House Homeland Security Chairman Michael McCaul (R-TX) pushed to address vulnerabilities in U.S. defenses that guard against terrorist infiltration after the committee marked up 14 counterterrorism bills on Wednesday.
Among the key bills debated was the Terrorist and Foreign Fighter Travel Exercise Act, H.R. 1302, introduced by U.S. Rep. Martha McSally (R-AZ).
“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,” McCaul said. “This critical bill passed out of my committee (on Wednesday) 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.”
McSally’s bill calls for a stress test of the government’s ability to protect against terrorist travel.
“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,” McSally said. “It is critical that we reexamine the infrastructure that we have in place to stop terrorist attacks and ensure their effectiveness.”
McSally’s bill would call on the Department of Homeland Security to develop training exercises involving people traveling from the United States to join or support a terrorist organization and terrorists infiltrating the United States, including U.S. citizens and foreign nationals.
McCaul has made shutting down terrorist pathways into the United States a priority of the House Homeland Security Committee. He recently launched the Task Force on Denying Terrorists Entry into the United States to explore pathways and detect information sharing gaps in U.S. vetting procedures.