The U.S. will tighten its visa-waiver program as part of its efforts to prevent terror attacks in the country, the White House has announced.

On Monday, the U.S. said it will implement stricter screening measures for individuals from conflict zones who aim to board commercial flights to the country. The planned change, which will still need to be passed in Congress, may see the government imposing increased fines from US$5,000 to US$50,000 on airlines that fail to verify their passengers' identities, according to The New York Times (NYT).

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"We see a greater threat of foreign fighters coming into Europe," the NYT quotes White House deputy national security adviser Benjamin J. Rhodes.

The visa-waiver program was designed to grant faster U.S. entry to 20 million European tourists and visitors from 38 friendly countries including Japan, Australia, New Zealand, and Chile every year. The program includes security screenings before departure, at selected points in the journey, and arrival at ports of entry, the White House details.

In the wake of the Paris attacks, the U.S. will modify its Electronic System for Travel Authorization applications to determine if a traveler has been to a terrorist safe haven. The FBI will also identify areas of improvement in terrorism information sharing between the U.S. and other friendly countries.

However, experts see the visa-waiver program as a bigger threat to U.S. security than President Barack Obama's controversial plan of welcoming 10,000 Syrian refugees. It is worth noting that the suspects in the coordinated Paris attacks in November were European citizens and not Syrians, the report explains.

On the other hand, business leaders approve of the visa-waiver program because they think it will help the country's tourism and economy. American tourists also benefit from a similar program in Europe and other friendly countries, the report relays.

As of now, the Department of Homeland Security and the FBI will spend two months studying the U.S. visa-waiver program before giving their feedback to the president.

TagsU.S. Visa-Waiver, visa-waiver program, national security, U.S. Electronic System, FBI, Department of Homeland Security