Department of Homeland Security Appropriations Act, 2012

Floor Speech

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Mr. ROGERS of Alabama. Mr. Chairman, I commend you for bringing this important legislation to the floor and for your hard work during these difficult budget times. As chairman of the subcommittee with sole authorizing jurisdiction over the Transportation Security Administration in the House, I welcome our continued collaboration on transportation security issues.

Specifically today, I want to discuss with you the need to increase the number of explosive detection canines within TSA for aviation and surface transportation security. Within the area of passenger screening, we all know that explosive detection canines are one of the most effective screening means, and they do it without many of the concerns and costs of other types of detection technology.

They do not impede the flow of traffic, and they avoid privacy concerns because they do not come into direct contact with passengers.

We know that the military canine units in Iraq and Afghanistan can detect improvised explosive devices with an 80 percent rate, much higher than the 50 percent expected from those units with other technologies.

And for all the good that canines do, they do it at a better price than other technologies. If there is a better, more cost-efficient option to increasing canines, I am open to any suggestion.

In fact, according to published reports, the elite Navy SEAL team that killed Osama bin Laden likely carried at least one canine with them on that mission into Pakistan. Surely, then, canines can and do provide invaluable bomb detection services here at home.

Especially in these times of heightened terrorist threats, along with the information that we gathered from killing bin Laden, we need to prudently increase the number of detection canines in TSA.

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