[Congressional Record Volume 142, Number 111 (Thursday, July 25, 1996)]
[House]
[Page H8524]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                 THE NEED TO INCREASE AIRPORT SECURITY

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Under a previous order of the House, the 
gentleman from Indiana [Mr. Burton] is recognized for 5 minutes.
  Mr. BURTON of Indiana. Mr. Speaker, in deference to the New York 
delegation and to the untimely death of our beloved Ham Fish, I will 
not take the entire 5 minutes.
  Mr. Speaker, I would just like to say real quickly that there was a 
tragedy that occurred last week in New York going out of Kennedy 
airport. The TWA airplane that took off from Kennedy heading for Paris 
was blown up shortly after takeoff, and it is highly suspicious as to 
what was the cause. Some people right now believe it may have been the 
act of a terrorist. It is premature to say that but it certainly looks 
that way.
  Toward that end, I have introduced legislation which I introduced 
after the Pan Am bombing over Lockerbie, Scotland a few years ago, 
which mandated that at every major airport in the United States, the 50 
largest airports, that there would be sniffer dogs at the gates and 
where the luggage goes through to try to find out if plastic explosive 
or other explosive devices are going through. With the millions and 
millions of people that are traveling through the airports and through 
the air in the United States of America, it is imperative that they be 
as safe as is humanly possible.
  The mechanical devices that have been tested have been found flawed. 
Sniffer dogs and other animals that can sniff out plastic explosives 
can save a lot of lives. We here in the Capitol today were using 
sniffer dogs because we had foreign dignitaries visiting, and we wanted 
to make sure they were protected and there were no explosive devices 
put in this Capitol.
  They do work. They are effective. There are some down sides to them. 
It is expensive. You have to have a lot of dogs. But in this climate of 
terrorism in this world and in the United States of America, I think it 
is imperative that this legislation be passed as quickly as possible. I 
urge my colleagues to look at this bill seriously and cosponsor it if 
they feel so inclined.

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