Sen. Byron Dorgan (D-ND), the Chairman of the Senate Aviation panel, made the following statement today regarding the attempt by an alleged terrorist to explode a device on an international flight from Amsterdam to Detroit. Here’s the full text:
“This near miss requires us to do several things at once.
“First, there have been reports that this individual received training and instructions from al Qaeda. If this is the case, we need to hunt down his accomplices and bring them to justice immediately.
Second, we have to fully investigate this incident to find accountability for the breakdown in security procedures. The Congress created the Director of National Intelligence five years ago in an effort to eliminate the stove-piping of information in the intelligence field, where one office would have information that was not shared with other agencies.
“It appears to me that there were serious failures in sharing information among intelligence and other agencies that allowed this alleged terrorist to board an international flight to the United States.
“Aside from the reports that the father of the alleged terrorist alerted our intelligence officials about his son, and that fact that his son was on a watch list, an alert should have been raised due simply to his purchase of an airline ticket with cash and his lack of luggage. We need to find out what is working and what is failing in our intelligence sharing.
“Another concern is the use of ‘watch lists’ and ‘no fly lists’ and how various federal agencies have coordinated or failed to coordinate the development and use of information on those lists.
“Next, we need to determine what additional screening will be necessary to make certain that terrorists cannot board an airplane with an explosive device. Clearly, additional screening is necessary.
“We also need to be certain, by working with other countries, that screening at foreign airports for flights bound for the United States meets the same screening requirements we will impose domestically.
“Senator Rockefeller and I will hold hearings on transportation security issues and matters related to this terrorist attack in the coming weeks.
“In the meantime, I call on my colleague, Senator DeMint, to release his hold on the nominee to become head of the Transportation Security Administration. Our country needs leadership now at this important agency, and our national security interests are more important than the political interests that prompt senators to hold up nominees. Having this position vacant at this time is hurting our national security.
“Finally, I hope those few members of Congress who are trying to use this terrorist attack for their own partisan gain will knock it off. Our country deserves better than to have people try to use a terrorist attack for political gain.”
