Guns, Knives, and Bomb-Making Materials:
Thompson Calls for Urgent Hearing to Examine Airport Security Screening Failures
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:
Friday, March 17, 2006
News reports today disclosed the results of a government investigation into airport security vulnerabilities. The Government Accountability Office (GAO), the investigatory arm of Congress, conducted a clandestine review of airport security throughout the country. While the report remains classified and has not yet been released, news reports indicate that bomb making materials were passed through Transportation Security Administration passenger screening at 21 airports, without being detected.
“The fact that government investigators were able to pass through TSA’s screening at 21 major airports with bomb making materials is frightening,” said Rep. Bennie G. Thompson (D-MS), Ranking Member of the Committee on Homeland Security.
“It’s like the story of the Trojan Horse,” said Thompson, “TSA has spent so much time telling people to take off their shoes and belts, that they have missed the bombmaking materials,” said Thompson.
This morning, Ranking Member Thompson requested that the Committee on Homeland Security hold a hearing to review security vulnerabilities at our nation’s airports and rectify problems at the TSA.
FOR MORE INFORMATION:
Please contact Dena Graziano at (202) 226-2616.
