House Homeland Security today marked up 14 bills, including a key counterterrorism bill, H.R. 1302, Terrorist and Foreign Fighter Travel Exercise Act of 2017, introduced by Rep. Martha McSally (R-AZ), that requires a stress test of U.S. government protection and prevention programs against terrorist travel.
“We cannot wait until the next attack to respond to the evolving threat we face from jihadists who wish to infiltrate our country and harm us,” said House Homeland Security Chairman Michael McCaul.
“This critical bill passed out of my Committee today requires the government to conduct ‘red team’ testing to properly identify and eliminate vulnerabilities in our defenses against terrorist infiltration.”
“Closing these gaps in our security is crucial and will continue to be a top Committee priority.”
“It has been almost a decade since the last major test of our security systems aimed at preventing terrorism, and we must remain vigilant against threats to the homeland,” said Rep. Martha McSally.
“It is critical that we reexamine the infrastructure that we have in place to stop terrorist attacks and ensure their effectiveness.”
Expanding on the work the House Homeland Security Committee has done to shut down terrorist pathways into the United States, Chairman McCaul’s recently launched the Task Force on Denying Terrorists Entry into the United States to examine all pathways by which extremists might infiltrate the homeland.
The Task Force will seek to identify gaps in U.S. government information sharing and vetting procedures.
Learn more about the Committee’s new Task Force, here.
