One More Reason To Skip Meetings Held In America

Keith’s note: If new border entry requirements go into force a lot of non-U.S. citizens may not be inclined to come to the U.S. for NASA and space-oriented meetings since they will be required to give the U.S. government access to 5 years of social media postings. According to a 10 Dec 2025 Federal Register posting by CBP regarding the Arrival and Departure Record (Form I-94) and Electronic System for Travel Authorization (ESTA): “3. Mandatory Social Media: In order to comply with the January 2025 Executive Order 14161 (Protecting the United States From Foreign Terrorists and Other National Security and Public Safety Threats), CBP is adding social media as a mandatory data element for an ESTA application. The data element will require ESTA applicants to provide their social media from the last 5 years.” So maybe NASA and all of its professional organizations will consider start using Zoom again like they did during the pandemic. Or move their meetings offshore. And flying suborbital flights out of the U.S. will be more intrusive as well.