GETTING PRECISE

The president hinted that the changes were coming in a tweet after a crude bomb exploded on a London Underground train last week: “The travel ban into the US should be far larger, tougher and more specific,” Trump wrote.

Officials said Trump was given a “decision brief” on the travel ban by officials during a meeting on Friday at the president’s club in Bedminster, New Jersey.

The announcement is the culmination of the biggest legal challenge to Trump’s presidential authority since he took office.

“We need to know who is coming into our country. We should be able to validate their identities,” said Miles Taylor, the counsellor to the secretary of homeland security.

He said the new restrictions represent a significant increase in toughening “national security standards and protecting the homeland”.

The administration’s critics expressed deep reservations about the new restrictions and left open the possibility that they will file additional legal challenges once the list of countries is revealed.

In stark contrast to the original travel ban, which was implemented with virtually no notice only days after Trump took office, officials said the new travel restrictions were developed after intense negotiations with security officials around the world.

Those officials were given standards they must meet in order to avoid travel restrictions, including the ability to verify the identity of a traveller, communicate electronic passport information, use biometric devices and share information about terrorist and criminal networks with the US.

Countries that did not meet those standards as of July were given 50 days to comply, or face the threat of severe travel restrictions, officials said.

In the end, officials said some of those countries added measures to improve security for passports and to better identify potential terrorist threats. NYT