House Passes Andrews-Saxton Plan to Secure US Military Bases

The House recently adopted a plan I drafted with Rep. Jim Saxton (R-NJ) that significantly improves security at U.S. military installations by requiring rigorous screening of all civilians visiting a military base for any reason.  One of the men involved in the foiled Fort Dix terror plot, Serdar Tatar, regularly visited the base in his job as a pizza delivery man, even though he had been under federal investigation since January 2006.  Our provision establishes uniform security standards for federal background checks for all civilians entering military bases. 

Since there is no national standard for our military bases, Tatar was only subject to local law enforcement background checks.  Additionally, each military base commander currently formulates security procedures for civilian access to the base, which results in different procedures for each installation.  The Andrews-Saxton provision would fix these inadequacies by mandating that all civilians entering a base be subject to rigorous federal checks.  These checks would show if an individual had been arrested or was under investigation for any reason, including potential terrorist links.

I was troubled at how far the Fort Dix terror plot had developed before it was stopped.  If we had performed the necessary background checks, this plot would have never gotten as far as it did.  Making these federal checks mandatory is vital to protect the people living in or near military bases in New Jersey and across the nation.

Return to the Washington Updates Page