CONGRESSWOMAN SHEILA JACKSON LEE CALLS FOR INCREASED RESOURCES AND ENHANCED TRAINING FOR TSA TO ENSURE SAFETY AND SECURITY OF AIR TRAVELING PUBLIC
Jackson Lee: “Although there remains some uncertainty regarding the cause and culprits of the passenger airline crash in Egypt, a clear lesson from this disaster is that we must remain ever vigilant to ensure the security of commercial air travel.”
November 5, 2015
Washington, DC – Congresswoman Sheila Jackson Lee, a senior member of the House Homeland Security Committee, and Ranking Member on the Judiciary Committee's Subcommittee on Crime, Terrorism, and Investigations released the following statement regarding the loss of the Russian commercial airliner that crashed in Egypt:
"What caused of the crash of the Russian passenger in Egypt remains to be determined conclusively. But we do know that this tragedy illustrates the need for the United States to be more vigilant in securing commercial air travel. The Transportation Security Administration and its thousands of professionals are dedicated to making commercial air travel safe and secure from terrorist threats. Their professionalism, courage, and dedication have taken the nation from a time when people were fearful of flight to millions of people boarding flights every day.
"Sequestration, however, is adversely affecting our ability to ensure that TSA personnel have the funding, technological resources, and continuous training needed to anticipate and counter new and emerging threats to safe air travel.
"I believe that we must reevaluate how checked baggage is processed at airports and must also take stronger measures to identify and eliminate any vulnerabilities that may exist in cargo areas of commercial airliners. Most importantly we must ensure that TSA has the resources, funding, and support from policy makers needed to get the job done."
Congresswoman Jackson Lee is a Democrat from Texas's 18th Congressional District. She is a senior member of the House Committees on Judiciary and Homeland Security and is Ranking Member of the Judiciary Subcommittee on Crime, Terrorism, Homeland Security, and Investigations.