New York Republican Rep. Peter King, the feisty former chairman of the House Homeland Security Committee, is weighing a run for the White House, Fox News confirms.
Tag Archives: House Homeland Security Committee
Michael McCaul: Boston Bombings Device ‘Leads Me To Believe’ There Was A Trainer Involved
By The Huffington Post News Editors
By The Associated Press
WASHINGTON — The chairman of the House Homeland Security Committee said Sunday that the FBI is investigating in the United States and overseas to determine whether the suspects in the Boston Marathon bombing received training that helped them carry out the attack.
Dzhokhar Tsarnaev, 19, is charged with joining with his older brother, Tamerlan, who’s now dead, in setting off the shrapnel-packed pressure-cooker bombs. The bombs were triggered by a remote detonator of the kind used in remote-control toys, U.S. officials have said.
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Source: FULL ARTICLE at Huffington Post
Lawmaker suggests Boston bombing suspects had training ahead of attack
The chairman of the House Homeland Security Committee said Sunday he thinks the Boston Marathon bombing suspects were trained in carrying out the attack.
TSA stands by plan to allow small knives on planes
The head of the Transportation Security Administration told lawmakers Thursday he stands by his plan to allow passengers to carry small knives onto planes despite a growing backlash against the proposal.
It’s unlikely in these days of hardened cockpit doors and other preventative measures that the small folding knives could be used by terrorists to take over a plane, TSA Administrator John Pistole told a hearing of the House Homeland Security Committee.
On the other hand, searching for the knives on passengers or in their carry-on bags is time consuming, Pistole said. TSA screeners confiscate about 2,000 such knives every day, with each incident chewing up about two to three minutes, he said.
“I think the decision is solid and it stands and we plan to move forward,” Pistole said.
The policy, which goes into effect April 25, has sparked strong opposition from flight attendants, federal air marshals, some pilot unions, and even aviation insurers. In the hands of the wrong passengers, the knives can be used to harm flight attendants and other passengers, critics say.
Several airline CEOs have also expressed qualms. Delta Air Lines chief executive Richard Anderson said in a letter to Pistole last week that he shares the “legitimate concerns” of the airline’s flight attendants. US Airways chief Doug Parker asked the TSA administrator to reconsider his position.
Several members of the House committee also urged Pistole to drop the proposal, warning that if he doesn’t, Congress may take steps to block the policy change.
Since the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks there have been no incidents in which terrorists have successfully used sharp objects to take over a plane, which suggests the current policy of keeping even small knives off planes is working, committee members said.
“How does allowing sharp objects on board now accomplish maintaining the goal of having zero planes taken over?” asked Rep. Eric Swalwell, D-Calif. “I’m asking why now, and why do we want to go back?”
The lack of instances in which terrorists try to use knives to take over a plane underscores that their tactics have shift to using explosive devices instead, which what TSA is devoting its energies to finding, Pistole said. He noted that the proposed policy would mostly conform U.S. regulations with international standards, which were changed in 2010 …read more
Source: FULL ARTICLE at Fox US News
John Pistole: TSA Has No Plans To Rescind Knives Policy
By The Huffington Post News Editors
TSA chief John Pistole isn’t backing down. He told ABC News Wednesday that despite increasing uproar over the TSA’s plans to allow certain knives and sporting equipment in carry-on bags, the agency has no plans to change the policy, which goes into effect April 25.
“I have to make sure that TSA’s focus is on those things that are most destructive to the aircraft,” Pistole told ABC. “It is not pocket knives. It is those non-metallic improvised explosive devices, the bombs that are very small. They are concealable and they are well designed.” The Wall Street Journal reports that Pistole will testify to the House Homeland Security Committee on Thursday to defend the decision.
In recent days there has been growing resentment both among flight attendants and the airlines. Last week, the Flight Attendants Union Coalition, which represents nearly 90,000 flight attendants, stated that it was coordinating a nationwide campaign to work to reverse the policy, saying in a statement to the Associated Press, “The continued ban on dangerous objects is an integral layer in aviation security and must remain in place.” Delta CEO Richard Anderson sent a letter to Pistole late last week expressing “legitimate concerns” about the policy; US Airways CEO Doug Parker asked the TSA to reconsider, stating the knives “might place our flight attendants’ safety at risk” and that a “more thoughtful” approach might have included speaking the airlines and their flight crews first; and Will Ris, American Airlines‘ senior vice president for government affairs, said earlier this week that government officials should “reassess” the TSA’s edict.
Fake bomb got past Newark airport airport screeners, report says
An undercover Transportation Security Administration inspector reportedly brought a mock improvised explosive device stashed in his pants through two layers of security and was cleared to board a commercial flight last month.
The New York Post reports that the TSA‘s special operations team staged a mock intrusion at the airport on Feb. 25. The inspector brought the mock “bomb” through amagnetometer, which failed to detect the device, a source told the paper.
The other security check that failed to catch the mock device was a pat-down, according to the report.
New York Rep. Peter King called for an extensive security review at Newark Liberty Airport after a newspaper reported Friday that a simulated explosive got past screeners.
King, a Republican and former chairman of the House Homeland Security Committee, called for an extensive security review at Newark Liberty Airport in a letter to Transportation Security Administration Administrator John Pistole on Friday.
King called for a “top-to-bottom” review of TSA operations at Newark.
The TSA wouldn’t confirm the details of the report but in statement said it regularly puts screeners through “the most difficult and isolated training scenarios to ensure officers are able to detect even the most difficult to find devices.”
Since December 2011, more than 50 airport workers have faced TSA disciplinary action at Newark for various violations; a TSA agent was charged with stealing $5,000 from a traveler’s jacket; a security breach at an exit area caused the evacuation of a terminal, and a non-TSA security employee pleaded guilty to using a fake identity for 20 years.
A federal report last May found that the TSA took corrective action on fewer than half of reported security breaches between January 2010 and May 2011. It also said Newark security officials had taken positive steps since 2010 to improve efforts to correct security vulnerabilities.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
Senate Cybersecurity Report Twists The Facts, Falsely Claims The Support Of Businesses
Last week, the Senate Commerce Committee issued a report to their chairman, Senator Jay Rockefeller (D–WV), claiming that most businesses supported an approach to cybersecurity similar to his Cybersecurity Act of 2012 (CSA). After reading their report, however, one thing is absolutely clear—most businesses do not support Rockefeller’s approach and the Commerce Committee has only succeeded in twisting the truth.
In September of 2012, Rockefeller sent a letter to the CEOs of the Fortune 500 asking for each company’s position on cybersecurity. Executed in a way that would have made Don Corleone proud, around 300 businesses responded to the Senator’s offer. The Commerce Committee claims that most businesses that responded supported Rockefeller’s “voluntary” system for public-private collaboration on cybersecurity. There are several problems, however, with the committee’s report.
For starters, only 300 out of 500 companies responded. What about the other 200 companies? It is likely that many of these 200 companies didn’t respond because they don’t like Rockefeller’s approach and have no interest in being pawns in the Senator’s game.
Read More at heritage.org . By David Inserra.
Terrorist Safe Havens in North Africa Threaten the United States Homeland
By Greg McNeal, Contributor Terrorist safe havens in North Africa are a threat to the United States, at least according to the Chairman of the House Homeland Security Committee, Congressman Michael McCaul (R-Texas). After the terrorist attack in Algeria, McCaul likened the threat in North Africa to the “lawless safe havens in Afghanistan” where terrorists were able to “recruit, train, raise funds and build logistical networks to conduct attacks against the United States.” McCaul argued that “North Africa is the next frontier in the War on Terror.”
Source: FULL ARTICLE at Forbes Latest