U.S. Reps. Carlos Gimenez (R-FL) and Mark Green (R-TN) introduced last week legislation addressing the rising threat of vehicular terrorism.
Coming on the heels of the attack on New Orleans on New Year’s Day, the Department of Homeland Security Vehicular Terrorism Prevention and Mitigation Act of 2025 would require DHS to create annual reports on emerging threats and countermeasures to take in regard to vehicular terrorism.
In the early morning hours of Jan. 1, 2025, Shamsud-Din Jabbar drove a truck at high speed down Bourbon Street in New Orleans. The 42-year-old US Army veteran drove an electric truck in what officials called an ISIS-inspired, premeditated terrorist attack. The incident killed 14 people, officials said.
“The horrific ISIS-inspired terrorist attack in New Orleans makes tragically clear how vehicles are weaponized as instruments of terror,” Gimenez, chair of the House Homeland Security Subcommittee on Transportation and Maritime Security, said. “DHS must take actionable steps to counter the gross proliferation of vehicular threats and share the findings of its assessment with Congress and the American people.”
The committee previously released the “Terror Threat Snapshot” assessment, which highlighted the terror threat to America, the West, and the world from jihadist networks like ISIS and other terrorists.
“I thank Chairman Gimenez for introducing legislation to address an emerging threat facing our nation by homegrown violent extremists, often inspired by ISIS,” Green said. “DHS must take seriously the rising occurrences of vehicle-ramming terrorist attacks like the one we saw on Bourbon Street in New Orleans. In order to protect the American people, we must adapt to threats as they evolve with new technology and capabilities. I look forward to advancing this critical bill through the House.”