File this among things that sound like they should have been done the week of 9/11/01:

Travelers from all but 27 nations, most of them in Europe, will be subject to the new rules, which will require United States visas even for the briefest of layovers. The Department of Homeland Security announced this weekend that it was suspending two programs that waived visa requirements for foreign travelers making connections at American airports — one known as Transit Without Visa, the other as International to International — because of intelligence reports suggesting terrorists might take advantage of the programs.