As the nation cries “Never Forget” on the 17th anniversary of the 9/11 terrorist attack, Senator Edward J. Markey (D-Mass.), a member of the Commerce, Science and Transportation Committee, continues his fight for support and passage of his key aviation security measures. Congress is currently working to pass the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) Reauthorization Act and the Transportation Security Administration (TSA) Modernization Act, which include Senator Markey’s provisions banning knives on planes and codifying a pilot program to improve carry-on baggage screening technologies that will help TSA detect and forestall threats to U.S. aviation safety. Following the 9/11 terrorist attacks, when hijackers used knives and box cutters to hijack four aircraft, the TSA added knives to the prohibited items list.
“ ‘Never forget’ is more than a slogan, it is a commitment to action, and the effort to keep our aviation sector safe and secure is as important as it has ever been,” said Senator Markey. “The 9/11 Commission described ‘failures of imagination’ as a primary reason we were unable to prevent those tragedies, and it does not take much imagination to understand why giving knives a boarding pass is a bad idea. And whether the threat emanates from a hand-held knife or a hand-held suitcase, we must put the strongest security safeguards in place to keep Americans safe. We must do more than simply prepare our defenses for the kinds of attacks we experienced 17 years ago; we must anticipate the loopholes that terrorists, known and unknown, could exploit. As the nation commemorates this day and we remember all those that we lost, I pledge to continue my fight to prevent another tragedy like 9/11 befalling our country.”
One year ago, Senator Markey, Congressmen David P. Joyce (OH-14) and Daniel W. Lipinski (IL-03) introduced legislation banning small knives on planes.
