Leader on Perimeter Security Has Been Warning Improvements Were Needed for Three Years

Press Release

Since coming to Congress in January 2011, Congressman Bill Keating has been the leading voice calling for improvements to our perimeter security. In the months prior to taking office -- in his then-job as Norfolk County District Attorney -- he was in charge of investigating the Delvonte Tisdale case, the last major stowaway incident on a commercial airline.

Said Congressman Keating:

"Perimeter security remains our most pressing issue at airports across the country. The intense scrutiny placed at checkpoints in airports, but not on the perimeter is the equivalent of locking your home's doors while leaving your windows wide open. Trouble is bound to get in if the windows aren't shut tight.

"For the past three years, I have been calling for a more comprehensive approach to airport perimeter security. Currently, there is uneven enforcement from locality to locality and we will continue to see more stowaway cases if we do not correct that. In the most recent incident in California and the Delvonte Tisdale case, which I investigated as District Attorney, both involved teens without nefarious motives. What happens the next time, however? As it is, there have been over 1300 known perimeter security breaches since 2001. We cannot allow business-as-usual where this glaring issue remains unaddressed.

"That is why I recently questioned Secretary Johnson on the issue and called for the GAO to investigate our current perimeter security protocols and require TSA to develop a comprehensive risk assessment. If we do not make these changes immediately, I fear the next stowaway will not be as innocent as the last two."

Congressman Keating has questioned then-Secretary Janet Napolitano multiple times on the Tisdale incident and perimeter security in general. Each time she was unaware of the case. In his role as Ranking Member of the Oversight Subcommittee on the House Homeland Security, he held a field hearing in September 2011 at Boston Logan International Airport examining perimeter security post-9/11.

In October 2013, Congressman Keating introduced an amendment to the Department of Homeland Security Authorization seeking to protect US travelers from threats resulting from airport perimeter breaches by asking TSA to map out a plan to conduct security vulnerability assessments at airports throughout the United States. Currently, TSA only issues assessments at just 17% of the 450 US commercial airports. He followed his amendment up by meeting with TSA in December 2013, but found that the agency was not requiring airports to implement greater perimeter security procedures.

In February 2014, Congressman Keating continued to ring alarm bells by leading a letter requesting that GAO update its 2009 report on TSA's oversight of airport perimeter security. According to the 2009 report, GAO determined that TSA had not conducted a comprehensive risk assessment based on threats, vulnerabilities, and consequences, as required by DHS' National Infrastructure Protection Plan. Homeland Security Committee Ranking Member Bennie Thompson and Transportation Security Subcommittee Ranking Member Cedric Richmond joined Congressman Keating on his letter.

Most recently, in March 2014, Congressman Keating questioned current Homeland Security Secretary Jeh Johnson, on continuing breaches in perimeter security since Tisdale, including the Philadelphia incident in March 2012.

Source