One of the more important post-9/11 reforms was the creation of passenger watch lists and the effort to ensure that the names of all passengers flying to this country were disclosed before arrival. But while important to U.S. security, it has been a significant challenge to induce our partners to compile and transmit passenger lists before each flight arrives in the United States. Some nations threatened to balk, questioning whether the U.S. would really turn back planes whose passengers were not disclosed. And when the European Union signed an agreement to provide the data, it got tossed out by a judge in May. Now the United States and EU have come to a 7-year agreement that will ensure that Passenger Name Records are transmitted to the Department of Homeland Security as early as 72 hours before scheduled flights: