Securing Aviation From Foreign Entry Points and Guarding Airports Through Enhanced Security Act of 2016

Floor Speech

Mr. Speaker, I rise in support of H.R. 4698, the SAFE GATES Act.

Mr. Speaker, the legislation before us comes at a very important time. Recent events have fueled increased interest in addressing terrorism threats at overseas airports. Just last month, a terrorist cell carried out three simultaneous, coordinated attacks on the Brussels airport and a major rail station that resulted in the death of 32 people and injuries to over 300 people. At the airport, terrorists filled large suitcases with nail bombs that were detonated in two separate explosions on the public side of the airport. This attack, in the heart of the European Union's capital, underscores the reality that the aviation sector continues to be a major terrorist target.

Previously, in February, a terrorist boarded a commercial aircraft departing from Mogadishu with a bomb concealed in a laptop. The terrorist detonated the bomb aboard the aircraft, killing himself and injuring two others. Experts suggest that, had the terrorist detonated the bomb at a higher altitude, the damage to the plane would have been catastrophic and the aircraft would have been destroyed.

The deadliest aviation attack in recent memory took place in October 2015, when Metrojet flight 9268, departing from Sharm el-Sheikh International Airport, was blown up over the northern Sinai. This horrific tragedy resulted in the loss of 224 lives.

H.R. 4698 is responsive to these devastating incidents. It focuses on last point of departure airports, or those airports that originate from foreign countries that fly to the U.S. nonstop, to airports within the U.S.

H.R. 4698 requires TSA to do a security assessment of these airports and take into account: the level of coordination and cooperation between the countries in which the airports are located and TSA; the intelligence capabilities of each country; information on the numbers of known or suspected terrorists transiting through such airports; and the security screening capabilities at these airports.

The legislation also requires TSA to submit a plan to bolster and enhance security collaboration between the U.S. and its foreign and domestic partners and authorizes TSA to donate security screening equipment to a foreign airport if it will reduce specific vulnerabilities to the security of the U.S. or U.S. citizens.

In addition to codifying TSA's efforts to bolster security at last point of departure airports, H.R. 4698 also seeks to make enhancements to security screening at U.S. airports. Specifically, it directs TSA to request that the Aviation Security Advisory Committee develop recommendations to make passenger screening processes more efficient and effective.

The areas that the ASAC would be considering include checkpoint configuration, technology innovation, and best practices within aviation security.

As the lead author of legislation authorizing the ASAC, I strongly believe that this body, which is composed of key stakeholders from throughout the aviation community, is a positive catalyst for improvement within TSA.

Mr. Speaker, I close by saying that there is bipartisan support for this legislation.

While on the subject of addressing overseas threats, I would note that, in recent years, DHS has made great strides in pushing the borders out, that is, identifying and stopping overseas threats before they reach our borders. Congress needs to support these efforts.

To that end, in the coming weeks, I will be introducing comprehensive legislation to expand and strengthen DHS' overseas program aimed at vetting and screening travelers to the U.S. My legislation, entitled Pushing Out America's Borders Act of 2016, seeks to accelerate DHS' efforts at expanding and establishing overseas posts for both CBP and ICE to conduct critical traveler vetting and screening operations.

With the passage of H.R. 4698 today, the House is poised to raise the level of aviation security overseas. The next challenge for this body is to support DHS in its efforts to take more proactive approaches to pushing out our Nation's border security.

Mr. Speaker, I appreciate Mr. Katko's cooperation in making sure that this bill was brought to the floor. We had a couple of hiccups along the way, but we worked them out. This is really how it should be done, and I appreciate the gentleman's help in getting us there.

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