spikes. there might be a healthy economy in the u.s. market and a similar one in canada, but when we connect the two, there really is an exponential growth. there is trade with her previously was none, tourism between the two cities that did not exist before, the routes were introduced, and it includes simple trade and tourism. see a lot more travel. torecently opened up around austin this year which has been a tremendous success from toronto direct. similarand austin share

creative class culture, five at a vibrantene, film -- musical scene, film economies, and the two cities are working on a number of new projects that previously were not there. the impact culturally, economically is huge, and air canada is happy to sit down with markets across united states to see where it makes sense to torease and add those crowds increase these benefits -- add those routes benefits. stewart: you cannot north by northwest. fitti: yes, wonderful. importantthink it is for canadian carriers to benefit american carriers and the reverse. the ability for more direct flights to allow more connectivity, especially now that we are in a service economy, we can track the

statistics. austin travel has jumped starting around 2004. not done anve economist study yet, but we can see one correlation in the service industry. the service industry seems to require a lot more travel, so i think having those connections allows for those activities. stewart: question in the middle. wait for the microphone for one second and then i will get over here. delegationfrom the from the european union in washington, i just want to chime in to discussion about the economic benefits of easy travel. about they worried discussions going on in congress right now about the visa program which seems to be a knee-jerk to the trend.

i wanted to ask when it comes to canada, who was traditionally a country of large immigration, and now with the new government, the prime minister declared he will also receive a large number is arian refugees and that population that seems to worry very much senators and congressmen on the hill. how about impact this program? do you want to talk about how you would affect any travel, donald trump was not available for the panel. [laughter] the question is for you. >> there is a lot of discussion .bout the visa waiver program if you are a first-time arriving person at a location, we had

that ability at our preacher lawrence locations -- at our preclearance locations to complete that biometric capture. it is a part of our process and that is where preclearance is something to have a good discussion about what is going on about the visa waiver. and the 10 locations we currently have been discussions or negotiations with the airports that the state secretary prioritize, eight are in europe. there are a lot of refugees that thedestined to a lot of locations. brussels is one of the locations we are having talks with, along with sweden, to locations receiving a lot of the syrians. it is a great program. it is easily defendable. if there is concern or interest for how to collect the biometrics for a visa waiver efficiently and effectively for

the traveling public without negatively impacting economic trade and travel to united we have to be invited and we have to have that dialogue with those countries. cbpu.s. government and cannot go somewhere at will, so there has to be that collaborative spirit on how to make that happen. stewart: it is important to remember, too, someone applying for refugee status, there would not be a visa waiver program, there is a separate process of vetting. the question over here on the left. gary: good morning, i am chief economist at catalyst partners and i used to be a dhs. i know a few of you. deals with the

following -- will you please explain the relationship or economic benefits between cbp and tsa obesity preclearance? -- the city -- through preclearance? for example, if you are in route, do you have to go through security? that is a good question. the largest portion of our volumes into the united states from canada, not just piercing, pearson being the largest, but we have great collaboration with our partners to the north catching up. tsa have equivalent screening measures aiken for as far as travelers -- measures back and forth as far as travelers. they do not require screening and tsa upon arrival. clear and free. as far as an expansion process goes, we want to make sure that all the future countries we have

discussions with, the aviation and security aspect, are into or tunealent so it -- are in or equivalent to what chp and tsa requires. not only are you cleared by but by the aviation security standard so the country can make those and we will not move forward to any location unless that country is able to meet those standards. [indiscernible] >> if you're connecting, you do not. something that i have had conversations with not only with airports but airlines is that i don't think it is

marketing potential of there is a lot of discussion about direct flights but if you can fly direct plus be precleared and go throughout security measures, i think it's something that the consumer would be interested in. >> if i could add to that, that is a great point. at air canada we've taken to working with cvp preclearance and airports to target some of flyers thatquent are not aware of nexus global entry and reaching out to them, helping facilitate a session where they can go to the process much easier. right now, i'm not sure how many months the process is currently, but we try to bring that down to something a little bit more palatable to the