McSally introduces bill to require “stress test” exercise of government agencies against potential terrorist travel

U.S. Rep. Martha McSally (R-AZ) introduced legislation last week to require a “stress test” of U.S. government programs against potential terrorist travel.

The Task Force on Combating Terrorist and Foreign Fighter Travel, on which McSally served, made the stress test recommendation to help determine what security vulnerabilities the nation has and what actions government agencies can take to help ensure safe travel for passengers.

In a report issued to the 114th Congress, the task force had 32 key findings on travel safety and made more than 50 recommendations.

The last stress test exercise occurred in 2009 by the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) and focused primarily on terrorists attempting to infiltrate the United States.

“Since [2009], ISIS’s rise and spread across the globe has created new challenges for law enforcement, and we must be able to ensure we are prepared,” McSally said. “This was a top recommendation from a task force I served on focused on combating foreign fighter travel. We should not delay in moving this critical legislation forward and taking the necessary steps to ensure we are doing all we can to keep Americans safe.”

The task force also recommended that law enforcement agencies address the threat of Americans leaving the country to train overseas with extremist groups as foreign fighters.