WASHINGTON — Republican Wyoming Rep. [crscore]Cynthia Lummis[/crscore] said Tuesday that we should send as many airport personnel as possible to Ben Gurion airport in Israel for security training.
Lummis was responding to a question about how could the U.S improve intelligence to stop terrorists before they strike. She said, “With regards to ISIS, I think around the world we need to embed more people into the communities that are the hotbeds or breeding grounds for these radicals and try to nip it in the bud as soon as possible.”
The congresswoman acknowledges this wouldn’t be inexpensive and won’t happen overnight. Lummis went on to say, “with regards to something that can happen almost overnight, we should send as many airport personnel as we can to be trained at Ben Gurion airport in Israel. It is the most at risk airport in the world for terrorism and yet it is among the safest in the world and that is because Israel has had to, and is probably the global expert in preventing terrorists from entering airports.”
Ben Gurion Airport is the largest international airport in Israel and is located near Tel Aviv. The airport is well-known for its security. It has multiple levels of protection, including screening before people enter the terminal.
Pini Schiff, the former security chief at Tel Aviv’s Ben-Gurion Airport, said in a radio interview Tuesday, “Two terrorists who enter the terminal area with explosive devices, this is undoubtedly a colossal failure.”
The comments came during a monthly “Conversations with Conservatives” luncheon hosted by House Republicans. Lummis did not go into detail about how this training of airport personnel would be undertaken.
Her congressional office did not return a request for comment from The Daily Caller about whether Lummis would go forward with this proposal with legislation and how it would be done “almost overnight.”